Trees For Ethiopia

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Desertification reversed in northern Ethiopia

Desertification reversed in northern Ethiopia
Katherine Nightingale

6 February 2009 | EN

The Bolago valley where indigenous trees have regrown

Jan Nyssen
Some of the most severe cases of land degradation in semi-desert areas could be reversed with the right policies, researchers in Ethiopia have concluded.

A study of a dry region in the north of the country, whose population had increased ten-fold and whose land had become highly degraded, found that local people have nevertheless managed to coax it back into recovery.

Key to the study was a collection of sepia photographs taken during Great Britain's military expedition to Abyssinia in 1868, which researchers were able to compare with more recent images — building up a story of the semi-arid landscape spanning 140 years.

The scientists, from Belgium and Ethiopia, used the photographs — which covered a 10,000 kilometre square area of the Tigray region in northern Ethiopia in the dry seasons of 1868 and 2008 — to compare levels of vegetation and other indicators of land health. They combined this information with field research and ratings from land management experts.

The climate in the region is temperate, making it suitable for agriculture, said Jan Nyssen, a professor in the department of geography at the University of Ghent, Belgium, and lead author of the study.

But the land is also made up of steep hillsides. With no land management practices in place, and a soaring population, the land had severely eroded and the vegetation decreased to a fraction of what it was.

However, after the famine in the 1980s, "people became conscious both within and outside Ethiopia that [the land degradation] could not continue", says Nyssen.

Starting in the 1980s, the government terraced the steep slopes with 'stone bunds', built stone walls that follow the contours of hills to prevent erosion and flooding; closed extremely degraded areas to grazing, crop cultivation and tree-felling; and replanted forests.

The Bolago valley in 1868

Royal Engineers of the British Navy, Courtesy of Kings Own Museum, Lancaster, UK
The authors show that there has been a "remarkable recovery of vegetation and also improved soil protection". This, they say, "invalidates hypotheses of the irreversibility of land degradation in semi-arid areas".

Crucially, while the recovery began as a top-down approach initiated by the government, local communities came to recognise the value of such conservation work because they could see for themselves its benefits — such as reduced flooding, says Nyssen. In fact, they had no option but to improve their land husbandry, say the researchers.

"What we've tried to show is that whatever small amount of support can be given by government in terms of policies and budgetary provision, our land which has been degraded can respond positively," said Mitiku Haile, president of Ethiopia's Mekelle University and a co-author of the study.

"The government in Ethiopia has been encouraged by such studies and now they are carrying out massive areas closure, reforestation programmes and also wise use of these resources."

Ced Hesse, director of the dryland programme at the International Institute for Environment and Development in London, UK, said that the phenomenon of "more people, less erosion" has arisen elsewhere when a combination of rising populations and favourable markets have led to investment in land preservation.

But Andrew Warren, a professor at the department of geography at the UK-based University College London was more pessimistic. "The findings should not be extrapolated outside their study area," he told SciDev.Net. "There are lots of reports of things getting better, but also lots saying they're getting worse."

Researchers have concluded that, with the right policies in place, coaxing a severely degraded region back into recovery is possible.

Planting trees in Ethiopia

Planting trees in Ethiopia

The world is losing its natural forests. So much so that deforestation contributes more to global carbon emissions every year than the transport sector. Yet trees are a natural environmental power house. The oxygen they produce removes air pollution, lowers temperatures and adds moisture to the air. By holding soil in place and reducing run-off from streams, they prevent soil erosion, control avalanches and mitigate desertification.

With forests storing 283 gigatonnes of carbon in their biomass alone, curbing deforestation – and re-planting trees – is a highly effective way to reduce carbon emissions.

At the turn of the 20th century, 40 per cent of Ethiopia was covered by forest. Today that figure is just 3 per cent. As a consequence, deforestation is jeopardising livelihoods and taking its toll on children’s development, most especially in its remote and underdeveloped regions.

In 2007, as part of its millennium celebrations, the Government of Ethiopia pledged to plant more than 60 million trees across the country. UNICEF, a key partner in this highly ambitious initiative, is contributing to the planting of at least 20 million trees. The overall aim is to create a safer, healthier environment for Ethiopia’s future generations whilst taking action on the deforestation which is contributing to flash-flooding and the destruction of homes and crops.

UNICEF believes it is vital that children and young people are able to play a role in protecting their environment. To that end, Ethiopia’s Millennium Tree Planting Campaign has enlisted children and young people as major partners.

Two year-old seedlings – from five indigenous species – are being planted and nurtured by children and young people in school compounds and areas selected by local communities. The campaign is raising public awareness about broader environmental issues and with the children’s enthusiastic involvement is, quite literally, putting one aspect of environmental protection firmly in their hands.

Ethiopia’s Millennium Tree Planting Campaign is part of UNEP’s ‘Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign’. Individuals, children and youth groups, schools, community groups, NGOs, farmers, the private sector, local authorities and national governments are all encouraged to enter tree-planting pledges online. Each pledge can be anything from a single tree to several million trees.

Sources: UNICEF Country Programme, Ethiopia, “Climate Change and Children”, UNICEF 2007.

Information - What is Trees for Ethiopia?

Window To Ethiopia is an all-volunteer, not-for-profit organization based in Alexandria, Virginia, USA.

The founder and president of the Board of Directors of Window To Ethiopia is James N. Larsen, CAE, an association professional for over twenty years and a development and marketing consultant in the hotel and tourism fields. He is currently Executive Director of the Dulles Area Transportation Association in Chantilly, Virginia, a 501(c)3 organization dedicated to improving the environment through traffic management strategies.

His desire to help Ethiopia and its people developed during a five week sabbatical in 2007. He traveled over 3000 kilometers along the Historic Route in a four-wheel drive vehicle, visiting not just the historic sites but also the rural villages and farms where he came to know and admire these proud people and their culture.

On a second visit, Mr. Larsen journeyed to eastern Ethiopia, from Addis Ababa to Harar. He visited the South Rift Valley, with an extended stay around Lake Langano and in the adjacent countryside. Here he became aware of the seriousness of the deforestation and its potential impact on the ecology, particularly in the area surrounding Lake Abiata and Lake Shalla. After a trip to the Menagasha Forest, Mr. Larsen returned to Addis Ababa with a beginnings of a plan to help renew Ethiopia's forests.

Back in the United States, Mr. Larsen began making contact with other organizations involved in helping Ethiopia. With input from of Catie Dupont, a former member of the Board of Directors of Ethiopia Reads and current volunteer who lived in country for over a year, Mr. Larsen developed the Trees 4 Ethiopia concept.

Through the sale of silicone Trees 4 Ethiopia wristbands - initially at the Ethiopian Sports Federation in North America (ESFNA) 2008 Soccer Tournament June 28-July 5 at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC - Window To Ethiopia hopes to raise thousands of dollars to begin the community-based planting and nurturing of trees.

Another of Window To Ethiopia's projects is a recently-launched educational sponsorship program providing financial support for deserving middle school students in the villages near Arse Neagle.

Members of the Board of Directors - each for his or her own reasons - share Mr. Larsen's commitment to Window To Ethiopia.

Girum Amanuel, a native Ethiopian, lives in Arlington, Virginia and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Mr. Amanuel has a hospitality management background with roots in the business community both here and in Ethiopia.

Douglas A. Pickford, President of Conservation Concepts, LLC, has over twenty years of environmental and land use planning experience. He has served in both public sector and private entities.

Kelly Woodward has over thirty years experience in marketing and public relations for associations and corporations. She has been involved with numerous charitable organizations including the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the Association for Retarded Citizens.

Hugh Barton, Barton & Barton Travel Consultants, has significant international business and tourism experience. Born in the United Kingdom, he has lived and worked in Hong Kong and Virginia and traveled extensively in Europe and Asia. Mr. Barton's grandfather was the minister to Ethiopia during the early reign of Haile Selassie.

Catie Dupont is a former member of the Board of Directors of Ethiopia Reads, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving literacy in Ethiopia by funding and opening libraries and by publishing bilingual children's books. She remains an enthusiastic and committed volunteer.

Martin Miller is a middle school librarian and former educator. For over twenty years, he has dedicated himself to promoting literacy and a love of reading.

For further information on Window To Ethiopia., e-mail James Larsen at info@windowtoethiopia.org