This article uses the concepts of "human stewardship" and "ruined landscape" as a theoretical framework for analysing the community's perception of landscape change in the ancient tula well system of Borana in southern Ethiopia. The ancient tula well system, the main permanent water source, has been in operation for more than five centuries and it closely links human activity and the environment. The welfare of the tula well system and the performance of the Borana pastoral system are directly related. Borana management of the tula wells uses concepts such as laaf aadaa seeraa and laaf bade to differentiate between ‘land managed by customary laws’ (hereafter human stewardship) and ‘lost’ or ‘ruined’ land (laaf bade). The cultural landscapes of the ancient wells have undergone changes from ecosystems featuring ‘human stewardship’ (before the 1960s), that is, laaf aadaa seeraa to ‘ruined landscapes’ (after the 1960s), that is, laaf bade. Our interest is in understanding how the Borana perceive the impact of land use changes from these two conceptual perspectives. In group discussions, key informant interviews and household surveys across five of the nine well clusters, we found that the society described the changed tula cultural landscape in terms of drivers of well dynamics (i.e. use and disuse), break up of land use zonations, patterns of human settlement (traditional versus peri-urban), expansion of crop cultivation, and changes in environmental quality. Using the two concepts, we analysed linkages between changing patterns of land use that transformed the system from laaf aadaa seeraa, which ensured human stewardship, to laaf bade, which resulted in ruined landscapes. From these we analysed environmental narratives that showed how the society differentiated the past human stewardship that ensured sustainable landscape management from the present ruining of tula well cultural landscapes.

中文翻译：

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埃塞俄比亚南部古图拉井的人类管理或破坏文化景观

本文以“人类管理”和“废墟景观”的概念作为理论框架，分析了埃塞俄比亚南部博拉纳古图拉井系统中社区对景观变化的感知。古老的图拉井系统是主要的永久水源，已经运行了五个多世纪，它与人类活动和环境密切相关。图拉井系统的福利与博拉纳牧区系统的表现直接相关。Borana 对图拉井的管理使用诸如 laaf aadaa seeraa 和 laaf bade 之类的概念来区分“由习惯法管理的土地”（以下称为人类管理）和“失去”或“毁坏”的土地 (laaf bade)。古井的人文景观经历了从以“人类管理”（1960年代之前）为特征的生态系统，即laaf aadaa seeraa到“废墟景观”（1960年代之后），即laaf bade的变化。我们的兴趣在于了解博拉纳人如何从这两个概念角度看待土地利用变化的影响。在九个井群中的五个井群中的小组讨论、关键知情人访谈和住户调查中，我们发现社会从井动态（即使用和废弃）的驱动因素、土地利用分区的划分、人类住区模式（传统与城市周边）、作物种植的扩大以及环境质量的变化。使用这两个概念，我们分析了不断变化的土地利用模式之间的联系，这些模式将系统从确保人类管理的 laaf aadaa seeraa 转变为导致景观毁坏的 laaf bade。从这些中，我们分析了环境叙述，这些叙述表明社会如何区分过去确保可持续景观管理的人类管理与目前图拉井文化景观的破坏。