Re -Greening Addis Ababa Mountain Ranges

Aaron yancho kaah

  

The Horn of Africa Re- Greening projects were  established  to promote valuable ecosystems and the bio diversity  in the Horn of Africa Regions through the rehabilitaion of degraded areas  and to enhance  the  the benefits of ecosystem good and services among its people and communities.

 Over the years the Horn of Africa region  had face alarming levels of environmental degradation as a result of unsustainable land mangement  and natural resource use. This led to the dwindling of the natural forest cover  for years leading to an enviromental deterioration according to the Re greening program cordinator Dr. Almaz Tadesse. "While contributing to the poorer livelihood conditions, they was increased vulnerability  to the climate change  impacts  that brought terrible consequences on the people  and their resources" Dr Almaz remarked.

It was within this back drop that the Re- greening  project  was established  to Appropriately addresse key  environmental and social issues  in relation to land degradation in the Horn of Africa. "The challenge  was how  to sustainably rehabilitate  degraded  ecosystems at landscape levels  and to minimise future damages in the region."Dr. Almaz said.

The first implementation plan was to form partnerhsips  with relevant stakeholders within the communities to buttress the programs at the community levels and to ensure the sustainability of different activities. "At the moment the project has three locations where the Re greening project is going on in Ethiopia. The Addsi Ababa Mountain Range, Rift Vlley  and the Gambella" Dr. Almaz continued. The are also prospects to carry the program to the Northern highlands according to Dr Almaz. The Northern parts of Ethiopia are experiencing either a lack of proper conservation modules or soil and land degradation  at a high rate as a result of anthropogenic factors. The stultifying effects of the climate changes are making things worse.

In the three main areas  where the Re- Greening projects are taking place, Reforestation is a major activity and a total of 500.000 indegenous tree seedlings have been planted annually over the last three years. These tree planting projects hold under tree planting ceremonies involving the concerned communities, according to Dr Almaz. Other livelihood projects involve the distribution of bee hives and apple tree seedlings to selected farm families for the improvement of their income  and nutrition. "The aim is not only to enrich the forest  and to protect  the water sheds  from soil erosion, but also  to involve logically the beneficary communities  directly in the conservation of the ecosystems as a means of sustaining their livelihoods"Dr. Almaz posits.

In the line of events, the Horn of Africa  Re Greening programs has also helped  over the years  to organized activties commemorating world Earth day, the largest  most celebrated  environmental event world wide. "For over 4oyears Earth day commemorated  on April 22 has been a valuable  tool for inspiring  and mobilising  citizens and organizations  to demonstrate their committment to evironmental protection and sustainability".Dr Almaz concludes

The Re-Greening programs have some short term goals- there are nursing plans to develop a community base natural forest in the Buska Area and to cordinate a non timber forest product value chain development  projects in the Rift valley and  the Gambella forest areas to maximize the proper conservation of the ecosystems in the whole of Addis-Ababa.