Impact of Urban Expansion on Tenure Security and Livelihoods of Peri-Urban Areas. The Case of Wolaita Soddo Town in Southern Ethiopia

Thesis (M.A.) from the year 2020 in the subject Geography / Earth Science - Demographics, Urban Management, Planning, grade: 1, Bahir Dar University (Institute of Land Administration), course: Land Administration, language: English, abstract: This study is carried out to assess the impact of urban expansion on tenure security and livelihoods in peri-urban areas. Tenure insecurity and livelihood problems due to urban expansion are a more significant issue in the developing countries than in the developed countries in the urban periphery. Ethiopia has created a mounting competition for peri-urban land located adjacent to towns and cities by people of diverse backgrounds. As a result of these pressures rapid socio-economic problems have occurred. This paper is aimed to assess the impacts of urban expansion on tenure security and livelihoods on the communities around Wolaita Soddo Town. Descriptive research designs as well a qualitative and quantitative research approaches were employed. Both probability and non-probability sampling methods were used to get potential respondents and the sample size was determined using the sampling distribution of proportion method, hence 120 participants were selected (85% (102) male and 15% (18) female participants). Based on the collected data the analysis was done using SPSS and Microsoft Excel and the data was presented by different data presentation tools like tables and graphs. The results from the study revealed that the expansion of Wolaita Soddo Town has presented constraints and opportunities to people living in peri-urban areas. About 94 percent of the households responded that there is tenure insecurity. Due to having insecurity in their farm, their income has decreased. Similarly, the study revealed, that because of the town expansion, the peri-urban community experienced a multitude of livelihood problems: e.g. loss of assets due to periodic land displacement, reduction of farmland and great fear. On the other hand, the increase in non-farm job opportunities and infrastructure development in the studied areas are noteworthy. The development of new livelihood activities has culminated in the adoption of both farming and non-farming livelihood strategies.