Ethiopia’s tropical, subtropical and temperate climates allow it to produce a diversity ofproducts to support rural livelihoods. Some of the most significant of these come from forests.Unfortunately, the survival of these forests is severely threatened.
According to CIFOR researcher, Habtemariam Kassa, theirsurvival remains uncertain partly because their role insupporting livelihoods and providing environmentalservices is not fully understood. Thus, their true value isunderestimated.
But this is changing. New understanding of theseforests is emerging through the ‘Dry Forest Project’,a unique forestry initiative funded by the SwedishInternational Development Agency (SIDA).
According to Kassa, one step in ensuring forestscontinue providing environmental services and livelihoodassistance is to develop simple guidelines on the basicuse and management of dry forests. Also, Ethiopia’sdecision makers need to consider policies that promotethe uptake of technological and institutional innovationsthat support sustainable forestry. A further step is tocontinue to strengthen cooperation between state andnon-state forestry actors.
One example of strengthening cooperation was in2005, when CIFOR organized a national consultationthat attracted many key forestry players, includingpolicy advisors, researchers, and representatives fromcivil society groups and the private sector. The eventhelped promote CIFOR’s presence in Ethiopia and, moreimportantly, promote awareness of dry forest issues.Kassa says the meeting was significant because it allowed“CIFOR to team up with a range of Ethiopian partnersto work towards improving dry forest livelihoods. Thishas helped build partner capacity, which is a significantoutcome. Also, the congress was crucial to putting dryforests on the national agenda.”
Participants at the meeting agreed the first priorityshould be to assist with the Draft Forest Proclamation. Thiswould need lengthy policy dialogue with a vast array offorest stakeholders. Accordingly, CIFOR set-up a series ofinformal meetings and individual dialogues with forestrystakeholders at all levels. Then in May 2006, a high-levelmeeting between senior officials, key experts and majorstakeholders led to the inclusion of new articles in theDraft Forest Proclamation. People in forestry circles arereasonably optimistic the new legislation will surpass itspredecessor in promoting Ethiopia’s forestry sector.
Kassa believes the new articles are promising. “Farmershave been reluctant about investing in land managementand tree planting, especially on crop fields. Most treeplanting is on the farmers’ homestead plots, whereclearer property rights protect the land from the risk ofrepossession or redistribution,” Kassa says. “But the levelof homestead planting is small compared to what couldbe done on the vast acreage surrounding them.” One ofthe new articles tackles this challange by offering farmerstax incentives to plant trees on crop fields and degradedlands. Encouraging farmers to plant trees will also helpin providing a future income when the trees mature andtheir products can be harvested. The trees will also easethe pressure on natural forests, as farmers will graduallyuse the planted trees for fuel and construction needs.
The second article encourages communities toestablish joint forest management arrangements.Currently, only private and state ownership of forestlands are legally recognized. This has made it difficultto formally recognize joint ownership and promoteparticipatory forest management (PFM) in state-ownednatural forests. As a result, PFM has been applied in onlythree of 58 national forests. Once the legislation is passed,joint forest management is likely to be widely adopted.
CIFOR assists stakeholders to better address some ofthe challenges associated with joint management, andto look at the issues surrounding voluntary tree planting.This has involved working with the Wondo Genet Collegeof Forestry and Natural Resources (WGCF & NR) and theSwedish University of Agricultural Sciences.
Scientists have also researched what motivates peopleto plant trees. Part of the research involved a trainingworkshop organized by (WGCF & NR) and run by CIFOR.Mainly PhD students, the workshop trainees exploredand modeled joint management issues from differentinstitutional and livelihood perspectives. For the moment,Habtemariam Kassa is reasonably happy. He agreesthere’s still a lot to be done, but he’s also seen progress.Says Kassa, “Not so long ago it all seemed so depressing.I’d look at the forests and woodlands, and it was likewatching death in slow motion. I’m a bit more optimisticnow.”
Kassa says CIFOR, its partners, and Sida, are very keento promote the importance of Ethiopia and Africa’s forests.Greater awareness of their irreplaceable environmentalservices and livelihood value will encourage better forestmanagement practices.