Description

Participatory Forest Management (PFM) development in Ethiopia has been taking place since the mid 1990s. In 1995 the Oromiya Regional State Government took the lead in working with FARM-Africa to establish PFM at the Chilimo forest site. The Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPRegions) followed this early initiative with the establishment of the Bonga PFM project in 1996, again working with FARM-Africa. Some years later in 1999, the Oromiya Regional State Government and SOS Sahel set up the Borana Collaborative Forest Management Project.

Establishing PFM involves a considerable amount of work, since introducing a new approach to forest management in a country or region is not an easy under taking. However, with gradual progress and a commitment to learning, foresters and communities alike have take up the practices of PFM, leading to positive change in the seemingly unstoppable wave of forest degradation. We all agree that there is stilla long way to go, but with the suppor t of the government, communities are now sustainably managing forest areas, under legal use rights agreements.

This PFM manual is an important output of the Governments of Oromiya and SNNP Regions and the FARM-Africa / SOS Sahel Ethiopia PFM programme. It is a useful addition to the growing body of literature concerning PFM in Ethiopia, documenting the PFM system as it develops. But most importantly, the manual will serve, both now and in the future, as a practical field guide for forestry students, forestry professionals and even forest managing communities, as they strive to further promote PFM within the forests of Ethiopia.