• The current wave of sponsored immigration is perceived by the indigenous population as a continuation of the practice begun in the nineteenth century of expropriation and domination. This may not be case, but many local people will take some convincing!

• The policy adds to instability. Ethiopia is an ethnically diverse country and the people must learn to live together. In practice, this is what happens most of the time. But existing tensions between ethnic groups and castes within Ethiopia already occasionally breaks out into violence and adding another potential cause of friction into a tense situation will only make things worse. Fallen Tree © Beatrice Watson

•The groups who are being encouraged to move into the area do so reluctantly. Rather than seeing it as an opportunity, most view it as a form of exile. The photographs below show a recently abandonned resettlement village established by the government near to Tepi, in the Sheka zone. In this case the forest was cleared and buildings erected, both houses and communal buildings such as a vetinary centre. The settlers were given money by the government to encourage them to move. However, the settlement was remote and the settlers were unused to the rain and other environmental differences. Within two years they had all gone home. As each family left they burned their house down. Now all that remains are the locked communal buildings. The money and effort dedicated to this project by the government has destroyed an area of forest, without bringing any benefit to its intended beneficiaries.

•The resettlement dispossesses local people. NGOs have generally concentrated on the plight of those forced to move and have ignored the problems it creates for the existing population. One of the few who has drawn attention to their perspective is Ethiopian sociologist Yntiso Deko Gebre (see Links) who has commented – Policy makers, funding agencies, and researchers often overlook the implications of resettlement for host populations. For example, resettlers and refugees usually receive aid, research coverage, and policy attention, while the plight of the host people remains largely unnoticed. My recent study in Ethiopia suggests that during massive resettlements, the host people, particularly powerless communities, are likely to encounter displacement and impoverishment risks similar to that of relocatees.

•The forests of the south-west are not a bread basket that can provide inexhaustible good for the impoverished people of Ethiopia. They are fragile and, once gone, can not be replaced. Their destruction will leave Ethiopia even more impoverished. As the Conserve Africa report puts it – 'Environmental degradation contributes markedly to many health threats, including polluted air, dirty water, poor sanitation, and insect-transmitted diseases such as malaria. … Land degradation impacts are felt most keenly by the poor because they are forced to cultivate on river shores and marginallands such as desert margins which get degraded more rapidly.'