Cultural anthropologists agree that most theist societies believe life doesn’t end with death. The descendants follow different approach to memories the deceased. Most notably there are two types of ceremonies: cremation and entombment. The first is the culture of the orient countries which is the practice of disposing the corpse with extensive heat while the latter is common among the followers of Christianity and Islam which is the act of laying down the deceased body to the ground.
Be it as it may, however in Ethiopia grave yards are considered as majestically horrible fear mongering areas as the degrading handling of them. Nonetheless if government, urban developers, environmentalists pays due concern, cemeteries will serve as recreational centers and untapped tourist attraction cites. As we can see the experience of prosperous nations there is a huge income generated from well-developed mausoleums.
Recently the Ministry of Housing, Urban Development and Construction envisages aspiring plan to beautify cemeteries through planting trees as part of providing recreational ecosystem services. The holy trinity cemetery for instance is eye catching area and better to stay upon though it belongs to those from higher social strata.
In Ethiopia funerals in most religions is almost the same. Relatives and friends arrive in all black and take seats in the church for a somber ceremony where prayers are said, memories are shared and tears are shed. Arriving at the graveyard they place roses on the casket just before and after it is
buried. Then, they proceed to the immediate family’s home, however the graveyards had been forgotten and this has been posing threats for not only triggering horrible imagination and the fear of the inevitable death but also a potential barrier for effective land management.
Lakew Tebeje Ministry Communication Director said that along with the Addis Ababa City Administration and religious institutes his office is striving to provide recreational ecosystem service in nine cemeteries under different management which are the Municipality, Catholic Church, Italian Catholic Church, Italian & British Embassy, the Holy Trinity Church, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’s of Ethiopia and the Municipality & the Muslim Administration.
According to documents from the Addis Ababa University the cemeteries of Addis Ababa which are under different management give different kind of ecosystem services. Among these services recreation ecosystem provision is a possibility for the cemeteries.
But there are problems that they face such as absence of proper management and appreciation for recreational ecosystem service value, lack of specific regulations and knowledge for cemetery tree plantation and species diversification and recreational usage, seeing burials as the only income generator or profits by the management for sub-cities rather than considering the benefits of recreational ecosystem services and being under budgeted for the management of cemeteries.Some of the cemeteries that are found in the city of Addis Ababa have already commenced giving recreation ecosystem service.
A study which was conducted on Millennium and Holy Trinity Cemeteries by Alemayehu Zebad provides an illustration with numerical facts about ecosystem service. The study also describes the diversity of tree species in the cemetery. Field studies of tree diversity in these cemeteries were carried out between January and April 2013. Within a cemetery, of 20 m by 20 m square shaped sample plots were used to record information on tree diversity. A total of 756 stems were recorded in 18 plots.
The composition is overwhelmingly dominated by exotic species. Of the 23 species encountered 12 were indigenous and only 11 were introduced species. In terms of abundance, 44 % of the trees belonged to exotic species, while only 56% of the trees belong to indigenous species. In addition the study gives solutions for exploiting recreational potential and makes cemeteries relevant. And taking these into consideration the study formulates on how both the living and the dead could exist in the same space harmoniously.
The Ethiopian Herald July 18/2019
BY LAKACHEW ATINAFU
