In Ethiopia, there are about 80 monasteries from which 30 are selected as pilot study projects to preserve their forest resources through tree planting while 19 of these are the target areas of rehabilitation program. Menagesha Medhanealem Monastery, a Monastery located in Oromia State at Menagesha town, 50 Km.
West of Addis Ababa, is one among those pilot monasteries selected in Forest Conservation Program . The Church possesses Menagesha Forest covered with native and exotic tree species including Juniper trees that are estimated to be over 400 years old. It is also a place of unparalleled beauty for nature enthusiasts.
Not only that, the place is also commonly known for its exotic beauty and fresh air where one completely unwinds and reconnects with nature and enjoys life. To preserve this forest area, hence, currently the government and the Monastery are stretching Forest Conservation Program in the Monastery.
Ethiopian Orthodox Church Development and Inter- Church Aid Commission Commissioner Dr Agiedew Rede said that the Monastery and Church Areas Forest Conservation and Protection Programs were established forty years back, and they have been working with multilateral organizations to generate resources outside.
Mainly the Norwegian Church Aid has been providing the requiredfinancial, technical and professional supports with the aim to make nation’s forest development and conservation programs fruitful. In line with this, it donated 23 million birr for projects run for three years in three monasteries’- Menagesha Medhanialem Monastery, Abune Merha and Mertule Mariam in Oromia, Tigray, and Amhara states respectively Likewise, merely in the current year, a total of 65 million birr was donated by Norwegian, Germany and Swedish churches to improve and preserve forest resources within monasteries and churches nearby places.
Dr Agiedew also emphasized the further enhancements of these programs in relation to the current environmental and climate change influences on human daily life andactivities. “To reduce the impacts of the environmental and climate change noticed everywhere in the world today, planting trees is essential. Therefore, we will continue intensifying efforts on preservation of monastery forests,” he said. Monastery and church have longstanding traditions in the management and conserving of forests.
Where there are churches, there are also forests. And forests in the church have several functions ranging from spiritual to agricultural and ecological services as well as balancing the climate and socioeconomic functions such as wood for construction and blessing. He also added that the conservation program has created employment opportunity for 100,000 people either directly or indirectly in tree plantation, rehabilitation and conservation by providing training and trees to plant or to sell to be economically independent.
On the other hand, Menagesha Medhanealem Monastery and St. Mary Church Administrator Aba Moges Hailemariam told The Ethiopian Herald that the Monastery’s was established in the 4th century during Abreha we Atsbeha reign. And tree planting was started during the time of Emperor Zara Yacob, a seventeenth-century Ethiopian philosopher. This trend has been playing critical role in preserving the indigenous forest trees. The forest area covers over 9,000 hectares of land and providing better climate to the people of Addis Ababa. It releases the cold air during hot season in the form of wind and 200,000 trees planted per annum, headded.
In addition to creating employment opportunity for security guards engaged in protecting the forest from localities illegal activities [deforestation], the trees are used for house construction and firewood. The forest is also protected and conserved by the monks, nuns, clergies and communities residing in and around the Church, he remarked. Many wild animals, for instance Antelopes, monkeys, warthogs, porcupines, civet cats, and Columbus Monkeys reside in the Monastery.
Juniperus procera, Olinia rochetiana, acacia mearnsii, and Jasminum stans are dominant tree species, Aba Moges furthered. Norway International Climate and Initiative Managing Director, Andreas Dahl-Jorgensen in Oslo on his part said that the Norwegian Government and Norwegian Church Aid have been helping the project to conserve and increase the forest coverage for the past fifty years.
“Around the Church areas, the forest is protected and observed.” The Norwegian Church Aid Program does not only protect but also conserves the forest resources of the church in the targeted areas of the south west of the country. As Mr. Andreas said, every institutions have special role to preserve and manage the surrounding forest. And forest must be protected for beauty, biodiversity and contribute to water protection and better agricultural output. For climate change resilience, the churches have to work in restoring and preserving the remaining available natural forest and increase the forest coverage.
The Ethiopian Herald April 19/2019
BY MISGANAW ASNAKE
