PART ONE
Speaking on a ceremony dedicated to the startup of this year’s National Green Legacy Initiative, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed underscored on the importance of transferring green and clean Ethiopia to the upcoming generation as an important part for accelerating the prosperity of the country.
This contribution intends to produce a short analysis on the objective linkage between Ethiopia’s Climate Change Resilient Green Economy Strategy and policy, the National Green Legacy Initiative, Yelemat Trufat Program, food security, TVET, Ethiopia Tamirt programs and their implication for the national economic development of the country.
Ethiopia’s Climate Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) strategy, launched in 2011, aims to build a middle-income economy by 2025 while ensuring environmental sustainability. The strategy focuses on four pillars which include agriculture for improving crop and livestock production practices to increase food security while reducing emissions. Protecting and re-establishing forests for their economic and ecosystem services while expanding electricity generation from renewable sources for domestic and regional markets and leapfrogging to modern and energy-efficient technologies. The CRGE aims to integrate these pillars to balance economic growth with environmental sustainability and resilience to climate change.
On the other hand, the Green Legacy Initiative, launched by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in 2019, aims to combat deforestation and climate change by planting billions of trees across Ethiopia.
The major objectives of the Green Legacy Initiative include: mitigating the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation, enhancing biodiversity by restoring native tree species, mobilizing citizens in environmental conservation efforts as well as supporting sustainable livelihoods through agroforestry and green jobs.
The National Green Legacy is not just about planting trees as some may think. It is not even only about expanding the forest coverage of the country which has now reached more than 23% as recently reported by the Premier. The National Green Legacy Initiative encompasses a global initiative of combating global warming and decarbonizing the earth’s atmosphere.
It also involves the development of food forest as a linkage to ensuring food security at household and community levels. The initiative is also closely linked with environmental conservation and beefing up the water resources, flora and fauna in the country.
It is also worth noting that the recently launched Clean and Healthy Streets has an internal linkage with the NGLI in the context of creating clean livable cities and towns across the country through street corridors development which kicked off in Addis Ababa.
Ethiopia’s achievements in climate diplomacy are now growing with higher visibility and international recognition particularly by the UN. The country is now entering into a new phase of climate diplomacy as the nation has now become a member of BRICS effective January 2024. The nation can use climate diplomacy along with other routine diplomatic undertakings to siphon in more FDI, promoting tourism and people to people public diplomacy across BRICS member countries.
In addition, Ethiopia needs to scale up its efforts in G77 countries to promote climate diplomacy in the context of South-South cooperation framework.
On the other hand, Ethiopia can use the nation’s experience in public diplomacy to bolster climate diplomacy by blending it with the promotion of ecotourism as a driving force for climate diplomacy and also by incorporating the various forms of diplomacy mentioned earlier.
It must be noted that diplomacy that is conducted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is institutional diplomacy that is conducted at government level. Heads of State and Government also conduct diplomacy at their level either by mobilizing the various government institutions or just by themselves. Climate diplomacy is the one that Ethiopia has a lot to gain from in the future.
This year, the entire population of the country is bracing for planting some seven billion trees across the country scaling up the number of trees planted in the country since 2019 close to 40 billion.
In connection to this, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Ethiopia is crucial for providing skilled manpower necessary for the development of various sectors, including manufacturing, agriculture, and service industries. The role of TVET in Ethiopia includes, equipping individuals with practical skills and technical knowledge, supporting the growth of key industries and fostering innovation, reducing unemployment by providing market-relevant skills as well as promoting the adoption of modern technologies and practices in various sectors.
Integrating the above mentioned areas is of critical importance for the nation’s economy. TVET programs can train individuals in sustainable farming practices and forest management, supporting CRGE’s goals and the Green Legacy Initiative. In addition, TVET can provide training in renewable energy technologies, supporting CRGE’s energy goals.
Moreover, TVET can help create green jobs through skills development in areas such as agroforestry, conservation, and renewable energy, aligning with both CRGE and Green Legacy objectives. Both initiatives encourage community participation, which can be strengthened through TVET by providing education and training on environmental stewardship and sustainable practices. It is equally important to revitalize the university-industry operational relations to produce need based technical professionals that can manage the various planned activities and campaigns.
Ethiopia’s integrated approach through the CRGE policy, Green Legacy Initiative, and TVET programs demonstrates a comprehensive strategy to achieve sustainable development, mitigate climate change and enhance the resilience of its economy and communities. This alignment ensures that economic growth does not come at the expense of the environment, and it promotes a skilled workforce capable of supporting and sustaining these initiatives.
Yelemat Trufat, also known as ‘Basket Bounty’, is an initiative by the Ethiopian government aimed at improving the nutritional status of children and enhancing their educational outcomes. The program primarily targets school-aged children in rural and underserved areas, providing them with nutritious meals sourced from local agricultural products.
The major objectives of Yelemat Trufat include nutritional opulence, the development campaign aims to boost productivity of dairy, eggs, chicken, and honey and related products as well as intensify efforts to achieve food self-sufficiency and ensure nutritional richness at family and national levels. The program has the potential to also produce agricultural products which are expected to be used as raw materials for the nascent agro-industrial development in the country.
Since 2003, Ethiopia has continued to engage in a national food security program in cooperation with national and international partners with the objective of ensuring food security at household level in more than 300 woredas across the country. Reducing the vulnerability to the effects of climate change and creating domestic assets for food self-sufficiency at the national level.
Siphoning out the benefits of Yelemat Trufat Campaign named after a local food basket made of straw is a home grown development campaign which focuses on promoting food security and food system, increasing income from foreign trade and promotion of import substitution.
The components are mostly based on agricultural potentials in different parts of the country with varying ecological endowments and climatically conditions. They are also interconnected as they have a common base on agriculture.
In general terms, the food security aspect of the campaign implies production of food ranging from grain food to root crops, vegetables and animal products that are essential for ensuring balanced diet at household level and within communities. Production of food is meant for distribution and marketing of food products to ensure access to enough food both in kind and volume. Access to food related to marketing food in a sustainable manner at all seasons and conditions at market price.
Generating income for purchasing food and other personal and social needs is also included in the efforts to ensure food security for all at a reasonable quality and in a specific consumption manner pattern. Moreover, food security is also related to the ability of household or community members to conserve food at food stress periods in Ethiopia particularly during the rainy season.
Diversification of food intake is an important component of standard nutritional needs of families, individuals and the society at large. The importance of food is related to consumption of various types of food both for nutritional purposes and for the prevention of micronutrient malnutrition which has continued to prevail in Ethiopia. Taking food, particularly horticultural and vegetables products enables consumers to prevent various preventable illness like diabetes, hypertension, kidney, liver and cardio-vascular diseases. Fruits and vegetables are rich in vitamins and other minerals which are useful for healthy life.
Food security initiatives manageable at household level are to be devised in such a way that millions of families would be capable enough to produce their own food. In this context bio-intensive gardening around homesteads combining fruit trees, tubers and multiple kinds of vegetables could help families to become hunger proofed and thereby improve their nutritional status even during food gap seasons. The DA assigned in every village across the country can play a decisive role in supporting farmers not only to produce their own food but also market access products to the local market so that they can earn some cash at hand.
Although Ethiopia has devised polices and strategies for food security over the last several decades, due to lack of systematic implementation capacity, modernization and mechanization of agriculture, in almost all cases attempts on food security faced several challenges related to climate change induced drought, floods and landslides.
Safety-net programs in arid and semi-arid parts of the country and drought prone areas have rendered a considerable of service for the promotion of food security at family level. The launching of food for work and cash for work programs in various drought affected areas has enable hundreds of thousands of families to withstand the effects of drought and food shortage in various parts of the country.
Promotion of urban agricultural practices in major cities of the country is very useful to reclaim dirt ridden and waste disposal areas in the cities to produce vegetable and fruit trees that could particularly help to enhance food security among female headed families in rural and urban towns.
Please note that the next part comes out in tomorrow’s edition.
BY SOLOMON DIBABA
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SATURDAY 29 JUNE 2024
