The Government of Ethiopia is working on landscape restoration through various initiatives to combat deforestation, degradation and climate change, Ethiopian Forestry Development Director-General Kebede Yimam said today.
The nation has also developed policies, strategies and plans to protect foresters, he stated, recalling the Green Legacy Initiative as one of government efforts to combat environmental degradation, deforestation, and climate change.
Therefore, the director-general stressed that it's important to work in collaboration with various stakeholders for effective land management and restoration in a research based and holistic manner.
Kebede made the remark at a workshop on disseminating research findings and policy implications of landscape approach and climate-smart agriculture.
The primary goal of the workshop organized by International Water Management Institute (IWMI) is to promote policy actions for eco-regional and landscape development approaches and climate-smart agriculture and to share important research findings in order to hasten Ethiopia's transformation to a sustainable food system.
IWMI Principal Researcher, Amare Haile Selassie said the purpose of today's workshop is dissemination of research findings on landscape and climate-smart agriculture for over one decade in Bale Zone and in Central Rift Valley area.
"We have been collecting data, we have been analyzing those data and interpreting them in a way that gives lessons for development partners working on implementation of development activities, and to enable adaptive learning in this whole process of natural resource landscape and climate-smart agriculture implementation activities," he stated.
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As a result, the workshop highlighted the pivotal role in promoting climate-smart agriculture, sustainable landscape management, and nature-based solutions for equitable sustainable development in Ethiopia.
The principal researcher further pointed out that IWMI is working with various development partners in implementing one of its major interventions --- the solar pump for irrigation initiative, that has been under implementation since 2016.
According to him, the solar pump irrigation system has been benefiting many small-holder farmers in different parts of the country.
"There are so many activities that we are implementing with NGOs, as part of Bounty of the Basket (Ye Lemat Tirufat), Green Legacy as well as in climate smart agriculture. If you take the wheat irrigation, this is the government direction, we are complementing this very clearly."
Farm Africa Ethiopia Country Office Director, Shewit Emmanuel said on her part that the organization has been working in different regions of Ethiopia to increase the production and productivity of farmers and pastoralists.
In doing so, "we have reduced deforestation by more than 59 percent just in Bale Zone and other regions. Now the community has a high awareness on what kind of forest friendly kind of livelihood they can implement and take ownership of the protection."
Thus, "this workshop is about documenting what we have to document so that we can scale out."
