Ethiopia: Deforestation: Difference between revisions

Economics is the driving force of globalisation processes. However, the economy looks different from a global as opposed to the local perspective: due to on-going trade liberalisation and increasing opportunities for investment across national borders, the global production and distribution network has become even more interconnected, its efficiency has (arguably) increased, and it no longer takes heed of boundaries and borders; the globalised economic maximizes its profit but also delivers cheap goods to underdeveloped regions. However, from the local perspective, globalised economic processes might hinder local initiatives as it neglects the local specific context – social, cultural and political conditions, and of course the traditional economy based on those same conditions. In the past, tariffs would have been imposed on imports to developing countries in order to nurture and incubate local industry and hence protect it from foreign competition, just as new industries had once been protected in developed societies, but the demands of the global economy and the World Trade Organization require the opening up of markets in developing nations to the full force of global competition. Globalisation in a certain sense means universalization, and its economic imperatives can destroy local diversity, which often means neglecting local consumption needs or patterns. Something of this phenomenon can be perceived in the situation as it pertains today to the state of forest cover in Ethiopia, although other global themes are present also, not the least of which include the effect of global conflict and population growth.

Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world, and its poverty and land and resource degradation seem to be part and parcel of the same vicious circle. The supreme irony is that Ethiopia is actually a country with a very diverse environment and rich biodiversity and unique ecosystems (the [[wikipedia:en:Ethiopian_Highlands|Ethiopian Highlands]], for example, elevate the country, which lies close the equator, to give an unexpectedly temperate climate). As a result, its natural resource base is vital to the economy and livelihood of much of the population – probably up to 85%.