Reforestation boosts Ethiopian economy

Tree-planting programme attracts investment in south Ethiopia

The promise of potential income is driving a reforestation programme in Ethiopia, after the Government granted ownership of the land to cooperative groups. Locals have planted cash crops such as Spanish apple seeds for orchards and fast-growing Australian eucalyptus for wood and fuel – alongside native species – in an attempt to replace lost forests in the southern state of Oromia.

Oromia had been the site of an intensive forestation programme in the late 1980s as part of the communist junta’s regime. The scheme obliged locals to plant trees in exchange for food – a top-down approach to land management that caused many locals to see reforestation as a punishment, as opposed to an opportunity. Mass deforestation in the region for short-term economic gain followed the overthrow of
the regime.

The success of the present cooperative effort, managed by the Environment Development Society, is as much about empowering people to improve their
long-term economic fortunes as it is about environmental conservation. The Government handed control of the land to a new body, the Farmers Forestry Development Corporation, with each member given 2.5 acres of land on which to plant trees.

According to farmer Ade Zaude of the Development Corporation, members have seen their incomes rise: “We now have a lot of resources... We have trees in our compounds, a lot of money in our savings account, and other farmers are coming to us to seek the knowledge.”

The programme not only encourages increased tree-planting, but has enabled those involved to attract investment in pig- and poultry-raising projects and beekeeping. Ethiopia has been hailed by the United Nations Environment Programme as the world’s top tree-planting country, with 1.4 billion saplings springing up as part of its Billion Tree Campaign.

- Sam Jones

Image credits: William Davies / istock