Ethiopia is committed to wildlife conservation and has in place a wildlife policy and strategy that guides the administration of the wildlife sector. This policy is translated into legislation for purposes of making its provisions enforceable. There is legislation that establishes the institutional framework of the wildlife sector and legislation that regulates the wildlife sector. The wildlife legislation has strong provisions that address wildlife crime and wildlife trafficking but it also has gaps that need to be sealed in order to successfully administer and adjudicate over wildlife cases. Ethiopia is quite strong in complying with international standards that address wildlife crime including standards on reduction of wildlife trade, fighting of organized criminal groups, curbing money laundering and fighting corruption. The effectiveness of the legislation cannot be accurately gauged as there is lack of consistent and reliable data on wildlife cases.
The book focuses on the negotiation process leading up to the creation of the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) and the domestic implementation of this international agreement. This political science study of the negotiation process applies several perspectives drawn from international relations theories, while also focusing on the implementation of international environmental agreements in a developing country. Moreover, the links between factors at international and domestic levels are examined, with four proposed mechanisms through which an international institution may affect domestic policies. Evidence is found that the CBD has had a beneficial impact on national biodiversity policies in the country studied, but that necessary compatible legislation is absent in developed country parties. Readership: Policy makers, decision makers, political scientists, lawyers and environmentalists engaged in development assistance work, and academics and industrialists involved in the biotechnology industry.
Forests harbour a large proportion of the Earth’s terrestrial biodiversity, which continues to be lost at an alarming rate. Deforestation is the single most important driver of forest biodiversity loss with 10 million ha of forest converted every year to other land uses, primarily for agriculture. Up to 30 percent of tree species are now threatened with extinction. As a consequence of overexploitation, wildlife populations have also been depleted across vast areas of forest, threatening the survival of many species. Protected areas, which are considered the cornerstone of biodiversity conservation, cover 18 percent of the world’s forests while a much larger 30 percent are designated primarily for the production of timber and non-wood forest products. These and other forests managed for various productive benefits play a critical role in biodiversity conservation and also provide essential ecosystem services, such as securing water supplies, providing recreational space, underpinning human well-being, ameliorating local climate and mitigating climate change. Therefore, the sustainable management of all forests is crucial for biodiversity conservation, and nations have committed to biodiversity mainstreaming under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Mainstreaming biodiversity in forestry requires prioritizing forest policies, plans, programmes, projects and investments that have a positive impact on biodiversity at the ecosystem, species and genetic levels. In practical terms, this involves the integration of biodiversity concerns into everyday forest management practice, as well as in long-term forest management plans, at various scales. It is a search for optimal outcomes across social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. This study is a collaboration between FAO and the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), lead centre of the CGIAR research programme on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA). This report is a compilation of country case studies as supplementary material to the main publicaiton, which reviews progress and outlines the technical and policy tools available for countries and stakeholders, as well as the steps needed, to effectively mainstream biodiversity in forestry.
This book is a social—ecological system description and feedback analysis of the Lake Tana Basin, the headwater catchment of the Upper Blue Nile River. This basin is an important local, national, and international resource, and concern about its sustainable development is growing at many levels. Lake Tana Basin outflows of water, sediments, nutrients, and contaminants affect water that flows downstream in the Blue Nile across international boundaries into the Nile River; the lake and surrounding land have recently been proposed as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve; the basin has been designated as a key national economic growth corridor in the Ethiopian Growth and Transformation Plan. In spite of the Lake Tana Basin’s importance, there is no comprehensive, integrated, system-wide description of its characteristics and dynamics that can serve as a basis for its sustainable development. This book presents both the social and ecological characteristics of the region and an integrated, system-wide perspective of the feedback links that shape social and ecological change in the basin. Finally, it summarizes key research needs for sustainable development.
The sign that ‘Africa is on Sale’ has been appearing with regular frequency in major newspaper accounts across the world, indicating that large amounts/expanses of Africa’s rich farmlands are being sold to transnational investors, usually on long-term leases, at a rate not seen in decades – indeed not since the colonial period. Transnational and national economic actors from various business sectors (oil and auto, mining and forestry, food and chemical, bioenergy, etc.) are eagerly acquiring, or declaring their intention to acquire large areas of land on which to build, maintain or extend large-scale extractive and agro-industrial enterprises to help secure their own food and energy needs into the future. This book provides a critical appraisal of the growing phenomenon of land grabbing in Africa. Far from being a technical issue associated "good governance", the problem of land grabbing by transnational corporation and states is a serious threat for the food security of millions of Africans and is undoubtedly one of the great challenges of our time for development on the continent. The case studies illustrate that African states are also complicit in the massive land grabbing by actively participating in isolated development while excluding the local communities. The case studies reveal key features that characterize how the global land grab plays out in specific localities in Africa. This book was published as a special issue of African Identities.
This book presents research on landscape ecology and the relationship between humans and wildlife. It helps readers understand how ecological patterns and processes are interconnected. This research illustrates and proposes (practicable) management strategies toward long-term ecological restoration and mitigation of consequences of conflict. Increasing wildlife activities in localities and forest fringes are an alarming issue. Ecological processes like movement, colonization, extinction and conflict issues depend on the landscape and ecological activities, the movement for example of migratory elephants and their colonization not only affects society but the wildlife and biodiversity too. Strategic management measures can contribute to enriching the biodiversity, habitat quality as well as landscape, while minimizing human-wildlife conflicts. This book describes landscape ecological patterns and processes, habitat dominancy, habitat dependency, suitability, connectivity and corridor selection. To synthesize these patterns and processes, several ecological indices are used. Use of geo-spatial techniques improves future management strategies for similar circumstances, especially, related to forest regeneration and forest restoration. This book provides a concise overview to a wide range of readers including postgraduate students, researcher, academics, landscape planners, decision makers and even local populations. The techniques and management strategies described should help planners to improve forest management, by implementing quality enhancement programs such as plantation area selection and corridor selection.
This book provides a comprehensive examination of water resource management in the Omo-Turkana Basin, linking together biophysical, socioeconomic, policy, institutional and governance issues in a solutions-oriented manner. The Omo-Turkana Basin is one of the most important lake basins in Africa, and despite the likely transboundary impacts associated with the management of dams, it is the largest lake basin in Africa without a cooperative water agreement. This volume provides a foundation for integrated decision-making in the management of development in the Lake Turkana Basin. Chapters cover water-related conditions, hydropower, agriculture, ecosystems, resilience and transboundary governance. The final chapter proposes ways forward in light of the potential benefits that can be achieved through cooperation, and practical realities that cooperation is slow and may take time to achieve. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of water and natural resource management, environmental policy, sustainable development and African studies. It will also be relevant to water management professionals.
Sustainable Tourism Policy and Planning in Africa offers an accessible and understandable overview of the challenges of integrating sustainability into tourism policy and planning in Sub-Saharan Africa and provides some interesting recommendations on how these could be overcome. Tourism is currently growing faster in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and in many other developing regions compared to the rest of the world. Using case examples from different segments of the tourism sector in different country contexts, this volume therefore reassesses context specific tourism policies and planning mechanisms in SSA over the years. It considers how the increasing focus on sustainability is reflected in different areas of the tourism sector including food security, the human capacity management, service delivery, local communities and heritage management, climate change and the influence of colonial legacies on tourism policy planning. For many SSA countries, it has only been in the last two decades that the development of sustainable and achievable context specific policies and planning mechanisms has become the norm. The chapters provide examples of how different dimensions of sustainability are integrated into tourism policy and practice, and examine the extent to which these are shaping the present, and their implications for the future sustainability of the tourism sector. Sustainable Tourism Policy and Planning in Africa will be of great value to academics, private and third sector employees to better understand tourism in Sub-Saharan Africa. Eight of the chapters were originally published as a special issue of Tourism Planning and Development. These are now complimented with a new introductory chapter and a concluding chapter that sets out a future research agenda for sustainable tourism policy and planning.
This book addresses Ethiopia's extremely rich soil diversity and resources, which have developed under various climatic conditions. Featuring contributions by a group of respected experts on Ethiopian soils and agriculture, it provides comprehensive information on the management approaches needed for sustainable soil utilization and conservation under such conditions and the attendant challenges. It offers a valuable resource for anyone interested in soils and agriculture in Ethiopia, but also in other African countries with similar climatic conditions. The book contains 13 chapters which illustrate the long history of knowledge and soil research; climate; geology and geomorphology; soil forming factors, processes, and classification; major soil types, their properties, fertility status, and management; land evaluation and land use planning; soils and society/industry; and future/emerging soil issues.
