BIRUK TADESSE ADEGO2026-02-262019-05https://etd.hu.edu.et/handle/123456789/1114The thesis examines the inter-connection between communal land tenure and livelihood, factors making it insecure and led to its extinction including its legal status, among smallholders in Kembata-Tembaro Zone, SNNPR. Since the early 1980s, there has been a resurgence of research activity in the area of common property resources and growing recognition of the importance of common pool resources for rural livelihoods. Lands for grazing and wildlife, forests and woodlands, mountaintops, sacred localities, lakes and streams within the community lands are usually retained purposely as collective property in which all members have use rights and communal land is essential to the community as a source of livelihood. Theoretically, Hardin’s tragedy of commons lies in the expectation that a resource will be overused when it is part of a “commons” and points out the hazards of open access (res nullius), rights or duties have not been defined and lack of property right.He argued for the privatization of the commons for effective use. Ostrom’s new common pool resource theory, justifies protecting the commons by underlining its significance for their needs and future generations. Practically, Communal land tenure is a typical feature of many developing countries. Lands held customarily in many parts of the world have always been vulnerable to involuntary loss, particularly those that are unsettled or unfarmed; that is, lands normally held collectively by individual communities. Nonetheless, concerns are repeatedly voiced by different civil society organizations and human rights advocates that state and private interests are increasingly infringing on poor people’s rights and access to the commons. There is growing international acknowledgment of the importance of communal land and there are soft laws in the form of guidelines and declarations were set in place for the recognition and protection of communal land tenure. In addition, there are many countries legal framework that safeguard communal land tenure for the sake of the rural poor. In Ethiopia, communal land rights are largely discussed in terms of pastoral society or semi-pastoral society. However there are communal lands among the smallholder farmers as well and play a major role in diversifying the livelihoods. In addition to their individual farmlands for crop production, smallholders are highly dependent on communal land and resources such as timber, firewood, fodder and most essentially, a place for ritual ceremonies. The empirical data obtained from the study area indicates that due to a number of unregulated practices and considering it as (res nullius) ownerless property, communal lands remain insecure. It is at the verge of extinction, led to poverty and human right violation. Thus, the writer argues for amendment of land laws and effective implementation to ensure tenure security of communal lands thereby securing and diversifying the livelihoods of poor smallholder rural farmers and ensuring human rights.Communal lands · Livestock · Poverty · Livelihoods · Rural Poor · Tenure securitylegislative recognitionThesis