3.1. In situ conservation activities
3.2. Ex situ conservation activities
3.3. Selection and genetic improvement
3.4. National priority species
Protected areas
Most of the vegetation conservation work in Ethiopia has been associated with protected areas consisting of protected forests, national parks, wildlife reserves and sanctuaries, and controlled hunting areas.
Out of the 10 national parks, which are given total protection, only two - Awash and Semien Mountains - are legally gazetted. Although there are 11 wildlife reserves with a total area of about 29824 square km, about 22829 km² are actively managed as wildlife conservation areas. This accounts for only 1.9% of the total land area. The protected areas also include controlled hunting areas, which are partially protected with local, sustainable extractive use practices.
In an effort to cope with the rapid depletion of forests in recent years, the Government has classified 58 of the most important high forest areas totaling an estimated 2.8 million ha as National Forest Priority Areas (NFPA). Each area may include high forest, plantations and non-forested land. Among the 58 NFPAs, 37 have been identified as protected forests. These proposed protected forest areas are scattered across the regions in the country. In addition to these, the Federal and the Regional states have undertaken several conservation related development programs.
Management plans for NFPAs have been under preparation since 1985. Four such plans have been completed; more than half of the 58 identified NFPAs have been delineated on maps. Demarcation of boundaries has been partly done on some of the NFPAs. However, the NFPAs have not been gazetted, and this has contributed to the uncontrolled, illegal cutting, the encroachment and clearing of forestland for crop production and grazing.
The challenge is to be able to conserve the remaining forest genetic resources, which have been eroded due to deforestation and changes in land use, over grazing, inappropriate harvesting practices and climate change.
Seed banks
The National Tree Seed Project main activities have been seed procurement, tree improvement and seed source development.
For the project period, the supply of seed for afforestation and farm forestry has reached 35,000 kg. These have been distributed to governmental, non- governmental organizations and individuals. Until recently, 310 seed source areas have been identified and over 250 hectares of seed production areas have been established for Pinus patula, Cupressus lusitanica, Eucalyptus camaldulensis, E. globulus, E. grandis, E. uiminalis and Gravillea robusta. Tree seed zones have also been identified and mapped.
Forest plantation
Industrial plantations for production of saw logs, or transmission and telecommunication poles total an estimated 95,000 ha, most of which is within NFPAs. Peri-urban plantations totalling approximately 35,000 ha are owned and managed by the Government.
It is estimated that community woodlots and catchments protection forests currently total more than 20,000 ha and 70,000 ha respectively.
Botanical and home gardens
In Ethiopia there is no botanic garden, which is an essential facility for the purpose of both research and ex situ conservation. Although some introductions of exotic forest trees began as early as 1897 with the introduction of a few eucalyptus species, large-scale introduction began as late as early 1950s.
Based on a recent review of Forestry Research Centre (FRC), experimental sites comprise a total of 134 trials with 166 different species from 60 genera. The research work has been concentrated on three main fields:
The experimental sites (field trials) are distributed on 34 locations and four major bioclimatic zones. Some of the trial sites are established with appropriate designs allowing statistical analysis of the data. Thus, of the 134 trials, 68 are ongoing, 22 generate valuable data for statistical analysis and the remaining are observation trials.
Of the 300 tree species (over) recorded in the country, only a few are used for construction and industrial purpose. Some of the commercially important species are over exploited to the extent of being endangered. The commercially important indigenous species include:
Albizzia gummifera
Albizia schimperiana
Aninegria adolfi-fliedericii
Apodytes dimidiata
Blighia unijudata
Bosqueia phoberos
Celtis krayssiania (=africana)
Chlorophora excelsa
Cordia africana
Croton macrostachys
Diospyros abyssinica
Ekebergia rueppelliana (=capensis)
Hagenia abyssinica
Juniperus procera
Mamilkara butugi
Octea kenyaensis
Olea hochstetteri
Olea welwitschii
Podocarpus gracilior
Polyscias ferruguinea
Pygeum africanum
Syzygium guineense
Warburgia ugandensis
