ForestConnect

Project goal and approach

Our goal is to initiate community-based forest restoration in the degraded and pressured target forest landscapes of Bench-Sheko, Kafa, and Sheka, diversify income opportunities for forest-dependent communities in a nature-friendly way, and expand and strengthen structures and awareness of effective forest landscape restoration methods (FLR) among key actors.

The planned activities include:

• management and Restoration of Forest Landscapes (FLR) through a participatory process, community-led implementation, nurseries, seedlings planting, and sustainable forest management.
• improving livelihoods for forest-dependent communities through nature-based income opportunities.
• institutionalisation, advocacy, and sustainable financing.
• communication, multiplication, capacity development.

The project aims to indirectly benefit about 3 million inhabitants in 21 districts, including smallholder farmers, especially women, youth, and underserved groups, as well as Participatory Forest Management groups, community members, governmental representatives, and local NGOs/CBOs.

Our project sites

The South West Ethiopia Peoples’ Region (SWEPR) region, which previously attracted little attention, has gained political importance at the national level. The project concentrates on the zones of Bench-Sheko, Kafa, and Sheka, building upon the groundwork laid in the previous initiative.

Bench-Sheko Zone is the region with the greatest lowland share and has suffered severe forest decline. Between 1986 and 2001, forest cover decreased from around 20% to only 12% (2,881 km²), especially in the regions where refugees from the arid regions of Ethiopia were settled. Studies prove the population's dependence on forest resources: income from forest resources is the most important source of livelihood for the population, alongside agriculture.

Kafa Zone, with the Kafa Biosphere Reserve, is characterised by species endemism in Afromontane Mountain cloud, rain, and bamboo forests and is a supra-regionally important water supplier. The forests and wetlands are under pressure from the effects of climate change and coffee/tea investors and are already highly fragmented. Unemployment and lack of prospects lead to frustration, political uprisings, and the search for income, especially among young people, e.g., through illegal logging.

Sheka Zone or Sheka Forest Biosphere Reserve comprises unique natural landscapes of about 240,000 ha, ranging from cool, humid highlands to hot lowlands. The characteristic Afromontane rainforest contains Coffea arabica in the undergrowth. In the past, large areas of forest were converted into industrial tea production. Nevertheless, both the local government and the local population are keen to preserve the forests, which are strongly linked to spiritual beliefs and traditions and provide an important basis for life.

Partners and actors

The project will be managed by NABU Ethiopia in collaboration with EWNRA. The following regional SWEPR institutions are partnering the project:

• Bureau of Finance and Economy Development (BoFED)
• Bureau of Agriculture (BoA)
• Bureau of Women, Children and Youths (BoWCY)
• Bureau of Forest, Environmental Protection and Climate Change (BoFEPCC)

The project is financially supported by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and The Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU).