Short Description of the Church Forests in Ethiopia

In the northeastern highlands of Ethiopia, agriculture and encroaching desert has replaced most of the original dry Afro-montane forests. These remaining patches of forest usually surround the Ethipian Orthodox Tewahido churches, since they are considered sacred and spiritual. Some of these church forests are over 1500 years old, and their size ranges from 3 acres to 300 hectares. When travelers see green forests on the distant horizon in Ethiopia, they can be certain to find a church. The words “debr” or “geddam” are terms for these churches surrounded by trees. Dr. Alemayehu Wassie Eshete, our local host in Ethiopia, wrote his PhD thesis on the church forests of Ethiopia, with a special focus on identifying the trees found. He recognized that the church forests provide important ecosystem services (meaning they provide benefits from their natural systems that would be very expensive if humans had to artificially replicate them). Such ecosystem services provided by the Ethiopian church forests include:

  1. home for insects that provide the services of pollination and production of honey
  2. source of fresh water, since many fresh water springs are situated within the boundaries of the church forest
  3. genetic library, housing the native seed sources for Ethiopian plants and many wildlife
  4. spiritual and religious sanctuary
  5. Shade and soil conservation
Locals harvest timber in the church forests as well as plant coffee and non-native, fast-growing trees such as eucalypt, resulting in decline of the native trees
Locals harvest timber in the church forests as well as plant coffee and non-native, fast-growing trees such as eucalypt, resulting in decline of the native trees

Currently, the forest boundaries are eroding due to subtle pressure by the surrounding agriculture. Farmers have a high respect for the church, but inadvertently trim back the tree boundaries, especially since the trees often die back around the edges due to drought and exposure. The temptation to take some timber, and/or plow a few more rows, results in serious shrinkage of the church forests, to the extent that some are predicted to disappear in the next decade.

Thanks to National Geographic funding, we hope to survey the insect biodiversity of these forests. Even more important, we hope to initiate, with Alemayehu’s help, education of the children about the pollinators found in their church forests. This will not necessarily halt the shrinkage of the forests, but such education may give the next generation more incentive to conserve these precious circles of green.

Lake Tana at dawn, just offshore from Bahir Dar
Lake Tana at dawn, just offshore from Bahir Dar

We will be based in Bahir Dar, on the edge of Lake Tana. This region boasts thousands of church forests, but we will focus on just a few as a pilot study to survey their ants, beetles, canopy insect life, pollinators, and tardigrades (translation: water bears, which are microscopic critters found in droplets of water almost throughout the world). We hope to not only create the first-ever lists of arthropod biodiversity in these church forests, but also educate the local villagers (including the clergy) about the wealth of creatures who depend upon these forests for their survival. In addition, the importance of pollinators and fresh water and other ecosystem services can not be underestimated.

Island church forests in Lake Tana
Island church forests in Lake Tana