Ethiopia is not only a country that speaks out loudly about climate change in international arenas. It is also committed to contribute its own share to protecting the environment and reducing the impacts of climate change. The government has been making maximum effort to protect forest resources in different parts of the country.
Dagne Mamo, Participatory Forest Management Director at the Ministry of Environment, Frost and Climate Change said in forest protection, the efforts of the government alone have not brought about viable changes. Hence, participatory forest management system was introduced to ensure active participation of the public in forests development.
As to Dagne, as per participatory forest protection works, religious institutions and various communities have been actively engaged in various forest related livelihood activities including beekeeping and forest coffee production. As a result, the forest development schemes are supporting communities in generating additional incomes and the participatory forest protection tasks have been bringing about viable changes in protecting forests from destruction.
Religious institutions have also been widely participating in forest protection activities. Indicating that the ministry had no prior information about forests in religious institutions, it has begun information gathering works in 2000 selected institutions. The tree species protected in these institutions are not found in any other places. Parallel to this, indigenous seed multiplication works have also been taking place in these selected institutions. Accordingly, forest area identification and registration works have been carried out.
Enterprises in Amhara and Oromia states are striving to protect forest resources by assuming the responsibility of utilizing forest resources for the desired purpose. What is more, tree plantation campaigns have been carried out every year to rehabilitate lost forest areas. As the communities realize the benefits of the forest development, they tend to engage in more.
Forests that are developed for the sake of business would meet the input demands of factories in different sectors. Forest developer enterprises in Amhara and Oromia have been striving to modernize forest protection works.
The ministry has been working to raise awareness of the society to ensure forest protection in areas where it has not been that much effective before. It has also been taking legal measures on individuals/factories who are engaged in stinging trees.
Some sources indicated that, by the end of the 19th century, forest coverage in Ethiopia was 40 per cent. However, due to manmade causes related to agricultural land expansion, construction, application of wood energy as well as poor protection mechanisms, the country’s forest resources have declined at an alarming rate and at some point the coverage was only four percent.
Later on by the extensive effort of the government and the participation of the public, it was managed to recover portion of the forest lost. In fact, the forest coverage has now reached 15 percent. In the second Growth and Transformation Plan, it was planned to protect two million hectares of forest through participatory forest management and development. Nowadays, over 1.5 million hectares of forest land are protected.
As to Dagne, emerging industries and the private sector need to work closely with forest protection authorities as the expansion of industries has had negative impact on forests and the protection of forests.
Of the various efforts exerted by the ministry, one is raising awareness of the society towards a new proclamation with the view to maximizing the participation of the private sector, State Minister Kebede Yimame said.
A new proclamation was also passed to encourage private forest developers to engage widely in the sector, as it facilitates the necessary professional support and incentive for those who are willing to invest in the sector, Kebede opined.
The proclamation invites the private sector to develop forests and get benefit out of it. As forest development is a long term investment, the State Minister pointed out that it is not expected that investors would be willing to engage in it extensively.
"As it requires long period of time to harvest, there is always a risk. So, the new proclamation would help to overcome such risks," he noted.
Explaining that farmers are benefiting from the sector, Kebede said that the trend has been changing for the better in this regard. For the most part, farmers are the main providers of various wood products for local consumption.
In addition to maximizing benefits via supplying wood products for local consumption, currently farmers are exporting various wood products to neighboring countries, Kebede indicated.
In 2016/17 alone, Amhara State farmers have earned 26 million USD exporting wood products to Sudan, while the State earned 14 million USD in the first nine month of this budget year. Forest development has now changing the livelihood of farmers, he added.