1.

Introduction
Ethiopia has vast forests and woodlands estimated to cover more than 33.5 million hectares.
About 13 million hectares are gazetted forest reserves out of which 1.6 million hectares fall
under water catchments forests (URT, 1998). The gazetted forest reserves are of interest for
conservation of rare and endemic species (biodiversity), and maintenance of ecological processes
including carbon sink. Most of the forest resource lies in the rural areas where more than 80% of
human population live (Mgeni, 1994).
The impact of biodiversity conservation in global environmental and ecological changes is
well understood. Different strategies have been put in place across the glob to ensure sustainable
use of bio-resources. In Tanzania for instance, the National Forest Policy (URT, 1998)
aims at ensuring ecosystem stability. However, deforestation through encroachment for
agriculture, overgrazing, wildfires and general over-exploitation of wood resources continue and
tend to generate significant problems that lead to unaccomplished forest goals of conserving the
forest (Gibson et al., 1999).
Ethiopia’s forests and trees have played an important role in developing human activities and
providing both African and European populations with a variety of economic goods such as fuel-
wood, construction materials, food and fodder. In addition to their environmental functions, these
renewable natural resources have also contributed significantly to the social, psychological and
cultural expressions of Ethiopian people’s livelihood. However, the areas, once covered by
forests and woodlands, have diminished rapidly over the last few decades due to a combination
of many factors including wood harvesting to satisfy the needs of a fast growing population,
fires, overgrazing, harsh climatic conditions, and, up to recently, inadequate forest policy. This
has led to shortages of fuel-wood and building material, as well as soil erosion problems in
various parts of the country, especially in the more heavily populated areas.

1|Page
1.1. Definition and concepts of forest development

The forest is a natural system that can supply different products and services. Forests supply
water, mitigate climate change, provide habitats for wildlife including many pollinators which
are essential for sustainable food production, provide timber and fuelwood, serve as a source of
non-wood forest products including food and medicine, and contribute to rural livelihoods. The
working of this system is influenced by the natural environment: climate, topography, soil, etc.,
and also by human activity. The actions of humans in forests constitute forest management. In
developed societies, this management tends to be elaborated and planned in order to achieve the
objectives that are considered desirable. Some forests have been and are managed to obtain
traditional forest products such as firewood, fiber for paper, and timber, with little thinking for
other products and services. Nevertheless, as a result of the progression of environmental
awareness, management of forests for multiple use is becoming more common. (Fisher, 1993).

1.2. The New Forest Act and local institutions

The New Forests Act 2005 has a clear framework and incentives for community and private
sector involvement in the forestry sector. It gives power to the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) to
manage all forests with other stakeholders. There is also a Board responsible for the management
of the KFS consisting of various officials from all ministries with a stake in forestry including
local communities. The new law promotes commercial tree growing by the private sector,
farmers and communities through incentives, and will ensure market price s for forest produce.
This will ensure the much- needed pro vision of wood and other timber products, (Gibson, C.C.
McKean, M.A. and Ostrom, E. 1999).

1.3. Lessons and policy implications

Various studies indicate that involvement of local institutions in forest management improves
their conditions while improving livelihoods of the communities, especially the CFA members.
Performance of the CFAs is improved where decision-making is participatory and members
make regular contributions hence enhancing their ability to self-organize. Efficient
implementations of the local institutions require an elaborate framework and coordinated efforts
rather than isolated efforts by different agencies and supporters all over the country. An
implementation coordinating task force is thus needed to formulate such framework and
coordinate the proposed efforts. The framework will enable good definition of roles and

2|Page
responsibilities of the various groups (governmental and non-governmental) involved
in the implementation as well as a forum for self -evaluation and experience sharing as well as
coordinating the above proposed social development programs and projects.
1.4. Forest development institutions in Ethiopia
The forests of the Borana lowlands have traditionally been considered by the Borana as an
integral part of their pastoral land, with forest management being the
responsibility of the ‘Borana’ ‘Gadaa’ system. However, they have currently gazetted reserves,
registered as National or Regional Forest Priority Areas, and the Oromiya Forest and wildlife
Enterprise is responsible for controlling, protecting and managing the forest resources on behalf
of the Regional Government. In the Borana traditions, all the resources in the forest like water,
medicinal plants, pasture, wild fruits, and roots are used in common and managed by the
traditional institutions. Borana pastoralists have their own cultural by-laws structured hierarchy,
(Kessy, J.F. 1998).

At the phase-out of this Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) or SOS Sahel Ethiopia, the
management of this forest is questionable.

1.5. Traditional forest development practices in Ethiopia

By-laws are revised and formulated every eight years during ‘Gadaa’ assembly. Through this
hierarchy, different traditional forest management practices such as controlled grazing
(browsing), fire protection and reducing expansion of settlements are practiced in this forest area.
The forest areas in the Borana and Guji zones are governed traditionally by Communal resource
management. Forest resources such as water and pasture are a communal property resource in
Borana and Guji pastoral areas. Traditional institutions govern these resources and decide
institutionally how best they could be utilized in equity, (Mbwambo, J.S., 2000).

For instance, epiphytes which are growing on J. procera and other old tree species is named by
‘Borana’ people as ‘Areeda jaarsaa’ mean that elders' hair and the old tree of this species is also
believed to represent elder of the people. This is an indicator of Borana people conserves
traditionally forest resources. Borena society value forest resources particularly some tree species
for spiritual purposes.

3|Page
Conclusion
Throughout the history of modern Ethiopia, agricultural development paradigm has been firmly
entrenched while forestry was mostly marginalized with the exception of the period between
mid-1970s and mid-1980s. In this paper, it is argued that the dynamics in the global forest related
discourses and the national political orientation and economic priorities constitute the most
important factors shaping the evolution of forest policy in Ethiopia. The prime time in the history
of Ethiopian forestry was recorded when the global discourse shifted towards biomass as
alternative sources of energy for the rising fossil fuel price that coincided with the national
political and economic change in favour of forest development. The 1984–1985 catastrophic
drought and subsequent famine, the shift in global attention towards multi-functional
forests and broader environmental conservation issues gradually undermined forestry as
autonomous policy field. Most of the times, forestry was integrated into agricultural sector with
the intention to maximize the synergy between the two sectors. However, as it is extensively
argued in this paper, the integration of the two sectors did not yield positive outcomes.
Throughout the successive regimes, the development of agricultural policy was marked
by unbalanced objectives and priorities that hampered the potential to capitalize synergy between
the two sectors. The Imperial government overemphasized commercial agriculture run by a few
landlords and neglected the majority of smallholders engaged in production of subsistence and
non-cash crops. The socialist regime abolished landlordism and prioritized state and collective
farms at the expense of smallholder individual farmers and stiffly discouraged private initiatives.
The agricultural policy under the current government overstates the potential of smallholder
agriculture and crop production, with very limited attention to other sectors such as natural
resource conservation and forest development. The institutionalization and deinstitutionalization
process of forest policy in Ethiopia revealed trends of change and continuity. The interplay of
complex structural factors including the national politico-economic change, and environmental
calamities coupled with the global discursive shifts contributed for the dynamic processes of
forest policy development. The structural factors delineated the broader context and enabled or
constrained one discourse coalition over the other. Such complex interaction of ideas and
structural factors, on one hand, stimulate the institutionalization of dominant discourse that
reflected in the emergence of new coalition, new rules, and new organizational arrangement.

4|Page
References

Alemayehu, A., Wiersum, F., 2006. Community Perspectives on Participatory Forest

Management. The case of Chilimo participatory forest management scheme in Ethiopia.
Ethiopian Journal of Natural Resources, Addis Ababa 8 (1), 57–75.

Arnold, M., Köhlin, K., Persson, R., Shepherd, G., 2003. Fuelwood Revisited: What Has
Changed in the Last Decade? Occasional Paper 39, CIFOR, Jakarta. Arts, B., 2006.
Forests, Institutions Discourses: A Discursive-Institutional Analysis of Global Forest
Politics. Inaugural Address. Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands.

Arts, B., Leroy, P. (Eds.), 2006. Institutional Dynamics in Environmental Governance. Springer,
Dordrecht.

Arts, B., Buizer, M., 2009. Forests, discourses, institutions: a discursive institutional analysis of
global forest governance. Journal of Forest Policy and Economics 11,
340–347.

Bahiru, Z., 1991. A History of Modern Ethiopia. Addis Ababa University Press, Addis
Ababa.

Berhanu, M., 2009. Ethiopian forest conservation, development and utilization: past, present and
future. In: Heckett, T., Aklilu, N. (Eds.), Proceedings of Ethiopian Forestry at
Crossroads: The Need for a Strong Institution. Occasional Report No. 1, Forum for
Environment, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Buizer, I.M., 2008. Worlds apart: interactions between local initiatives and established policy.
Ph.D. Thesis, Wageningen University, Wageningen.

Clapham, C., 1988. Transformation and Continuity in Revolutionary Ethiopia.

Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Davidson, J., 1989. The Eucalypt Dilemma: Arguments for and Against Eucalyptus Planting in
Ethiopia. Forestry Research Centre, Seminar Notes Series No. 1. Addis

Ababa.

5|Page