case study - ethiopia

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  SOCIAL FORESTRY CASE STUDY OF ETHIOPIA Republic of the Philippines University of the Philippines Los Baños, Laguna _______________SFFG 101______________ Principles and Concepts of Social Forestry  Submitted by: Daniel, Dyanara Del Rosario, Peter Jerome Lapitan, Ezekiel Laurente , Marc Simon Pauig , Marc Vico Ramos , James Edelbert Submitted to: Asst. Prof. Maricel A. Tapia SFFG 101 Lecturer March 16, 2012

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SOCIAL FORESTRY CASE

STUDY OF ETHIOPIA

Republic of the Philippines

University of the Philippines

Los Baños, Laguna

_______________SFFG 101______________Principles and Concepts of Social Forestry

Submitted by:Daniel, Dyanara

Del Rosario, Peter Jerome

Lapitan, EzekielLaurente , Marc Simon

Pauig , Marc VicoRamos , James Edelbert

Submitted to:Asst. Prof. Maricel A. Tapia

SFFG 101 LecturerMarch 16, 2012

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OVERVIEW OF THE COUNTRY

Geography

  occupies most of the Horn of Africa covering

approximately 1,100,000 square kilometers

  major physiographic features are massive

highland complex of mountains and plateaus divided by

the Great Rift Valley and surrounded by lowlands along

the periphery

  lowlands are dry and very hot, resulting in vast

areas of desert

  Ethiopian Plateau are forests and woodland accounting for roughly a quarter of the total

land surface; however, have been diminishing in size due to fires and over-farming 

Population

  approximately 88 million residents by far and was the second most populous country in

Black Africa.

  most speak Semitic and Cushitic language

  most are farmers and herders but deforestation, drought, and soil degradation caused crop

failures and famine during the past few decades seven million people face starvation

  There has been phenomenal growth in the number of people living in EA drylands. This

growth is attributable to both advances in medical sciences as well as significant in-

migration into drylands from higher potential land due to over-stretching of the

Fast Facts

Capital: Addis Ababa; 2,723,000

Area:1,133,380 square kilometers(437,600 square miles)

Language: Amharic, Tigrinya,Orominga, Guaraginga, Somali, Arabic

Religion: Muslim, Ethiopian Orthodox,animist

Currency: Birr

Life Expectancy: 42

GDP per Capita: U.S. $700

Literacy Percent: 43

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agricultural and land resources in those areas. The increased population occurs within the

context of static or even contracting natural resource base.

Culture

  Ge'ez is one of the most ancient languages in the world and is still used today by the

Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church

  The traditional view was men neither cook nor do shopping because housework tends to

 be women's job

  Parents are stricter with their daughters than their sons; often parents give more freedom

to males than females

  Ethiopian men and women wear traditional costume called gabbi or Netella

  Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Christians do not eat meat and diary products (i.e. egg,

 butter, milk, and cheese) on Wednesdays and Fridays except the 50 days between Easter

and Pentecost, the Fast of the Prophets, the fast of Nineveh, Lent, the Fast of the Apostles

and the fast of the Holy Virgin Mary.

  Some tribes partially cover their body with leather but others do not wear any clothes at

all, merely decorating their faces and bodies with distinctive images.

Economy

  Industry: Food processing, beverages, textiles, chemicals

  Agriculture: Cereals, pulses, coffee, oilseed; cattle; hides

  Exports: Coffee, qat, gold, leather products, live animals, oilseeds

  one of the world's biggest coffee producers

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  Of non-petroleum producing countries of Africa, has the most rapidly growing gross

domestic product of any at 8%, the 5th fastest growing in the world but still having fairly

low GDP

  expected to increase industrialized farming practices and better use of vast water

resources (does not utilize irrigation in any extensive manner) could become a major

exporter of agricultural goods

Their current economy is still based on agriculture which suffers from frequent drought

and poor cultivation practices (Butler, 2006). Coffee was still critical in their economy

accounting for $ 156 million worth of exports in 2002 but there were low prices seen in their past

exports. Under their land tenure system, the government owns the land and provides long-term

leases to the tenants; in which this system hampered the growth in the industrial sectors as

entrepreneurs because they were not allowed to use the land as collateral for loans (Ibid).

STATE OF THE COUNTRY’S FORESTS 

Before getting directly into the discussion of the state of the forests in Ethiopia, let us see

first a brief background of the country. Before humans settled in Ethiopia, almost half of it was

covered with coniferous and other types of forests. Including the woodlands of its savanna,

almost 70 percent of Ethiopia’s land area was covered by forestlands (Britenbach 1961; Wood

1990; Kuru 1990; Yirdaw 1996 as cited by Bishaw 2001). Ethiopia was largely dominated by

subsistence agriculture and crop and livestock farming (Bishaw 2001).

But through time, even though this country has fertile woodlands, forest degradation

 became inevitable due to certain factors. According to UNEP (1983) as cited by Bishaw (2001),

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there has been a progressive deforestation which reduced Ethiopia’s forest area to 16 percent in

the 1950s and 3.1 percent in 1982. This was primarily caused by the past agricultural practices in

the country and intensive rainfall which led to soil erosion from the highlands (Bishaw, 2001).

Though surviving forest areas can be found in the southern and southwestern part of the

country and that efforts were done to preserve these areas, most of these areas were still prone to

exploitation such as coffee and tea cash cropping and logging (MOA, 1991 as cited by Bishaw,

2001). Futhermore, according to Getahun ang Hurni (1988, 1990) as cited by Bishaw (2001),

humans and domestic animals has altered both the vegetation and landscape of Ethiopia’s natural

high lands. There were many programs implemented to mitigate forest degradation. Bishaw

(2001) noted the establishment of 57 NFPAs or National Forest Priority Areas which covered

almost three percent of the country’s land area  covering almost three percent of the country’s

land area but was considered dubious due to unsound policies. Bishaw (2001) also noted that

environmental sustainability programs also consider factors such as the concerned institutions

and organizations and not just the government. Bishaw (2001) also cited Uibrig & Gamachu

(1989 & 1988) who noted that success in tree planting has been limited which only resulted to

less than 20 percent tree survival on the average, in the national scope.

Therefore, it is indeed obvious that Ethiopia’s forests are now degraded and are in grave

need of rehabilitation and preservation in order to have sustainable production and ecological

stability in this country. According to Butler (2006), the total forest ares of Ethiopia was now

only 12, 296 ha. In total, between 1990 and 2010, Ethiopia had lost 18.6 percent of its forest

cover or around 2, 818, 000 ha (Ibid). Moreover, there has been decreasing trends in the total

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forest cover in which the general change rate was  –  141 from 1990 to 2000, 2000 to 2005, and

2005 to 2010, indicating deforestation in the area (Butler, 2006). There were also other related

issues in the country today such as overgrazing, soil erosion, desertification, water shortages in

some areas from water-intensive farming, and poor management (Ibid). It was also found out that

the Great Rift Valley was still active and susceptible to earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and

frequent droughts (Ibid). Moreover, it was necessary to point out that the country has retained

very centralized natural resource management policies although there had been attempts towards

 participatory forms of forest management (Roe, Nelson, and Sandbrook, 2009). Also, “traditional

 pastoralist land management regimes cover much of the southern half of the country but are not

formally recognized (Bassi, 2006; Tache and Irwin, 2003 as cited by Roe et al., 2009, page 33).” 

Roe et al. (2009) also noted that pastoralist lands continued facing threats of land loss and

encroachment, one example of which was a surge of allocating lands for bio fuel.

HOW WAS SOCIAL FORESTRYIMPLEMENTED IN THE AREA

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

African drylands have faced soil erosion in which Ethiopia, for instance, had an estimated

1 billion tonnes of valuable topsoil lost annually coupled with massive exploitation of woodland

resources due to weed species (Jama and Zeila, 2005). Ethiopia had benefits in the forests in

forms of woods and income, but they were still suffering in land degradation which impaired

their forests in its productive capability (Bishaw, 2001). Increasing population also degraded

some of the forests lands where they used fodders for raising livestock which in turn caused

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overexploitation of resources and desertification (Ibid). The amount or rate of forest degradation

in the country as stated in the preceding paragraphs resulted to massive environmental

degradation and constituted a serious threat to sustainable agriculture and forestry.

Rural afforestation and conservation programs had been practiced in Ethiopi in relation with

the problems they experienced. The Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with international

agencies had made efforts in implementing agroforestry and community tree farming programs

(Ibid). According to FAO (1985) as cited by Bishaw (2001), United Nations has been helping

Ethiopia to promote tree planting and soil conservation programs having the following

objectives:

1.  to meet the needs for fuel food, construction materials, and fodder from trees planted

outside forests;

2.  to reduce degradation of soil resources and improve productivity of agricultural lands;

and

3.  to reduce the pressure from the remaining natural forests and conserve biodiversity.

The International Center for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) also collaborated with

research institutions in the East African highlands (Nair, 1990; Hoekstra, Torquebiau, and

Bishae, 1990 as cited by Bishaw, 2001). Through a Diagnosis and Design Methodolody

developed by ICRAF, a blueprint entitled “Agroforestry: Potential and Research Needs for the

Ethiopian Highlands” was prepared by Technical Committee for Agrogoretry in Ethiopia

together with ICRAF scientists (Bishaw, 2001). Despite the large commitments in this

endeavour, tree planting and conservation has been limited (Ibid).

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Social forestry programs in the Ethiopia also dated back in the 19 th  century but it was

implemented in the second half of the 1970s (Bishaw, 2001 as cited by Bielski, 2008). This

 program emerged as “a product of environmental activism and from the 1974 seizure of a now

defunct military-socialist government (Mekonnen, 2000 as cited by Bielski, 2008, page 3).” 

Various government agencies undertook social forestry projects. Jagger and Pender, 2003 as

cited by Bielski, 2008, noted that Ethiopia has different program levels for social forestry which

were tabias (community level), kushets (village level), and  sub-kushets  (sub-groups within a

village). Bielski (2008) added that social forestry plantations are typically managed on 70 to 100

hectares of land and that Ethiopian communities rely on these programs to sustain ecosystems.

LEGAL INSTRUMENTS OR FRAMEWORKS 

Frameworks from Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation or

REDD+ Frameworks was observed to be one of the guides in achieving social forestry in

Ethiopia. First was through REDD+ text where a methodological guidance focusing on

monitoring and verification aspects was developed (UNFCCC, 2009 as cited by Westholm,

Biddulph, Hellmark, and Ekbom 2007). The agreement involved the challenge for developing

countries to implement national strategies and action plans to decrease deforestation and forest

degradation while ensuring participation from the local communities (UNFCCC, 2010 as cited

 by Westholm et al., 2007). Though the text was not detailed, it showed importance in land and

tenure issues specifically for indigenous people and local communities (Westholm et al., 2007).

The next was through Tenure in REDD+ Donor Agencies where wide range of donors

were included in wide range of channels on a multilateral, bilateral, and on a project level (Ibid).

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The most important multilateral approach was UN-REDD, FCPF, and FIP. The Forest Carbon

Partnership Facility (FCPF) defined land tenure as one of the fundamental conditions for

sustainable use of forest resources. FCPF was subject to World Bank’s environmental and social

safeguard policies to support activities and establish a legal recognition of customary and

traditional land system tenures for indigenous people (World Bank, 2005 as cited by Westholm

et al., 2007). Ethiopia was one of the pilot countries under FCPF where an on-going program

under Participatory Forest Management will feed into the REDD+ readiness process.

There were also participatory forest management (PFM) efforts in Ethiopia. According to

Kelbessa and De Stoop in the 2007 Proceedings of the National Conference in Addis Ababa,

Ethiopia, the objective of PFM was to focus on using forest resources to create income and

 promote development. They added that an effective implementation of PFM process requires

 participation, negotiation, empowerment, and collective decision-making. Moreover, Diriba

Kurma in his welcoming speech in the national conference noted that “PFM is very well-suited

with decentralization and rural development strategies of Ethiopia and Oromia which stipulate

the participation and empowerment of rural communities on forest resource management

(Kelbessa and De Stoop, 2007, page xiv).” 

PFM has been introduced to halt forest clearance which occurred through direct cutting,

subsistence use, urbanization, and forest fires and which was often rapidly followed by

settlement and cultivation (Kelbessa and De Stoop, 2007). Lastly, Zhu, Moller, De Lopez, and

Romero (2010) emphasized that well-defined rights and obligations over local forest resources

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and providing incentives for sustainable forest management was imparted in the participatory

forest management project.

Land tenure security was also an issue in Ethiopia. As said earlier, their current policies

and regulations did not permit individual land ownership since tenures involved land

management in long-term perspective (Schnitzer, Rabitsch, Moll, and Steller, 2009). Federal

 percolation 455 was issued for compensation of lands while 456 was issued for rural land

administration. Environmental Protection Authority was also set up 1995 for development and

implementation for environmental policies and assessments (Ibid).

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES OF SOCIAL FORESTRY

Agroforestry was an old-age practice in Ethiopia whereby farmers maintain trees in their

croplands (Bishaw, 2001). The main goal of agroforestry and social forestry in Ethiopia was to

satisfy the basic needs of the rural people (Ibid). To achieve this goal, different technologies

were implemented to serve as baseline information for further development of agroforestry and

social forestry in the country. The following were the objectives:

1.  to introduce alley cropping to improve soil fertility, produce fodder and fuel wood, and

aid in soil conservation (soil improvement);

2.  to practice fodder tree planting to supplement the low quality and quantity feed sources

available for livestock (food supply for livestock);

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3.  to plant trees in home gardens and woodlands to provide fuel wood, construction poles,

serve as windbreaks and shelter belts for the people, and provide feed and shelter for

animals (security);

4.  to plant trees as living fences on farm boundaries and roadsides to provide alternative

source of cash and supply fuel wood (generate income); and

5.  to plant trees on contour structures and inside and along gullies to aid bench terraces and

gully stabilization (environmental conservation and improvement).

STAKEHOLDERS AND ACTORS INVOLVED

Participatory Forest Management in Ethiopia involves different stakeholders and actors to

share rights and responsibilities. Since the heart of social forestry activities such as PFM was

local governance, different strategies are needed to ensure fair treatment among the stakeholders

(Kelbessa and De Stoop, 2007). The communities living in the forest greatly relies on their

environmental capital on which they depend their livelihood activities (Kelbessa and De Stoop,

2007). These local people need capacity building and training for freater involvement in forestry

 projects. Reagrding REDD+ activities, private sector was also important for undertaking and

supporting forestry activities by financing the communities as a form of incentive (Swickard and

Carnahan, 2007).

A top-down approach in REDD+ in relation with private-public sector relationship can

help creating an enabling environment but it will not be sufficient to fully address the drivers of

deforestation (Ibid). Thus, there was also a need for government institutions to help in financial

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support and manage the sources rather than to fund the primary development activity as many

scholars argued (Ibid). Non-government agencies can also participate in promoting PFM in

Ethiopia through facilitation and technical support such as what FARM-Africa and SOS Sahel

Ethiopia did (Tadesse, 2007). Moreover, Tadesse (2007) noted that “these close partnerships

under PFM have brought about the stabilizing and even reversal of deforestation and forest

degradation (page 115).” In order to show a real organizational structure and partnership, an

implementation framework was shown below:

Figure 1. Proposed organization of the Bale Ecoregion REDD Project

The figure above contained the proposed organizational structure for a REDD project in

Bale Ecoregion in Ethiopia where capacity-building and technical support to the Oromia Forest

and Wildlife Enterprise (OFWE) and the Forest Conservation Cooperatives (Ibid). OFWE who

had forest funds will have benefit sharing agreements with FCC; after which OFWE will contact

 buyers and investors in their social forestry project and products.

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TECHNOLOGIES IMPLEMENTED IN ETHIOPIA

UNDER SOCIAL TECHNOLOGIES

In order to mobilize the people, social technologies were implemented by the local

government together with international organizations. It constitutes of discussing three sets of

questions. The first questions pertained to historical diagrams and timelines. Old people in the

community were asked to describe the time their mountains were still covered with forest and its

farming conditions. The next was identifying the problems wherein people were asked to

describe how the lack of trees affected them, their family, and their community. Finally people

were asked to think the outcome of reforesting the mountains. The above methods such as

seminars, forums, technical trainings, and timelines were all social technologies. These tactics

were repeated frequently, encouraging as many people as possible to respond each time. These in

turn helped to create positive attitudes towards reforestation and to culminate people's interest to

undertake the planting activities.

UNDER PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGIES

The main government agency concerned in planning and implementation of afforestation

 programs in Ethiopia is the Community Forestry and Soil Conservation Department of the

Ministry of Agriculture. The department has been implementing these programs since the early

1970s along with other government agencies with the assistance of several international

organizations. Participatory Forestry Management was introduced in the country for social

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and environmental reasons. PFM contributed to organizing and involving the people in planning

forestry projects to utilize forest resources and avoid deforestation and forest degradation

(Winberg, 2010). In Farm Forestry Programs, farmers are encouraged to establish private

 plantations which were usually various species of eucalyptus around their homes. ICRAF’s

Agroforestry Systems Inventory Project also had identified traditional and experimental

farming systems in Ethiopia (Chew, 1989). In Community Forestry Programs, farmers are

encouraged to plant trees on community lands to provide technical and financial support in the

establishment of nurseries and the planting of seedlings.

UNDER CONSERVATION TECHNOLOGIES

In Ethiopia, under the Community Forestry and Soil Conservation Department of the

Ministry of Agriculture, the Soil Conservation unit is implementing terracing, irrigation canals 

and other engineering technologies in an attempt to counter the effects induced by massive

destruction of their natural resources. Moreover, land scarcity is acute in densely populated

highlands which farmers utilized without proper soil conservation (Bishaw, 2001). Thus, tree

planting along contours and inside and along gullies were made to aid bench terraces and

gully stabilization to prevent runoff and soil erosion (Ibid).

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SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND BIO-PHYSICAL IMPACTS OF SOCIAL FORESTRY

Participatory Forestry Management in Ethiopia was shown to have positive impacts both

on the socio-economic conditions of the community down to the household levels and its bio-

 physical environment particularly the areas of PFM plantations. Forest conditions such as

seedling and sapling densities improved. PFM also strengthened the awareness about forest adept

locals to form new institutional agreements that increased their participation in forest

management activities and helped to reduce open access and assisted a regulated forest use. PFM

helped in diversifying the household’s income sources, increasing the household’s income level,

and building the household assets. This in turn exponentially suppressed the dependence of

communities on forests for livelihoods. A problem in the sustainability of the PFM program in

Ethiopia is the lack or insufficient support of the government for the method. PFM is still far

from being mainstreamed in the forest management system of the country.

SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACTS

Changes in income sources and levels

The households within the vicinity of Bonga forest depended mainly on forest products,

crop farming and to a limited extent on livestock (Gobeze, Bekele, Lemenih, and Kassa, 2009).

With the adoption of Participatory Forestry Management, major income sources of participant

households shifted from the predominantly forest based before PFM to agriculture based after

PFM (Gobeze et al., 2009). Majority of the households depended more on forest-based

livelihood activities before PFM and these households used to derive income from firewood,

followed by charcoal, crop farming, forest coffee, honey, and livestock (Gobeze et.al, 2009).

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After participating in PFM activities, the majority of households that acquire their major

income from forest-based activities decreased (Ibid). Meanwhile after PFM the contribution from

crop and livestock increased while dependence for income shifted from forest products to the

type of forest products (Ibid). The amount of income generated from each of the livelihood

activities of the households also changed after the introduction of Participatory Forest

Management.

Changes in food security status and household assets

The majority of the people after PFM became lesser susceptible to food insecurity

 because of promotion of non-forest-based livelihood activities and other trainings (Ibid).

Training provided to PFM participants focused on nursery and forest management, poultry

 production, beekeeping and the production of crops such as potato and various fruits (Ibid, page

351). The training and credit facilities enabled households to diversify their income sources and

increased household income level which improved their asset base (Gobeze et al., 2009).

BIO-PHYSICAL IMPACTS

Forest structure (in Bonga, Ethiopia)

The individual distribution of individual trees/stands showed a normal population

structure, however, PFM sites showed a relatively higher percentage of seedling and sapling

individuals which indicated that PFM population was more stable, and that reproduction,

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regeneration, and growth of woody species are better in the PFM than in the non-PFM forests

(Ibid).

Eucalyptus Plantations Established Through Social Forestry

One of the criticisms against eucalyptus plantations is that it may cause a change in the

local climate because of its very high evapo-transpiration rate, which may lead to a lower water

table resulting in possible desertification of the area. However, in some regions, such as the

Amazon basin, the forest can influence local precipitation (Ibid). The effects of eucalypt on run

off, and therefore on erosion, vary greatly according to local climatic conditions, the growth

stage of the forest, slope, and use of the ground vegetation and litter by local people. FAO (2002)

cited Vertessey et al. (1996) who studied the hydrology of mountain ash forest in a high rainfall

environment in southern Australia and analysed relationships between forest age and runoff. It

was revealed that old-growth forest yielded up to twice as much annual runoff as younger re-

growth forest and the same was observed in a mixed-species forest in drier catchments (FAO,

2002). These findings have important implications for the management of catchments used for

water harvesting. For example, FAO has recommended long harvesting rotations to obtain

maximum runoff yields.

Effects on soil quality (Eucalyptus Plantation)

Erkossa, Itanna, and Stahr (2007) cited Larson and Pierce (1994) who defined soil quality

as the capacity of soil to function within natural or managed ecosystems to sustain plant and

animal productivity, maintain or enhance water and air quality, and support human health and

habitation.

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The effects of the eucalypts on soils have been studied in several countries over many

years. Most of the concerns related to effects on soil quality dealt with the nutrients depletion

and allelopathy caused by the litter, which exerts an antibiotic effect on soil micro-organisms,

verified by research that showed a very low concentration of nitrifying bacteria in eucalypt

 plantations litter (Florenzano, 1956 as cited by Bioenergy.ornl.gov, 2012). The effect often

depends on the management regime of the plantation. Erkossa and Dessie (2011) noted that other

studies indicated the various soil physical quality indicators which decreased with increasing age

of the plantations. Moreover, they noted that soil chemical properties, notably organic carbon,

and total N, P and K decreased as a result of reforestation with eucalyptus.

SOCIAL FORESTRY IN NORTHERN ETHIOPIA:

TURNING FELT NEEDS INTO A DRIVING FORCE* 

*taken from the Social Forestry Network, Winter 1990

Overview/Origin/Rationale

Adargi Arbi has a small mountain hamlet close to it in the region of Tigray. There were

many steep-sided valleys where the natural tree cover has been destroyed for timber or fuel and

increasing the area under cultivation. Rains have become unreliable which then resulted in

famine. Farmers living in the area around Adargi Arbi often talk about the forests that used to

grow on the hillsides around their hamlets and how they used to go and cut down trees without

thinking of the future. There is a need to educate the citizens to utilize their own forest without

compromising the future of the following generations.

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Goals and Steps Taken: At the end of the project, citizens should gain a positive attitude

towards reforestation and inculcating to the farmers’ minds the importance of planting trees and

 being aware of their current environment. This was done through mobilisation tactics where

many people were gathered together to describe their current situation in relation with their

environment. This tactic was repeated frequently to invite more people as possible to participate

and in turn helped them generate positive attitudes towards reforestation. Another tactic was

increasing the knowledge of farmers regarding the major problems which affected their current

social status. Debates and local mass gathering were done throughout the country wherein the

findings were interpreted by the Department of Agriculture at the regional level. It was then

found out that the major problems experienced in their community were about soil and water

conservation.

Citizens were then offered to train elected village representatives in the skills needed to

grow trees successfully. After which, production cadre (local farmers elected by the people to act

as grass-roots extension agents) were also given training in raising tree seedlings. Two years

later, the technician surveyed possible planting sites and the community decided which ones to

use. They selected several gulleys and an exposed hilltop which was communal land. As the

demand for tree seedlings for private use had also grown enormously, the people decided that

they would need to grow 40,000 seedlings that year. To grow this number of seedlings they

decided to establish a communal tree nursery on a site close to the centre of the village and

nearby water supply.

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making different projects for environmental conservation and meeting basic needs. However, it

was observed in their current forest status that there was still decreasing number of forest covers

and deforestations has been increasing in a consistent rate.

FACTORS AFFECTING THE FAILURE IN SOCIAL FORESTRY PROGRAMS

Upon analyzing the data gathered in this paper, it was found out that the main factor

contributing to the failure of social forestry programs was because of the people’s unchanged

attitudes and consistent need to develop easy-money livelihood activities. It was observed that

although social forestry started during the 1970s and that there had been different approaches in

involving the local community in forestry programs, they still resorted to raising livestock and

other activities contributing to land and forest degradation.

RECOMMENDATION FOR SOCIAL FORESTRY STRATEGIES

We therefore recommend that there was a need to have more sustainable social forestry

 programs to further inculcate in the community people the importance of the forest and their

resources. Though different agencies had conducted making participatory approaches to make

the community realize their situation, there was still a need for the government to repeatedly

update these forest communities. It was observed that though the social forestry programs lasted

for one or more years, these programs were not them repeated in the same community.

Realistically speaking, it was hard to help the whole country and identify every community

forests and implement a program. Thus, there was also a need for developing more community

organizations inside. However, those people’s organizations should never be left alone even they

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were ready to own the program. There was still a need for extension agents and development

communicators to facilitate them as a community managing their resources.

COMPARISON TO THE PHILIPPINE SETTING

Compared to the Philippines, it can be observed that Ethiopia greatly emphasized the

need for participatory approach in social forestry by coming up with Participatory Forest

Management Program. However, it should be noted that the Philippines also had efforts in

employing a participatory approach in forest management by the Community-Based Forest

Management and other programs such as NIPAS, ISFP, etc. However, more tenurial instruments

were shown in the Philippines’ programs for the local community. In Ethiopia, more

 participatory approaches were conducted than having tenures like in the Philippines. Both

countries had developed community organizations with their aim to let the community own the

 program. However, both countries experienced problems in managing the people’s organizations

and it was observed that there has been continuous depleting of forest resources.

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