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Whereas some conservationists argue that ‘people-oriented approaches’ failed to achieve conservation goals, Nechisar National Park presents a case where ‘strict conservation approaches’ have at best been only partly successful. Nechisar National Park, heralded as a success in the 1990s, today shows a collapsed population of the endemic Swayne’s hartebeest and severe degradation of the emblematic grasslands of the plains. The park is also heavily under pressure from firewood collectors and fish stocks have plummeted. Drawing on the concepts of ‘indirect’ and ‘direct’ costs/benefits of conservation areas – as proposed by Richard Bell – we wanted to get beyond the ‘strict’ versus ‘people-oriented’ conservation debate. Based on semi-structured interviews (12 women, 4 men) and oral testimonies (19 women, 17 men) we analyse how access to natural resources evolved under different political regimes and conservation strategies. The strict conservation approach resulted in strong opposition against the park...

Key messages The highland mixed farming system found in mountainous areas of north-west, north-east and southern Africa is heavily constrained by land degradation, high population density, small landholdings, poor infrastructure, limited market opportunities and limited community capacity to respond to external shocks. The system produces special mountain products, including wool, herbs, medicinal plants, highland fruits, organic products, in addition to basic food grains, meat and milk. There is strong interdependency between crops and livestock in terms of draught power, nutrient cycling, food security and ecosystem management. With climate change and increased temperature, the system and the associated water towers would become more fragile, with reduced water yield, recurrent drought and extreme events. There is a need for collective action for coordinated management of upstream and downstream systems for mutual benefit. Investment is required to enhance productivity to feed the growing population while maintaining/improving the ecosystem services. Targeted support is needed for system integration and resilience, including policies and strategies to add value and link mountain produce with niche markets, thereby facilitating positive livelihood change.

Ethiopia has made an ambitious pledge for Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) under the Bonn challenge and the so-called AFR100 initiative – to restore 15 Mio ha of degraded forest lands by 2030. This target is in line with national and international policy objectives to effectively address climate change and develop a ‘Climate Resilient Green Economy’. Implementation at scale is pending as technical, financial and policy challenges need to be addressed. This paper presents a case study that was commissioned by German technical development cooperation. The objective was to develop a landscape restoration strategy for the area connecting Chebera Churchura national park and Kafa Biosphere Reserve in the Southwestern part of Ethiopia. The ‘Restoration Diagnostic’ tool developed by the World Research Institute was used to identify options for establishing a biodiversity corridor and to assess FLR opportunities. Based on the results of a field study and extensive GIS analysis, suitable FLR measures were identified and discussed in stakeholder consultations. Results show that more than 25% of the entire area is suitable for restoration measures; however, in the populated parts of the landscape a focus on productive aspects seems critical, i.e. to improve the provision of food, fuel wood and timber. Barriers relate to low institutional capacity, lack of infrastructure and undeveloped forest product value chains. Addressing these challenges can significantly contribute to sustainable management of natural forests in the buffer zone of the protected areas, and to promote agriculture and socio-economic development of the zones outside protected areas. The findings of such assessments can inform decision makers and donor organizations about FLR in candidate areas. If they become a key source of information in the respective policy processes they can contribute to effective governance of FLR.

Ethiopia has experienced a long-term deforestation with broad implications for human life and economic activities, but conventional frameworks of economic accounting are not able to assess the country's economic and environmental sustainability in the face of such deforestation problem. In this study, we attempt an economic accounting of Ethiopian forests based on a welfare-economic framework, which assesses changes in the value of forests as natural capital. Our estimates suggest that the recent government re-greening efforts are yet to increase forest assets in the value term, although they have expanded the land areas covered by trees in the country.

Different arrangements of decentralized forest management have been promoted as alternatives to centralized and top down approaches to halt tropical deforestation and forest degradation. Ethiopia is one of the countries piloting one of these approaches. To inform future programs and projects it is essential to learn from existing pilots and experiences. This paper analyses five of the pilot participatory forest management (PFM) programs undertaken in Ethiopia. The study is based on the Forest User Group (FUG) members' analyses of the programs using selected outcome variables: forest income, change in forest conditions, forest ownership feelings and effectiveness of FUGs as forest managing institutions. These variables were assessed at three points in time-before the introduction of PFM, during the project implementation and after the projects ended. Data were collected using group discussions, key informant interviews and transect walks through the PFM forests. The results show that in all of the five cases the state of the forest is perceived to have improved with the introduction of PFM, and in four of the cases the improvement was maintained after projects ended. Regulated access to the forests following introduction of PFM was not perceived to have affected forest income negatively. There are, however, serious concerns about the institutional effectiveness of the FUGs after projects ended, and this may affect the success of the PFM approach in the longer term.

Deforestation in African dry forests is widespread and its drivers are complex and vary in space and time. In this paper, we assessed impacts of immigration on dry forests and options for improved management in a resettlement district in north-western Ethiopia. Key informants interviews, focus group discussions and household questionnaire survey were used to collect data. The results indicated that forests of the district are degrading in spatial coverage and quality. The most important drivers were land use change, excessive wood harvest, grazing pressure and forest fire following immigration. The continuous influx of people with different origins, cultures, religions and lengths of residence in the district underscores absence of social bonds for collective action to regulate access. This, coupled with weak formal regulatory system, market forces and policy incentives for farming, resulted in a near open access situation. Our findings confirm the negative relationships between migration and environment not necessarily because of the mere population number added through immigration but because of lack of regulatory frameworks (formal or informal) and poor social capital. Enforcing existing policy of farm size and putting institutional framework on the ground to regulate rate of immigration, extraction of forest products and to encourage tree planting to meet wood demand are suggested measures. We conclude that Government programmes that opt for resettlement as a measure for poverty alleviation must also have mitigating measures to reducing negative impacts on the natural resource base. Thus, the trade-off between environment and development must be carefully managed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Declining natural forests and growing demands for wood products are encouraging the rapid expansion of eucalypt farm forestry in Ethiopia, and Arsi Negelle district represents areas with recent plantation expansion in the Rift Valley area of Ethiopia. This study assessed trends in eucalypt planting over the last five decades, identified the determinants, and examined perceptions of local stakeholders towards this expansion in the district. Quantitative data were gathered through a household survey and farm level inventory. About 90% of the respondents had planted eucalypts, and 52% of them were engaged in planting since the late 1990s. About 11% converted cropland to eucalypt woodlots, which is also a growing trend in the area. Proximity to Arsi-Forest Enterprise (P

In Ethiopia, deforestation rates remain high and the gap between demand and domestic supply of forest products is expanding, even though government-initiated re-greening efforts began over a century ago. Today, over 3 million hectares (ha) of degraded forest land are under area exclosure; smallholder plantations cover 0.8 million ha; and state-owned industrial plantations stagnate at under 0.25 million ha. This review captures experiences related to re-greening practices in Ethiopia, specifically with regards to area exclosure and afforestation and reforestation, and distills lessons regarding processes, achievements and challenges. The findings show that farmers and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are the main players, and that the private sector has so far played only a small role. The role of the government was mixed: supportive in some cases and hindering in others. The challenges of state- and NGO-led re-greening practices are: inadequate involvement of communities; poorly defined rehabilitation objectives; lack of management plans; unclear responsibilities and benefit-sharing arrangements; and poor silvicultural practices. The lessons include: a more active role for non-state actors in re-greening initiatives; more attention to market signals; devolution of management responsibility; clear definition of responsibilities and benefit-sharing arrangements; and better tenure security, which are all major factors to success.

An estimated 55 million ha of various kinds of dry forests exist in Ethiopia. Productivity of these dry forests is generally low, and intensive logging for timber and fuelwood has significantly altered their species composition toward the dominance of pioneers and shrubs. A number of efforts to improve dry forest management is underway, and some of these include establishment of plantations as buffer and substitute for wood supply, area exclosure to rehabilitate degraded dry forests, and introduction of participatory forest management to regulate forest access. Traditional community based forest management (TCBFM) is common in Ethiopia, and has contributed to the conservation of considerable parts of dry forests. TCBFM practices comprise various forms of traditional agroforestry systems and communal forest management using traditional institutions such as the Gada and Kobo systems. Dry forests are utilized for various purposes and by various users. Primarily, they provide frontiers for agricultural expansion and fuelwood for household energy. They are also used as natural rangelands and to provide diverse nonwood products such as gum-incenses for subsistence and cash income generation.

This guide is intended for frankincense producers, extension workers and companies engaged in producing frankincense. Gum olibanum (frankincense) from Boswellia papyrifera (Del.) Hochst has been collected and traded for centuries. Although production levels in Ethiopia fall far short of the country's potential, export volume and earnings from frankincense have been significantly increasing since the late 1990s. But knowledge regarding the biology and ecophysiology of the tree, the frankincense collecting process and post-harvest handling remain largely inadequate. This guide contributes toward filling this gap by providing technical information in three specific areas: how to better manage the species, how to properly tap the tree for increased and sustainable production and how to improve and maintain product quality through improved collection and handling. Section One of the guide introduces dry land areas of Ethiopia. The second and third sections describe the genus, the species and the distribution of Boswellia species. Flowering, seed production and propagation aspects are treated in Section Four while Section Five covers tapping and post-harvest handling of frankincense. Measures for sustainable frankincense production are discussed in Section Six whereas property rights and institutionalisation of responsible management systems are discussed in Section Seven. Finally, Section Eight briefly outlines key issues that require further research. Effective use of information in the guide can help in sustaining supply of frankincense by increasing income of producers and enhancing the responsible management of Boswellia forests in Ethiopia.

Oleo-gum resins such as frankincense and myrrh are some of the economically and culturally valuable products obtained from trees and shrubs of the genera Boswellia and Commiphora, respectively. They are important natural plant products used in several industries that include pharmacology, food, flavour, liqueur and beverage, cosmetics, perfumery and others. Moreover, frankincense and myrrh have several local applications in medicinal, hygienic, and insecticide areas that could be developed through research. They are widely used in traditional medicines of several countries for treatments of a wide variety of ailments from embalming to cancer, leprosy, bronchitis, diarrhea, dysentery, typhoid, mouth ulcers, inflammatory complaints, viral hepatitis, female disorders, infections/wounds, coughs, tumour, and others. Although Ethiopia is one of the few countries that are endowed with large frankincense and myrrh resources, little proper exploitation of these resources has been made so far. In this paper a review is presented on pharmacological and industrial applications of these valuable resources. The information is expected to prompt the enormous economic opportunity that these resources could provide both at national and local levels. Concurrently, this opportunity, if properly exploited, will contribute significantly towards the conservation and management of the vegetation resources that yield frankincense and myrrh as well as their ecosystems.

Land use/land cover change can affect the ecological processes of an area such as hydrological cycle. The change in the condition of water resources of an area could be a good indicator of changes in ecosystem function as a result of altered land use/land cover. Eucalyptus expansion in central Ethiopia is one of the recent land use/land cover changes causing controversy on its potential ecological effect. This study was designed to evaluate effects of three adjacent land uses/land covers, i.e. cultivated land, grassland and Eucalyptus woodlot on surface runoff in Meja River watershed, central Ethiopia. The rainfall amount at each study catchment was collected using the rain gauge installed to record daily rainfall amount. The three land use/land cover types in each study catchment were selected for comparison as treatments. Four replications of each land use/land cover were used forming a total of 12 runoff plots. The rainfall and runoff data were collected twice a day for 91 days. The study found that land use/land cover significantly affects surface runoff generated from the plots. Higher runoff was recorded from cultivated land. There was no significant difference on runoff volume between grassland and Eucalyptus woodlot. This shows that expansion of Eucalyptus on grassland could not have significant impact on surface runoff generation but if planted on previously farmland could reduce surface runoff.