Challenges To Conservation And Protected Area Management

Ethiopia is exceptionally high in biodiversity but exceptionally low in capacity for biodiversity conservation or protected area management. Critically, there are over 73 million people in Ethiopia, 85% live in rural areas, 80% live in the highlands, and the vast majority are almost completely dependent on natural resources for their livelihoods. Consequently, 97% of the original highland vegetation has already been lost in recent decades due to encroaching agriculture, grazing and settlement by agro-pastoral communities and 95% of the eastern lowlands are degraded. Impoverished resource-dependent local populations are still increasing in Ethiopia, both within and adjacent to National Parks and other areas with high biodiversity value. Thus, implementing sustainable conservation for the benefit of biodiversity and people alike is of utmost importance.

Unfortunately, Ethiopia’s capacity to do so is one of the lowest in the world. Its budget for protected areas is the third lowest globally (just 0.5% of the average) and is <3% of that considered necessary for effective management. A better understanding of the environment as well as its link to poverty is elevating the environment on the political agenda and an increase in political will for biodiversity conservation is now apparent. Even so, the legal framework for conservation is poor, with most National Parks ungazetted and no framework for community-managed conservation areas. Whilst Ethiopian wildlife policy advocates the right for stakeholder participation in resource management, in reality there is little participation from local government or communities. Thus, the sector of society most dependent on natural resources has no ownership and little involvement in their management. National Parks have little income, thus monetary benefits to communities are also limited. Additionally, Government and community agencies are understaffed, undertrained, and insufficiently experienced and thus have low capacity for conservation or reciprocal engagement. Finally, montane ecosystems are the most vulnerable on the planet to climate change over the next 50-90 years.

Conservation and management must take a holistic approach to halt biodiversity loss by implementing effective and sustainable biodiversity management, by mitigating root problems and building strategies and systems for sustainability. Specifically conservation and management must address (i) human, institutional, and legal obstacles to effective biodiversity conservation and protected area management, (ii) underlying threats to biodiversity, ecosystems and ecosystem processes; (iii) lack of community participation in biodiversity management; (iv) insufficient long-term funding for biodiversity conservation or alternative livelihoods in resource-dependent communities, and (v) insufficient support for or awareness off the social, economic, and ecological value of biodiversity. If this is not achieved, the last remnants of Ethiopia’s Afromontane ecosystems face an uncertain future, as do several globally unique species and the beneficiaries of natural resources and other ecosystem services – such as highland river catchments that provide water to millions of downstream users in Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan and Egypt.