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Thirty-nine percent of the population lives below the poverty line, only 34% of the rural population has access to an adequate water source, and the average life expectancy is a low 59 years (although these figures have been improving in recent years thanks in part to a relatively high GDP growth rate of 7.5%). Agriculture accounts for about 46% percent of GDP, of which forestry plays a part, although some estimates put direct losses of productivity from deforestation and land degradation at at least 3 percent of agriculture GDP.<ref>Berry, L. (2003). Land Degradation in Ethiopia. Its Extent and Impact. FAO</ref> With a population estimated in 2012 at over 84 million<ref>http://data.worldbank.org/country/ethiopia</ref> (making it the 14th largest country in the world) and a growth rate of 2.1 percent this is a critically important figure. | Thirty-nine percent of the population lives below the poverty line, only 34% of the rural population has access to an adequate water source, and the average life expectancy is a low 59 years (although these figures have been improving in recent years thanks in part to a relatively high GDP growth rate of 7.5%). Agriculture accounts for about 46% percent of GDP, of which forestry plays a part, although some estimates put direct losses of productivity from deforestation and land degradation at at least 3 percent of agriculture GDP.<ref>Berry, L. (2003). Land Degradation in Ethiopia. Its Extent and Impact. FAO</ref> With a population estimated in 2012 at over 84 million<ref>http://data.worldbank.org/country/ethiopia</ref> (making it the 14th largest country in the world) and a growth rate of 2.1 percent this is a critically important figure. | ||
Deforestation and the resulting environmental degradation is a major problem in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and a key factor challenging food security, community livelihood and sustainable development. In the late nineteenth century, approximately 30 percent of the country was covered with forest.<ref name="Ofcansky">Ofcansky, T., & LaVerle Berry, eds. (1991) Ethiopia: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress. Available from http://countrystudies.us/ethiopia/97.htm</ref> But the clearing of land for agricultural use and the logging of trees for fuel slowly changed the look of the country’s forest cover and which sped up considerably as the 20th century progressed. Between 1955 and 1979, over 77 percent of the country’s forested area disappeared and it continues to lose 8 percent or 140,000 hectares of its remaining forests annually.<ref>Winberg, E. (2010) Participatory Forestry Management in Ethiopia: Practices and Experiences. FAO Report</ref> | Deforestation and the resulting environmental degradation is a major problem in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and a key factor challenging food security, community livelihood and sustainable development. In the late nineteenth century, approximately 30 percent of the country was covered with forest.<ref name="Ofcansky">Ofcansky, T., & LaVerle Berry, eds. (1991) Ethiopia: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress. Available from http://countrystudies.us/ethiopia/97.htm</ref> But the clearing of land for agricultural use and the logging of trees for fuel slowly changed the look of the country’s forest cover and which sped up considerably as the 20th century progressed. Between 1955 and 1979, over 77 percent of the country’s forested area disappeared and it continues to lose 8 percent or 140,000 hectares of its remaining forests annually. <ref name="Winberg">Winberg, E. (2010) Participatory Forestry Management in Ethiopia: Practices and Experiences. FAO Report</ref> | ||
Deforestation and the resulting environmental degradation is a major problem in Ethiopia and a key factor challenging food security, community livelihood and sustainable development, especially since 94% of the population relies on wood-based and biomass fuel for household energy. <ref name="Bishaw" /> For example, despite the importance of the forest economy to subsistence livelihoods through the provision of timber, fruit, honey and bush meat products, extreme poverty leads subsistence farmers (especially those displaced through war) to clear trees in search of arable land. This in turn leads loss of shade required for many agricultural products, changes to local weather patterns, and decreases in agricultural productivity resulting from decreased retention of water in the soil and decreased streamflow<ref name="Dessie"> Dessie & Kleman, (2007). Pattern and magnitude of deforestation in the South Central Rift Valley Region of Ethiopia. Mountain research and development, 27(2), 162-168.</ref> In the late nineteenth century, approximately 30 percent<ref name="Ofcansky">Ofcansky, T., & LaVerle Berry, eds. (1991) Ethiopia: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress. Available from http://countrystudies.us/ethiopia/97.htm</ref> to 40 percent<ref name="Assefa">Assefa & Bork, 2013). Deforestation and Forest Management in Southern Ethiopia: Investigations in the Chencha and Arbaminch Areas. Environmental management, 53:284-299.</ref> of the country was covered with forest. But the clearing of land for agricultural use and the logging of trees for building materials and fuel slowly changed the look of the country’s forest cover and which sped up considerably as the 20th century progressed. By the 1950s, only 16% of land area was covered by forests, and during the 1980s about 15.4 million hectares of tropical forest disappeared each year<ref name="Getahun">Getahun, K., Van Rompaey, A., Van Turnhout, P., & Poesen, J., (2013). Factors controlling patterns of deforestation in moist evergreen Afromontane forests of Southwest Ethiopia. Forest Ecology and Management, 304, 171-181.</ref>, leading to depleted forest cover of only 2.7% in the 1990s.<ref name="Assefa" /> Between 1955 and 1979, over 77 percent of the country’s forested area disappeared and it continues to lose 8 percent or 140,000 hectares of its remaining forests annually. <ref name="Winberg" /> | |||
[[File:Ethiopia (Africa orthographic projection).svg|thumb|left|Ethiopia located on the globe]] | [[File:Ethiopia (Africa orthographic projection).svg|thumb|left|Ethiopia located on the globe]] | ||
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==Why are forests so important?== | ==Why are forests so important?== | ||
Humans benefit from and are very often reliant upon forests for regulating and supporting cultural and provisional services. However, all across the globe the expanse of forest areas is declining for very many reasons, but largely as a result of logging activities and the conversion of forest habitats to croplands; for example, agricultural expansion accounts for up to 43 percent of tropical forest losses. <ref name="Green">Green Facts: Scientific Facts on Forests. Available from http://www.greenfacts.org/en/forests/index.htm</ref> | Humans benefit from and are very often reliant upon forests for the ecosystem services they make available, including regulating and supporting cultural and provisional services. Humans exploit their timber products for fuel and building purposes, although non-timber resources provided by forests are also hugely important as a means of survival during times of stress and scarcity, e.g. wild fruits, bee keeping, fodder and grazing.<ref name="Winberg" /> However, all across the globe the expanse of forest areas is declining for very many reasons, but largely as a result of logging activities and the conversion of forest habitats to croplands; for example, agricultural expansion accounts for up to 43 percent of tropical forest losses.<ref name="Green">Green Facts: Scientific Facts on Forests. Available from http://www.greenfacts.org/en/forests/index.htm</ref> | ||
There is a very wide array of forested landscapes in Africa. Many of these forests are under incredible pressure from people as local populations expanded almost exponentially over the course of the last century: nearly everywhere the forested landscapes show clear signs of human impact. How they look today is a result of both environmental and human factors, but is the latter which have had the most negative impact. Humans interact with the forested landscape through collection of forest products, shifting cultivation, permanent of semi-permanent agriculture, and many different kinds of agroforestry systems. The issues of deforestation and accompanying land degradation is high on national and international agendas, but still poses a large challenge at the local level, as is the case in Ethiopia. <ref>Bongers, F., & Tennigkeit, T. (2010). Degraded Forests in Eastern Africa management and restoration</ref> | There is a very wide array of forested landscapes in Africa. Many of these forests are under incredible pressure from people as local populations expanded almost exponentially over the course of the last century: nearly everywhere the forested landscapes show clear signs of human impact. How they look today is a result of both environmental and human factors, but is the latter which have had the most negative impact. Humans interact with the forested landscape through collection of forest products, shifting cultivation, permanent of semi-permanent agriculture, and many different kinds of agroforestry systems. The issues of deforestation and accompanying land degradation is high on national and international agendas, but still poses a large challenge at the local level, as is the case in Ethiopia. <ref>Bongers, F., & Tennigkeit, T. (2010). Degraded Forests in Eastern Africa management and restoration</ref> | ||
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Specific examples of the benefits forests bring to the local population – 85% of which is reliant on the land for their livelihood – include a source of fuel and building materials, as well as [[wikipedia:en:Non-timber_forest_products|non-timber forest products]] (NTFPs) such herbs and spices and traditional medicaments, and natural food products like nuts, honey, fruit and edible fungi, plus they provide cover and food sources for domesticated animal populations. Forests provide the invaluable natural ecosystems that house the wide range of tree and plant species and the fauna that rely on them for their survival that otherwise would not survive in typical manmade monocultural habitats, and of course they also act as conservators and regenerators of soil and filtration systems for natural water catchments and hence protect waterways from damaging effluent run-off from chemical fertilisers and rapid evaporation from constant exposure to the sun. | Specific examples of the benefits forests bring to the local population – 85% of which is reliant on the land for their livelihood – include a source of fuel and building materials, as well as [[wikipedia:en:Non-timber_forest_products|non-timber forest products]] (NTFPs) such herbs and spices and traditional medicaments, and natural food products like nuts, honey, fruit and edible fungi, plus they provide cover and food sources for domesticated animal populations. Forests provide the invaluable natural ecosystems that house the wide range of tree and plant species and the fauna that rely on them for their survival that otherwise would not survive in typical manmade monocultural habitats, and of course they also act as conservators and regenerators of soil and filtration systems for natural water catchments and hence protect waterways from damaging effluent run-off from chemical fertilisers and rapid evaporation from constant exposure to the sun. | ||
Why then, if the overwhelming majority of the population is so reliant upon the benefits that forests bring, have they shrunk to a mere fraction of their past glory? The causes of Ethiopian deforestation are manifold, | Why then, if the overwhelming majority of the population is so reliant upon the benefits that forests bring, have they shrunk to a mere fraction of their past glory? The causes of Ethiopian deforestation are manifold and have been recorded through Ethiopian history in association with settlement patterns and agricultural practices. “Unprecedented deforestation, however, has spread since the beginning of the twentieth century as a result of dynamic demographic, political, economic and social conditions”.<ref name="Assefa" /> Therefore, before looking at the specific reasons for the current state of affairs, it is important to understand the historical context in which Ethiopian society has developed over the modern era. | ||
==Recent History== | ==Recent History== | ||
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Mengistu was finally overthrown in 1991 when the [[wikipedia:en:Ethiopian_People%27s_Revolutionary_Democratic_Front|Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front]] captured Addis Ababa and the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev failed to intervene on the Marxist government's behalf. Under a transitional government, a new constitution was written in 1994 that established a bicameral legislature and judicial system. The first ever multi-party elections then took place in 1995 with Meles Zenawi elected Prime Minister. | Mengistu was finally overthrown in 1991 when the [[wikipedia:en:Ethiopian_People%27s_Revolutionary_Democratic_Front|Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front]] captured Addis Ababa and the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev failed to intervene on the Marxist government's behalf. Under a transitional government, a new constitution was written in 1994 that established a bicameral legislature and judicial system. The first ever multi-party elections then took place in 1995 with Meles Zenawi elected Prime Minister. | ||
Democracy was not, however, accompanied by a permanent peace. A [[wikipedia:en:Eritrean%E2%80%93Ethiopian_War|border dispute with Eritrea]] in May 1998 led to a war that neither side could afford and which lasted until 2000, the same year that new elections were held that resulted in only 12 seats being won by the opposition. New elections in 2005 were greated disputed, and those in 2010 again returned Meles Zenawi as Prime Minister. In mid 2011, after the rainy season failed two years in a row, East Africa experienced [[wikipedia:en:2011_East_Africa_drought|its worst drought in 60 years]]. | Democracy was not, however, accompanied by a permanent peace. A [[wikipedia:en:Eritrean%E2%80%93Ethiopian_War|border dispute with Eritrea]] in May 1998 led to a war that neither side could afford and which lasted until 2000, the same year that new elections were held that resulted in only 12 seats being won by the opposition. New elections in 2005 were greated disputed, and those in 2010 again returned Meles Zenawi as Prime Minister. In mid-2011, after the rainy season failed two years in a row, East Africa experienced [[wikipedia:en:2011_East_Africa_drought|its worst drought in 60 years]]. | ||
==Specific causes of deforestation== | ==Specific causes of deforestation== | ||
===Conflict and forced migration=== | |||
Violent conflict generally does not directly cause loss of forest cover, but it does provide the conditions in which more specific causes can rapidly accelerate. As this very brief history of recent Ethiopian history shows, the country and its people have had to contend with the mayhem caused by almost constant conflict throughout much of the 20th century, and even into the early 21st century, thanks to its attempted colonisation by the Italians and then decades of either repression of Eritrea following its annexation or open internecine warfare triggered by the Marxist putsch of 1974. As if this was not enough, there were then border wars with the newly independent Eritrea at the close of last century. Not only have those wars killed and maimed hundreds of thousands of people, they have also led to the destruction or undermining of national infrastructure and institutions that regulated and policed natural resource use, including forests, disrupted traditional forest husbandry and commercial activities based on cultivation of forest products, reduced local populations to extreme poverty so that they are forced to exploit land and forest resources far beyond their natural capacity to regenerate themselves, and contributed to devastating droughts that seriously eroded forestry ecosystems. | |||
It has become a popular aphorism that modern day famines tend to be manmade, and this was certainly the case in the infamous mid-1980s famine that sparked Western humanitarian efforts, such as Live Aid. While other African countries (Kenya and Botswana) had faced drought conditions and the potential for famine at the same time, a humanitarian disaster was created in Ethiopia by the social disruption triggered by the ill-conceived efforts of the revolutionary Marxist regime to promote affirmative policies, such as administration of the rural sector through military, state and party structures, collectivisation of agriculture, diversion of scarce resources to state and collective farms at the expense of small-scale farmers, and the resolution of conflict through military means, etc.<ref> (Kloos & Lindtjorn, 1993). Famine and Malnutrition. In H. Kloos, & Z. A. Zein (Eds.). The Ecology of Health and Disease in Ethiopia, 53. (pp. 103-120). Oxford, UK: Westview Press.</ref> The subsequent famine prompted the survival mechanism among Ethiopian subsistence farmers to migrate from the north to Southwest Ethiopia in search of not only humanitarian aid camps, but also arable land where they could continue to maintain agricultural output. However, as all the readily accessible land in lower elevations was already occupied, the new immigrants had no choice but to settle in remote locations at higher elevations and clear the land of trees to make a living where the profits to be made from farming are much lower due to the lower soil quality and greater transportation costs.<ref name="Getahun" /> Moreover, migrating subsistence farmers driven by conflict and poverty come into conflict with forest farmers that collect natural coffee, spices and honey from natural forests.<ref name="Getahun" /> | |||
Times of extreme violence and security vacuums resulting from regime breakdown also lead to accelerated deforestation. In their study of deforestation in the South Central Rift Valley Region of Ethiopia, Dessie and Kleman<ref name="Dessie" /> identified two periods in particular of abrupt change that correspond with the two most recent changes of governments in Ethiopia: the collapse of the old order of Haile Sellasie in 1974-75 and the crumbling of Mengistu’s Marxist regime in 1991-92. Farmers interviewed by Dessie and Kleman reported that during periods of disorder and transition between governments, more trees are felled and more forestland settled. Presumably this is the result of either greater forced migration pressures induced by the dying regimes’ final violent death throes and/or the catastrophic breakdown in authority that eliminates all physical and legal protection of forested land. | |||
===Population pressure=== | |||
As noted above, Ethiopia has a population estimated at over 84 million, making it one of the largest in Africa and the 14th largest in the world. Large population increases over the last century have put huge pressure on the land and have resulted in extensive forest clearing for agricultural use and grazing, and exploitation of existing forests for fuel wood, fodder, and construction materials. Population pressures have also added to north-south migration and settlement, and clearance of forested land previously seen as unsuitable for farming. In their study of deforestation in the moist evergreen Afromontane forests of Southwest Ethiopia, Getahun et al.<ref name="Getahun" />noted that the forest transitions from a phase of net deforestation to net reforestation recorded in many parts of tropical areas in Southeast Asia and Latin America have generally not been seen in Africa. One of the possible reasons Getahun at al give for this observed delay is the ongoing exponential population growth, the large proportion of people who are employed in subsistence farming and the slow adoption of modern farming techniques. According to Ethiopian Tree Fund Foundation<ref> Ethiopian Tree Fund Foundation (n.d.). Deforestation is Fuelling Environmental Deterioration and Famine in Ethiopia. Retrieved from [http://www.etff.org/news_forest/dec1205deforstation.htm]</ref>, “the high population growth, low agricultural productivity, and the poor economic performance of the country so far are important push factors that have accelerated the deforestation process in the country”. | |||
===Fuel wood=== | |||
In a low technology and poverty-stricken society like Ethiopia, the main source of fuel for cooking and heat is wood or charcoal made from wood, and this is one of the chief causes of deforestation. Wood is the primary source of household energy consumption in most rural areas and in poorer households in urban areas. It is used for cooking, heating, lighting, brewing and smithing. Even relatively modern facilities can be dependent on fuel wood. For example, Assefa and Bork<ref name="Assefa" /> report that hotels and higher educational institutions and schools in the Chencha and Arbaminch areas in Southern Ethiopia use wood for energy, mainly for catering. In these areas wood is cheaper than electricity and is readily available in comparison with the unreliability of electricity supplies. | |||
Population increases have also contributed to higher demand for both fuel wood and construction wood and it is surrounding natural forests that tend to be the main source of timber production. Consequently, the sale of wood is an important source of income for many people and is used to supplement income from agricultural production rural areas. | |||
===Agricultural practices=== | |||
Forest clearance to facilitate expansion of agricultural land is driven not only by population increases, but also low agricultural production rates. In some areas the majority of farming households cultivate plots less than 0.5 ha in size, which is usually insufficient for providing nutrition all year round, and which in turn drives the clearance of even more marginal land. Low productivity combined with further declines in soil fertility from lack of forest cover, soil erosion, erratic rainfall, pests and diseases, and an inability to purchase fertilisers and improved seed because of a lack of off-farm employment further compounds the problem.<ref name="Assefa" /> This dearth of fertile land and alternative employment to supplement farm income is critical in continuing deforestation practices. Traditionally, subsistence or smallholder farmers farmed only the most suitable land in relatively flat areas with access to nearby roads and near settlements with complementary job opportunities. War and internal forced migration from the mid-1970s onwards, however, led to the reclamation of farmland on less suitable areas, especially in the hitherto less populated south, including steep hillside slopes and in more remote locations. As Getahun et al.<ref name="Getahun" /> note “[e]ven after three decades these immigrants were on average not able to obtain the living standards of the original farmers because the profits they can generate with their farming activities are much lower due to a lower soil quality and higher transportation costs” (p.179). The long years of violent conflict are also responsible for a lack of investment in the infrastructure that would create jobs and support more sustainable agriculture and use of existing forest resources by local communities. For example, the lack of development means there are few roads and hence easy access to markets to sell agricultural or forest products. The result is on-going poverty in the most inaccessible regions and hence over-exploitation of forest resources or clearance for the basic needs of survival. | |||
One of the contributing factors to the decline in soil fertility is the use of animal dung as fuel in times of scarcity and stress (caused by war or drought) when it should be used as a fertiliser on cultivated land, thus further forcing encroachment on to forested areas. In addition, as agricultural technology was slow to develop in Africa, farming systems were perpetuated that relied on slash-and-burn cultivation. | |||
The advent of cash cropping has also played a hand in deforestation. In some areas industrial-style agriculture was introduced to supply export markets for cash to fund modernisation projects, e.g. coffee, resulting in the clearing of large areas of forest and the introduction of intensive, often non-sustainable agricultural practices. Cash crops also reduce the amount of cultivated land available for subsistence farming and hence encourage migration into more marginal areas or the settling of evicted smallholder farmers in forest settlements which leads to further clear felling.<ref name="Dessie" /> | |||
==Misdirected foreign aid and de-emphasis of indigenous knowledge=== | |||
This goes hand-in-hand with the rise of cash cropping, as well-intentioned aid foreign programmes and World Bank-imposed Structural Adjustment Programmes have laid stress on modernising the Ethiopian economy and incorporating it into the global economy through the farming of monocultural crops for world markets, such as the aforementioned coffee, and cereal crops for export. This has exacerbated forest clearance for fresh fertile land that is in many cases quickly exhausted without the liberal application of chemical fertilisers. The same process also tends to de-emphasise customary agricultural and forestry practices through which some equilibrium between livelihood, environmental sustainability and resource exploitation was maintained in the past. | |||
===Over-exploitation of non-timber forest products (NTFPs)=== | |||
Where forest cover still exists and is preserved by the local population there is still the acute danger of over-exploitation of forest products. Whether for subsistence or commercial purposes, intense extraction of these products can have a negative impact on the population dynamics of the plants being exploited. Such impacts may lead to changes in the forest community structure. The impact depends on the parts of plants that are harvested in NTFPs. Harvesting of some NTFPs like leaves and fruits, may have a negligible effect on the plant population being exploited, depending on the intensity of the harvest. Harvesting of bark, roots or bulbs, however, usually kills or fatally weakens the plant species used. For other products, such as palm heart, trees have to be cut to be able to harvest the product. An important group of NTFP in East Africa is gums and resins or Acaica, Boswellia and Commiphora species that produce gum Arabic, frankincense and myrrh. <ref name="Bishaw" /> | |||
===Lack of governance and land tenure issues=== | |||
Ethiopia has seen a number of changes in the regulatory frameworks governing land ownership which continue to provide uncertainty to the farmer and to rural communities. Up until the late 19th century land ownership was generally ruled by a caste system, but as Ethiopia adapted to the Western notion of the nation-state and various territories were incorporated into the country different land tenure systems began to be used. Assefa and Bork<ref name="Assefa" /> discuss the introduction of the “gabar” system in the south-west through which land was provided to central government officials, priests, civil servants and the high-ranking military officers. The sources of land were forest tracts that were then cleared and used for agriculture. Nation-building, the establishment of a standing army and the infrastructure and roads needed to facilitate the two also exerted pressure on the natural forests. During their occupation of the country from 1938 to 1943, the Italians tried to curry favour among the local people by revoking the “gabar” system and giving the land to those who had previous served the “gabars” (landowners). Those who had legal permits to extend their land did so by felling trees. | |||
Once the Italians left, private individuals took over many of the forests in Ethiopia, which led the way to large-scale mechanized agriculture, resulting in the wholesale clearance of forests. But following the ascendance of the Marxist regime in 1974-75, the land tenure system changed dramatically when all land became the property of the state and farmers were left with only usufruct rights. Farmers thus had no incentive to invest in long-term land development “and therefore they did not plant trees for fear that the land might be appropriated by the government and redistributed to others”. <ref name="Assefa" /> Before 1974 about half of the forestland was privately owned or claimed, and approximately half was held by the government, though there was next to no government control of forestry operations prior to the revolution. The 1975 land reform under the Marxist government nationalised forestland and sawmills, which were concentrated in the south. The government controlled harvesting of forestland, and in some cases individuals had to obtain permits from local peasant associations to cut trees. But this measure encouraged illegal logging and expedited the destruction of Ethiopia's forests.<ref name="Ofcansky" /> In addition, the Derg regime’s management of land was so resented by farmers that once the government collapsed in 1991 the farming population vented their anger by clearing trees that had been planted as part of an afforestation programme promoted by the former regime. The intentions of this programme had been well-placed and had been instituted in response to the massive famine of the mid-1980s, resulting in tree planting on 400,000 ha of land. But it was a top-down initiative that lacked genuine community participation and had largely been undertaken on land previously used for grazing purposes.<ref name="Assefa" /> Thus it had no popular support which led to the removal of those forests and poor management of existing forests by extremely weak institutions and legal frameworks during the tumult of the 1991 regime change. | |||
==Consequences== | |||
The negative impacts of deforestation are numerous. Soil erosion and nutrient depletion from the removal of trees and over-grazing on cleared areas are the main reasons for loss of agricultural production and increased food insecurity. The loss of vegetation through over-grazing exacerbates soil erosion by water and lowers retention of nutrients in the soil. In addition, cattle tracks seal the soil which in turn prevents infiltration that causes high surface run-off during heavy rains, which again further erodes the soil.<ref name="Assefa" /> | |||
[[File:Boswellia sacra.jpg|left|thumb|Flowers and branches of the Boswellia sacra tree, the species from which most frankincense is derived]] | |||
Biodiversity has been adversely affected. Indigenous trees have become endangered. ‘’Cordia Africana’’, for example, has become rare. Its wood is used to make coffins, roof supports, agricultural sheds and its wood provides the raw material needed in the timber industry. Bamboo is another tree species that is fast disappearing and which is used for house construction and fences. Previously, bamboo was left to grow for a long period, which allowed the construction of larger dwellings, but now that early felling is so common, houses are consequently smaller.<ref name="Assefa" /> In addition, thanks to the lack of bamboo and long, hard grasses, rectangular houses made of corrugated iron are taking the place of the traditional upturned-basket form of houses. This disappearance of rare tree species also leads to destruction and fragmentation of natural habitats and hence additional loss of biodiversity. For example, the mountain nyala, a mammal endemic to Ethiopia, became extinct in the South Central Rift Valley in the 1980s.<ref name="Assefa" /> | |||
The inability of soils cleared of trees to retain water leads to a reduction in the amount of available underground water. Decreases in surface water have also been reported. For example, Lake Cheleleka dried up between 1972 and 2000, as have a number of streams that previously fed the lake, which is most probably related to reduced streamflow resulting from deforestation and increased use of stream water for irrigation purposes. <ref name="Dessie" /> Deforestation has also been linked to increased sedimentation in rivers which obstruct hydropower plants considered to be of great importance to the economic development of Ethiopia.<ref name="Getahun" /> | |||
==Existing stands of forest== | |||
Despite the many problems of deforestation in Ethiopia, there are still examples of well-managed and preserved forests and trees in various parts of the country. The Orthodox Church, for example, has maintained forest cover on its property for a long period of time. There are also sacred forests in parts of Ethiopia mostly found on the summits of mountains and the plateaus of ridges. They are where sacrificial functions take place to ensure a good year in which the land will provide a bountiful harvest and women will give birth. Some of these sacred forests are used to a very limited extent as a source of firewood and construction materials, strictly policed by spiritual leaders, while in other sacred forests there is a taboo on cutting trees and collecting firewood.<ref name="Assefa" /> There are also stands of old trees along lakeshores and near springs in the lowlands which play a vital role in regulating water fluxes and the movement of sediment. Furthermore, there are still woodlands along the escarpment in the rift valley that are used as a source of firewood collection. They are, however, over-exploited and are used to provide grazing for cattle from the surrounding countryside with all its attendant problems. This has led to high surface run-off and flooding that affects the lowlands during the rainy season and is the subject of conflict between highlanders who look upon the escarpment woodlands as a source of firewood, while lowland farmers look upon the woodland as something that needs to be preserved to protect lowland farmland from gullying and flooding.<ref name="Assefa" /> | |||
==Afforestation efforts== | |||
As noted above, the Mengistu regime had attempted large-scale afforestation in the 1980s, although without proper public consultation and participatory processes most farmers had a negative view of the campaign because it reduced the amount of pasture land available to them. Moreover, the planting of exotic, mostly eucalyptus trees did not facilitate the undergrowth of herbs and grasses suitable for cattle grazing. As the planting failed to allow for community participation it was not able to address the main problems of rural and farming communities. | |||
On the other hand, trees are planted at the individual household level, usually on degraded steep slopes with poorer soil quality that are no longer used for cropping or grazing, or along paths and roads. However, the general tendency is to plant mostly exotic varieties – eucalyptus and juniper. The former became predominant in the 1980s when they were encouraged by the government and eucalyptus seedlings were supplied for free. They also have certain advantages over indigenous types in the eyes of farmers: there is a short period between harvests (eucalyptuses are coppiced each third year), they do not require much care and they can grow in poorer soils.<ref name="Assefa" /> There are disadvantages, however, as they require large amounts of water and grass rarely grows at their base, thus limiting grazing potential. | |||
==Conclusion== | |||
Ethiopia has suffered a catastrophic reduction in forest cover over the past century to between an estimated 2% to 3% of its original forest area as a result of farming practices, violent conflict, high population growth, and land tenure regimes. Deforestation has resulted in a precipitous fall in the quality of land used for agricultural purposes, even though the vast majority of the population relies on agriculture for subsistence needs. It also has negative impacts on eco-system provisional services, such as loss of water retention and the drying up of lakes and waterways. Decades of civil war have exacerbated forest clearance by forcing the internal migration of huge numbers of Ethiopians from the heavily populated north to the comparatively sparsely populated climes of the south which were once relatively well forested. Well-intentioned but ill-advised top-down afforestation campaigns and the breakdown in government authority during regime change placed further pressure on the remaining old stands of trees. | |||
We can see a number of relationships at work between various actors involved in the issues that lie behind deforestation in Ethiopia. To name but a few, they include the historic relationships between the former tribal aristocracies and the lower castes, inter-tribal relations and their different conceptions of and attitudes toward the land, the creation of the Ethiopian nation-state and the dynamic that led to the imposition of alien land tenure regimes in different parts of the country, the creation of a new upper social class alongside the new state and its monarchy and its attendant demands, the occupation by European invading forces and their efforts to suppress national customs or curry favour with specific groups, the conflict between different users of the land, e.g. farmers versus the growing urban population, religious customs versus economic and population pressures, the state and its agents versus the people, especially during the bedlam of regime change in the 1970s and the 1990s, and the external demands of foreign financial institutions (the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank) or well-meaning foreign NGOs. Just from this brief enumeration of the relationships between various actors it is clear that one set of highly unequal relationships follows another. The potential for more inclusive and participatory processes that heed the needs of all actors would therefore seem to be a logical way forward in the struggle to retain and increase forest cover in Ethiopia. Deeper research into analysing different actors, their resources and influence on other actors also logically warrants further attention. | |||
== Resources == | == Resources == | ||