Dr. “CanopyMeg” Lowman and Dr. Alemayehu Wassie Eshete guide us on a walk around the wall built at Zhara Church Rainforest in Ethiopia. The Zhara wall was possible thanks to efforts from scientists, donors, and the TREE Foundation.
This video contains excerpts from the documentary film “Church Forest” by Peter Eliot Buntaine & Greg Vander Veer. Find out more here: http://www.churchforest.com
Ethiopian government is advised to actively promote protection of church forests. See below:
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Re-Greening the Horn
The international community and national governments are advised to invest in re-greening the Horn, through improved water and soil conservation, agro-forestry and reforestation projects. Governments are also advised to strengthen their forest protection mechanisms. In particular, church forests in Northern Ethiopia offer great opportunities for the conservation of biodiversity. The government of Ethiopia is advised to actively promote the establishment of corridors for the protection of (church) forests’ genetic diversity. Remaining forest estates in the Horn may benefit from the REDD+ financial provisions currently being developed. As the global community wants to ensure that it gets what it pays for, a reliable and transparent monitoring system has to be put in place (see first recommendation above).
A look at the new wall and latrines that have been build at Zhara Church Rainforest in Ethiopia. Thanks to efforts from scientists, donors, and the TREE Foundation.
TREE Foundation has generated countrywide inspiration by priests to conserve their church forests. Our team presented information in ecosystem services at this meeting of 700+ religious leaders in Ethiopia. A WIN for the trees!
Matthew Jellings is a photographer currently studying for a masters in wildlife conservation at Sheffield University. He specializes in close up and landscape photography. Mr. Jellings recently accompanied Dr. Lowman on an expedition to Ethiopia and captured some stunning images. You can view the photo gallery at here. Mr. Jellings is willing to work on future expeditions and may be contacted at photographyboy99@hotmail.com
A critical element of our “conservation of Ethiopian church forests” project, Alemayehu and I hosted a worksohp for priests. TREE Foundation “funded” the per diem for each priest to attend. For 2 days of travel to the workshop, one day in attendance, 2 days returning, and all their lodging/meals, Alemayehu calculated that we would give each priest the birre equivalent of $10 US (amazing difference in costs of living!!!)
The goals were twofold: 1. to educate them about the ecosystem services that their forests provide for surrounding communities; and 2. to share our solutions, which included information about the stone walls, the latrines, and also the notion of forest restoration (once the fences are completed). The priests came from the northeast (or Gondor District) of the Coptic or Christian Orthodox Church, some walking for 2 days to reach their church headquarters in Debre Tabor. We had 81 priests, and the event was a huge success. The Arch-Bishop blessed our project, and at the end of the day, pledged that his church and their disciples will prioritize conservation of these green emeralds that dot the landscape. The partnership of science and religion is proving to be a powerful conservation tool.
Some photos from the workshop (photos by Jan Ceigler):
Our biodiversity team just attended a workshop of the Coptic (Christian Orthodox) priest leadership in Debra Tabor, Ethiopia — chaired by my local colleague, Dr. Alemayehu Wassie Eshete, and myself. I presented a visual lecture (with a very challenging electricity situation where we actually taped the wires together — my laptop may never survive this experience!). The priests TOTALLY get the ecological issues at stake — if their forests shrink beyond recovery, they will suffer amazing problems including lack of fresh water, no pollinators, absence (and extinction) of biodiversity, flooding and other episodes, and essentially a lack of the spiritual links between religion and trees (which they view as essential).
Here are some images of our partnership between religion and science. the outcomes include building stone walls around critical church forests (donations on this website!), hosting workshops to educate the religious community about the ecosystem services that church forests provide, and linking to some international organizations that can fund these walls in a timely fashion (Gates Foundation? UN? USAID? etc).
workshop with Coptic priest leadership in Northeast Ethiopia, to discuss conserving the last remaining forests which are located in the church yards (called "church forests")
workshop attendees, including the Arch-bishop of the Gondor district and also some of our team of biodiversity scientists (front row, kneeling).
Monday, January 8 – Today we started sampling at our largest church forest site — Gelawdios — which is 100 hectares in size and dates back to 1500. We met with the head priest of this district, who cares passionately about conserving their church forests. He also is concerned about the increase of eucalypt planting; although everyone needs firewood, he sees the native tree species declining and the water table shrinking. He is a perceptive church leader! We conducted biodiversity surveys at the edge and also the interior of this site. Flies RULE! Our Diptera expert, Erica McAlister from the London Museum of Natural History, is in heaven. We also had a generous smattering of Coleoptera for our beetle team, including a tree totally consumed by an outbreak.
Meeting with the Priest (including a video session for our film crew, translated by Alemayehu Wassie Eshete)
The Priest visited our field sampling sites in the forest
My photo (from the canopy) of our intrepid team, back on the ground (including Priest with his umbrella)
