Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
Despite civil wars taking their toll on the environment, Ethiopia's demographic pressures
have been the main culprit. About 95% of Ethiopia's original forest is believed to have
been lost to agriculture and human settlement.
Ethiopia's population has almost quintupled
in the last 75 years and continues to grow at
2.9%; the pressures for living space, firewood,
building materials, agricultural land, livestock
grazing and food will only further reduce natur-
al resources and wipe out larger areas of wildlife
habitat.
The deforestation has resulted in soil erosion, an extremely serious threat in Ethiopia be-
cause it exacerbates the risk of famine. Although hunting and poaching over the centuries
have decimated the country's once-large herds of elephants and rhinos, deforestation has
also played a role.
Wildlife and forests were both victims of the most recent civil war, where whole forests
were torched by the Derg to smoke out rebel forces. Additionally, large armies, hungry and
with inadequate provisions, turned their sights on the land's natural resources and much
wildlife was wiped out.
Up until recently, armed conflict between ethnic groups in the Omo and Mago National
Parks continued to impede wildlife conservation efforts.
Today, things are more under control. Hunting is managed by the government and may
even provide the most realistic and pragmatic means of ensuring the future survival of
Ethiopia's large mammals. Poaching, however, continues to pose a serious threat to some
animals.
In late 2005 a new conservation action plan was put in place which crafted stricter envir-
onmental regulations, designed to unite previously scattered wildlife and environmental
activities under the umbrella of a radically restructured Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation
Authority. This action has started to pay off with new national parks, a little more money
pumped into existing protected areas and environmental issues being discussed at higher
levels of government.
For more on wildlife conservation, contact the
Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation
Authority
(
www.ewca.gov.et
; PO Box 386, Addis Ababa)
.
UK-based Naturetrek (
www.naturetrek.co.uk
)
runs
a range of varied wildlife and ornithological tours
to Ethiopia.
