Outline of the Project
Project Period
Project Map
4 years from October 2006
(the 1st stage: 1 year, the 2nd stage: 3 years)
Implementation Organization
Oromia Agricultural and Rural Development Bureau (OARDB)
Target Area
Areas to be selected in Belete-Gera Regional Forest Priority Area: (RFPA)
Overall Goal
Participatory forest management is carried out in a sustainable manner by the local people in Belete-Gera Regional Forest Priority Area (RFPA)
Project Purpose
WaBuB Participatory Forest Management (WaBuB PFM) is developed in selected areas in Belete-Gera RFPA.
Project Background
About a century ago, natural forests covered as much as 35% of Ethiopia's total land area. Owing to a population explosion and the resulting human encroachment into forests, these forests have drastically diminished in both area coverage and stand volume. According to the report by UN, only around 2 % of total land area has been managed for forest conservation at the time of 2000. In this context, the former Ministry of Natural Resource Development and Environmental Protection (MNRD&EP) identified 58 priority forest areas as NFPAs (Regional Forest Priority Area: RFPA in the current), for which the identification of forest area, inventory of forest resources,and formulation of forest management plans are expected to be implemented. However, the actual implementation for forest management has not been sufficient up to now.
On this occasion, the Ethiopian Government requested the Japanese Government to implement the forest management plan in the Belete-Gera RFPA. After discussions with the organizations involved, the JICA agreed to implement the Participatory Forest Management Project in the Belete-Gera Regional Forest Priority Area (Phase 1) for 3 years from October 2003. The Phase 1 project aimed to put in place of participatory forest management in targeted villages, Afalo and Chaffee sub-villages, in Belete-Gera RFPA and basis of participatory forest management (PFM) system is established in which Provisional Forest Management Agreements (P-FMAs) were signed between the target sub-villages and the Oromia Regional Government, and WaBuBs, local peoples' forest management associations, were created and are currently active to conduct monitoring of forest management based on the P-FMAs.
In the Phase 2 project, The Project aims to scale up, in terms of both quality and quantity, WaBuB PFM in other parts of Belete-Gera RFPA through preparation of WaBuB PFM Guideline and Extension Strategy, capacity development of local people and the counterpart, formulation of new WaBuB in the specific target areas and so on.Besides that, preparation of the guideline to extend PFM into other RFPA in Oromia is also planned.
