BY EPHREM ANDARGACHEW
Preserving the earth has a significant role in the health and productivity of human beings. Especially conserving, proper utilization of biodiversity key to not only the current generation but also the coming ones. Because biodiversity is all species and living things on earth in a specific ecosystem that represents the diversity of living species on earth that consist of plants, animals, bacteria, and fungi.
Ethiopia is endowed with various plant species and also the origin of important crop species that provides a variety of goods and services to human beings including water, food, fuel, construction material, and medicinal plants. They have been also used for the maintenance of hydrological cycles, cleaning air and water, the maintenance of oxygen in the atmosphere, crop pollination, and even things like beauty, inspiration, and research opportunities.
However, the biodiversity of the country has significance for living, but it has been negatively impacted by natural and human-made activities such as habitat, air, and water pollution, habitat fragmentation, water diversion, fire suppression, and the introduction and invasive species.
The biodiversity, which includes plants, animals, and microorganisms in each area, and their relations with each other as well as with their non-living environments namely water, weather, earth, sun, soil, climate, and atmosphere, has been affected by the negative impact of climate change. Hence, it is imperative to maintain a careful relationship between biodiversity and the ecosystem for living things.
Cognizant of the biodiversity and the coming of the Ethiopian New Year into consideration, scholars and officials leave their New Year messages regarding the conservation and the protection of biodiversity in the coming 2015 Ethiopian calendar.
Ethiopian Environment Authority Director General Dr. Getahun Garedew told The Ethiopian Herald that currently, wastes, left-over, and pollution are major challenges of climate change. To save irreplaceable human life and this world, it is important to protect the environment from various types of waste and pollution. In particular, it is appropriate to avoid practices that cause climate change. Therefore, in the 2015 Ethiopian New Year, we should focus and work on various activities that avoid causes of environmental and water pollution.
Ethiopian Ministry of Transport and Logistics State Minister Berro Hussain told The Ethiopian Herald that although the transport sector has been going through a lot of trouble in 2014, it has been also doing a lot of work on environmental protection and so on. As a country, Ethiopia has implemented a 30-year transport master plan which makes the transport sector convenient, accessible, and free from climate pollution.
Besides, the country has 10 years plan and work is being done to modernize the transport sector and make it free from climate pollution. Hence, in 2014, efforts were made to do extensive work on electric vehicles and charging stations. I wish that in the coming year we will expand what we have already started, where we will do environmentally friendly and customer-friendly transport operations, he added.
Haramaya University Plant Pathologist and the author of “Plant Disease Epidemiology and Management” Professor Chemeda Fininsa said that Ethiopia is a country blessed with biodiversity. The country has many forest products available only in Ethiopia that are not available in the world. These plants should deserve to be thoroughly examined and identified.
Although many plants have been identified so far, higher education institutions should design and work on different plant treatment projects. For this reason, I wish that the coming New Year will be the right time to work on plant diseases and management which help to ensure self-sufficiency in food and also produce medicines by working on plants, he underlined.
Haramaya University Biology Department Biodiversity Lecture, Anteneh Belayneh (Ph.D) in his part hopes that the new year should be one in which we do things that will enable us to ensure food security, protect the environment, and take care of water bodies. Instead of spending time regaining extinct species, it is also better to focus on protecting the biodiversity that we have at hand.
Especially, the year 2015 should be the year that we must carry out extensive work to get the Babile Elephant Sanctuary Park out of danger, which is facing a big danger at the moment, he wished.
According to Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute Microbial Directorate Fungus Case Team Leader Dr Dinke Wake, although Ethiopia has several microorganisms based on its ecological zone across the nation, there are limitations in terms of proper study and use of microbial species.
These resources can be used for drinking water filtration, water treatment, and the agriculture sector. There are fungi, bacteria, and algae that are used especially for plant growth promoters, plant defence boosters, accelerate germination, prevent disease, and so on. They can be not only for agriculture but also for medications. I hope that the New Year will be one in which we work extensively on these resources and save foreign currency, she added.
Ethiopian Biodiversity Institution Director Melese Mario (Ph.D) wishes that the new must be a year in which we can properly protect and use our biodiversity resources, and benefit from these resources fairly. It is also imperative to work on restoring and regaining the existing and lost biodiversity species. Due attention should be also given to protecting the damage of invasive weed species, and water pollution linked to the unregulated urban and industrial development of water bodies.
The year must be also a year that we deal with already identified biodiversity challenges that the plant species are facing such as environmental degradation, deforestation, recurrent drought, and so on. Besides, habitat destruction, overexploitation, expansion of agricultural lands, and so on are challenges to the water bodies of the country. Thus, along with restoring the ecosystem of the country, conservation is very important to regain the lost biodiversity of the country, he said.
Indeed, as scholars and officials underlined balanced and proper management of the ecosystem is important to ensure the existence of human beings. Currently, population growth and economic development have required the loss of biodiversity. Hence, it is important to design and plan for the coming Ethiopian new year how, what, and when to solve, persevere and maintain the ecology.
The Ethiopian Herald September 11/2022
