Story
Ethiopia
Unearthing the Ethiopian Humbo Forest with World Bank–Supported Project
T
hree decades ago, Humbo was covered with a dense jungle and was home to a variety of animal species. In the 1980s, variable rainfall, expansion of farm and grazing land, environmental degradation, and a severe food shortage turned the lush green forests into a barren stretch with a few clumps of bushes. Trees had been cut down for buildings, firewood, charcoal and furniture, with little or no regulation. Groundwater reserves that provided 65,000 people with potable water were threatened. Agriculture productivity fell by 70 percent. As a result, more than 85 percent of Humbo’s 48,893 residents live in poverty. This mirrors the trend in Ethiopia, where overexploitation of forest resources has left less than 3 percent of the country’s native forests untouched. The Humbo Reforestation Project established seven forest cooperatives with local communities and raised and distributed 1 million seedlings to communities. Together, local and international communities managed and reforested over 2,700 hectares of degraded land. Community empowerment through mobilization, awareness creation, land tenure certification, forest cooperative formation, and capacity building provided the communities with security, incentives to protect the forest, and a sense of ownership. Using farmer-managed natural regeneration (FMNR) with prudent stewardship, communities unearthed an underground forest. Surprised and excited to see the quantity and speed with which vegetation now grows on the once rocky and barren slope, they can now own their forest and reap
its multiple benefits. The increased production of wood and tree products, such as honey and fruit, has contributed substantively to household economies. Improved land management stimulated grass growth, providing fodder for livestock that can be cut and sold as an additional source of income. Lastly, the regeneration of the native forest is expected to provide an important habitat for many local species and reduce soil erosion and flooding. The Humbo Project is the first large-scale forest-focused Clean Development Mechanism project in Africa to be registered with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The World Bank’s BioCarbon Fund will purchase 165,000 tons worth of these credits and provide an income stream of more than US$700,000 to the local communities over a minimum of 10 years. So far the communities have received US$322,000 from carbon revenue. Further revenue will be available to the community from the sale of the remaining carbon credits not purchased by the World Bank, as well as from the sale of timber products from designated woodlots in the project. The protected areas of forest now also act as a “carbon sink,” absorbing and storing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere to help mitigate climate change. Over the 30-year crediting period, the project will cut an estimated 880,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Web site: www.worldbank.org
L and for Life . FORESTS
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