BY STAFF REPORTER
Recently, CIFOR, Water and Land Resource Center, Ethio Natural Resource Organization, PHE Ethiopian Consortium (PHEEC) had organized a discussion forum on institutional perspectives of opportunities and challenges surrounding natural resources.
The participants have discussed papers presented on the current situation of natural resources in Ethiopia. The topics include challenges and negative impacts of natural resources destruction, challenges and situation of Ethiopia’s forestry resources, Challenges and opportunities of Ethiopia’s green ecology, Ethiopia’s land-use plan and land policy, an organizational structure that is believed to be helpful to conserve and develop Ethiopia’s natural resources.
International forestry researcher Habtemariam Kassa (PhD) presented paper on the Challenges and current situation of Ethiopia’s forestry as well as institutional structure to conserve and develop Ethiopia’s natural resources. He said forest has many benefits to human beings including absorbing carbon, protecting and conserving biodiversity, social and cultural benefits like recreational and cosmetic benefits, regulating environmental and hydrological cycles.
They are also sources of pollen for bees, habitat for essential animals i.e. pollinators and predators. They also sustain the existence of agricultural, animal, water, energy, manufacturing and tourism sectors. They also allow self-reliance in food and wood, job creation, alternative income generation and fighting poverty. They also assist the national economy by substituting import of timber and saving foreign currency.
Habtemariam says Ethiopia’s forestry has encountered many challenges like lack of protection, shortage of support to forest sector expansion, absence of institutional structure as well as deforestation and depletion.
Deforestation and depletion of forest resources are growing worse from time to time as investors and smallholder farmers intrude into forest areas, over logging, over grazing and the looming rate of forest fire are among the major causes.
The country’s population has hit about 117 million while the number of animals has reached more than 187 million. The majority of them depend on natural resources. The increase in human and animal population that depend on natural resources, absence of a national land-use plan to respond to the needs and changes in land use, failure to identify and validate the majority of the forests by the relevant authority due to absence of clear and effective tenure system, failure to conform to existing and old rules, the poor role of the private sector in forestry, the looming climate change, aggravation of the socio-ecological vulnerability of communities around forests.
Deforestation and depletion are causing various worse consequences against the country, says Dr Habtemariam, loss of Biodiversity and habitat, as well as loss of soil and soil fertility, worsening of the vulnerability of communities at risk, flood, landslide, land degradation, erosion of land, the decline in irrigation and energy production due to siltation on dams and lakes, loss of water purity, desertification, shortage of food and wood, increase of foreign currency expenditure for timber products importation, are among the outcomes of shortage of forestry resources. According to some evidence the country spends up to Birr 70 billion annually for importing timber.
Though the sector is beset with various challenges, it is also full of many opportunities. The Climate Resilient Green Economy and the national target set to be met by 2022, Ethiopia’s ratification of the 2014 pan African convention for the Great Green Wall, Ethiopia’s commitment to rehabilitate depleted forest and degraded land by 2022, then 10 years development plan that is set to have a hierarchy up to Kebele level, the PMs green legacy initiative, the investment package for sustainable land administration are among the opportunities.
Other opportunities also include the existence of best practices and the chance of learning from other international experiences that could be replicated, tested and improved in Ethiopia. In addition, there is an international financial mechanism that could assist forestry initiatives.
According to Dr Habtemariam, the country has set a national target in natural resource conservation and ratified international conventions and targets that need collaborative effort.
The repeated closure and reopening of offices dedicated to the forest sector was not based on a study which made it difficult to execute integrated activities thereby endangering the sector, Habtemariam said adding it is important to focus on the issue of institutionalization of the sector to ensure effectiveness and accountability in the country’s ongoing activities of natural resources protection and conservation.
Though Ethiopia has been planting trees massively since the commemoration of the Ethiopian Millennium, the trees have not grown up to forest level anywhere in the country. Habtemariam believes that the reason for this is the absence of dedicated institutions and lack of integration among concerned institutions.
He also asserts that he does not believe that the ongoing seedling plantations are planned duly to become effective. He also indicates that this unplanned activity has a possibility of causing wastage in the country’s resources.
Currently, many institutions are undertaking seedling plantations in various corners. The seedling plantation is not a goal unless the planted seedlings bring about any change. The plantation should help realize the intended goal.
During seedling plantation, the reason, ownership, objective and site selection for the plantation is not usually thought about. The issue is shallow as it only focuses only on how many billions of seedlings are planted and how many of them sprouted.
This is the result of the absence of land use policy and plan. The problem has been snowballing through the successive regimes that ruled the country as all of them are afraid of the consequences of raising the issue. It is difficult to carry the country forward in such a situation. Especially it is too difficult to bring about the desired goal in the natural resource conservation sector.
Hence it is important to examine if the current institutionalization can help the PMs Efforts of Green Legacy bear fruit. Therefore natural resource conservation should be detached from agriculture. Both need land. Natural resource works to safeguard land from human beings and animal as well as the emerging natural disasters of drought and flood. Agriculture focuses on becoming food self-reliant and increasing export volume.
There should be an institution committed to natural resources and free from dependence on agriculture. It is possible to designate the non-cultivable land to the natural resource institution which can administer it with the support of science and technology.
Though some activities are carried out by the agriculture sector institution, it is working with a motive of tilling every plot of land as it is committed to developing agriculture. Dr Habtemariam says this is a wrong motive as all lands cannot be tilled and all lands cannot be afforested, either.
The country’s land resources should be apportioned for agriculture, urbanization and forestry. The sectors can develop their dedicated share of land accordingly.
According to Dr Habtemariam even though degrading agricultural land has been proclaimed to be a crime 15 years ago, there is no committed institution for its enforcement. Even though the law is not enforced, it states that land with a given altitude would be covered by perennial vegetation only.
People should no more engage in arbitrarily tilling any land they happen to own. It is important to enact land-use legislation and establish an institution that is in charge of securing the land. All responsibilities like agriculture, natural resources and land use should not be bestowed on the agriculture institution. This has been tested for years. It has been proved impossible to move forward by merging natural resources with agriculture.
Natural resources should be established at the Ministerial level and carry out activities. In addition, there is a need for another institution that would be in charge of land use and environmental protection. There is no institution in charge of reconciling institutions that claim the same land for their respective purposes. An institution may propose a given land for agriculture while another one may need that same land for agriculture, still another one for animal husbandry.
Other countries have land administration institutions. But the assignment of both the development and regulation works under one institution in Ethiopia has been causing problems. The handling of agriculture and natural resource is also causing problems.
Establishing a separate ministry is not going to incur any problem or expense against the government as there are already experts in veterinarians, crops and natural resources at the lower hierarchy. The government can better handle both the development and regulation without any additional cost implication.
Dr Habtemariam says one institution plants and regulates the plantation of seedlings. There is no agency in charge of identifying the appropriate land for plantation. Seedlings are being planted over land that cannot be covered by forest. Had there been a dedicated institution it would have identified the appropriate land and undertake the regulatory works. There is a need to work toward preventing the loss of the country’s opportunities. Therefore the natural resource protection work should be carried out by an independent institution. The land policy, conventions and regulatory works also should be separated from the administration of the natural resources works.
The Ethiopian Herald September 18/2021
