Indicate whether the statement is True or False based on the information provided about natural resource management efforts in Ethiopia.

Natural resource Management in Ethiopia

Ethiopia is a country which has suffered countless environmental disasters and biodiversity loss. To tackle these disasters and losses, environmental conservation efforts have been undergoing. Humbo carbon sequestration project, community management of Afroalpine highlands, and Lake Tana watershed management are among the natural resource management efforts in the country.

Afforestation and Reforestation project was introduced at Humbo Woreda of southwestern Ethiopia to regenerate 2,728 hectares of previously degraded forestland with the aim of enhancing the local communities’ livelihoods through improved environmental conditions as well as financial inflows to be achieved through linkages with carbon markets. Since its inception, the initiative managed to restore 2,728 hectares of degraded forest by enclosing the land that had long been an open access resource.

Similarly, in the Central Highlands of Ethiopia, there is a small patch of land which has persisted in its current, relatively original state for the past four hundred years. The area, called Guassa by the local Menzi people, ranges from 3200 to 3700 meters above sea level. It is part of the Amhara Regional State of North Shoa. The natural resource management system of the Guassa area dates back to the 17th Century. This makes it one of the oldest conservation areas in sub-Saharan Africa. The area was set aside as a resource for the community, who use it for harvesting the “Guassa” grass for roofing, for grazing livestock, and for harvesting shrubs for fuel wood.

The Lake Tana watershed in Amhara National Regional State is another natural resource management site in Ethiopia. It is important in ecological and economic terms, and it has both local and global significance. The watershed encompasses Lake Tana – the largest freshwater body in Ethiopia and source of the Blue Nile. Its unique and isolated landscape includes forested islands, immense and varied wetlands and high mountain areas. The region is renowned for its biodiversity, and it is also the home of churches and monasteries dating from the 14th to the 16th century. Ninety per cent of the area’s rapidly growing population depends on subsistence agriculture for their livelihoods. The productivity and sustainability of mixed farming practices depend on ecosystem goods and services, which rely on the functional integrity of the watershed’s ecosystems – rivers, wetlands, lake, forests, pastures and soils. The objectives of the watershed management project is to rehabilitate the land and to raise incomes for the community.

To conclude, all the three natural resource managements projects mentioned above are community- based. The major principles of community based natural resource management include being people-focused, being participatory, being holistic, building on strengths, using a partnership approach, being sustainable and being dynamic.

Community  based  natural  resource  management  has  become  the  dominant conservation and development paradigm with financial and non-financial benefits.

( Adapted from LEISA MAGAZINE . DECEMBER 2004).

Indicate whether the statement is True or False based on the information provided about natural resource management efforts in Ethiopia.