Republic of the Philippines

University of the Philippines

Los Baos, Laguna

_______________SFFG 101______________
Principles and Concepts of Social Forestry

SOCIAL FORESTRY CASE

STUDY OF ETHIOPIA

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

OVERVIEW OF THE COUNTRY

Geography

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

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

Literacy Percent: 43

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

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

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 COUNTRYS 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 Ethiopias 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),

there has been a progressive deforestation which reduced Ethiopias 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 Ethiopias 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 countrys land area covering almost three percent of the countrys
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 Ethiopias 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

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 FORESTRY

IMPLEMENTED 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

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).

Social forestry programs in the Ethiopia also dated back in the 19th 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).

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 Banks 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

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);

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

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.

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

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. ICRAFs
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).

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 biophysical 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 households income sources, increasing the households 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).

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,

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 regrowth 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.

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.

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.

Results/Impact to the Community

Through training programmes, farmers' meetings, and farm visits, the peoples' technical
knowledge about trees and their effect on soil and water conservation increased greatly. This
technical knowledge reinforced and helped strengthen attitudes favouring reforestation and
convinced the people that they were able to grow the trees themselves. With these, they already
had their own way of living, making their life at stable.

Further Steps/Actions:

Department of Agriculture would try to implement planting other beneficial plants in

order for them to gain more profits. The implementers also learned that social forestry programs
are more likely to succeed if they feel it was their program. It was also found out that they were
aware of their environment but they did not have a positive attitude towards it. Thus, the
Department of Agriculture decided to base more action on peoples needs in their following
social forestry programs.

CONCLUSIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
FORESTRY PROGRAM IN ETHIOPIA: SUCCESS AND FAILURE
It was observed that social forestry in Ethiopia has been successful only during the time it
was implemented in the country. Based from the data gathered for the countrys strategies and
commitments in promoting social forestry, it can be considered that they were successful in

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 peoples 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 peoples organizations should never be left alone even they

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

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bielski, S. (2008). Exotic Species in Social Forestry Programs: An Analysis of

Ecological and Economic Impacts. Undergraduate Honors Thesis: Indiana University, pp. 1-23.

Bishaw, B. (2001). Deforestation and Land Degradation in the Ethiopian Highlands: A

Strategy to Physical Recovery. Journal of East African Studies 8 (1) pp. 7-26.

Butler, R. (2006). Ethiopia Forest Information and Data. Retrieved from http://rainforests.
mongabay.com/deforestation/2000/Ethiopia.htm last March 21, 2012

Dessie, G. and Erkossa, T. (2011). Eucalyptus in East Africa: Socio-economic and

environmental issues. Planted Forests and Trees Working Papers, pp. 1-30. Retrieved from last
http://www.fao.org/docrep/014/am332e/am332e00.pdf March 21, 2012.

Gobeze, T. (2009). Participatory forest management and its impacts on livelihoods and
forest status: the case of Bonga forest in Ethiopia Retrieved on March 5, 2012 from
http://www.cifor.org/publications/pdf_files/articles/AKassa0901.pdf

Heuperman, A.F., Kapoor, A.S., and Denecke, H.W. (2002). Biodrainage: Principles,
Experiences, and Applications. International Programme for Technology and Research in
Irrigation and Drainage. Retrieved from ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/005/y3796e/y3796e00.pdf
last March 21, 2012.

Jama B and Zeila A. 2005. Agroforestry in the drylands of eastern Africa: a call to action.
ICRAF Working Paper no. 1. Nairobi: World Agroforestry Centre.

Kelbessa, E. and De Stoop, C. (Eds.) Participatory Forest Management, Biodiversity and

Livelihoods in Africa. Proceedings of the International Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia last
March 19-21, 2007.

National Geographic. (2012). Ethiopia. Retrieved from http://travel.nationalgeographic.

com/travel/countries/ethiopia-facts/

No author. (n.d.). Short-rotation Eucalyptus Plantations in Brazil: Environmental Issues.

Retrieved from http://www.betuco.be/agroforestry/Eucalyptus%20Environmental%20Issues.pdf
last March 21, 2012.

Roe, D., Nelson F., and Sandbrook, C. (2009). Community Management of Natural
Resources in Africa. International Institure for Environment and Development, pp 1-187.

Schnitzer, M., Rabitsch, W., Moll, L., and Steller, U. (Eds.) Ethiopia Country Strategy
2008-2012. Printed last 2009 in Vienna, Austria, pp. 1-40.

Siew Tuan Chew (1989). Agroforestry Projects for Small Farmers: A Project Managers
Reference. US Agency for International Development, pp. 1-81.

Wake, J. (1990). Social Forestry in Northern Ethiopia: Turning Felt Needs into a Driving
Force. Retrieved on from http:// www.odi.org.uk / resources/docs/988.pdf last March 5, 2012

Westholm, L., Biddulph, R., Hellmark, I., and Ekbom, A. (2011). REDD+ and Tenure: A
Review of Latest Developments in Research, Implementation and Debate, pp. 1-31.

Winberg, E. (2010). Participatory Forest Management in Ethiopia, Practices and

Experiences. Food and Agricultre Organization, Sub Regional Office for Eastern Africa, pp. 1-41.

Zhu, X., Moller, R.L., De Lopez, T., and Romero, M.Z. (Eds.) Pathways for
Implementing REDD+ : Experiences from Carbon Markets and Communities. Perspective Series
2010, pp. 1-155.