Woji church forest in Ethiopia has a wall!! This was the fourth and latest construction site for conservation of northern Ethiopia’s last remaining forests, in a project funded by TREE Foundation. The photos below show the local villagers as well as clergy from the Coptic church all worked together to create this beautiful wall from local stones. The walls not only save the native trees and local biodiversity, but they also conserve the fresh water springs, pollinators, medicines, dyes (from plants), honey and important spiritual sanctuary for Ethiopians.
Below is an update from Alemayehu on the Woji church forest in Ethiopia:
After long discussion with the community finally the new boundary has been defined and agreed. As you may see in the picture the blue paint on the tree shows the new boundary mark of the church forest. The new boundary actually is almost what we draw last time with you here (a little bit pushed outward). I am happy to tell that the new boundary is positively recognized and accepted by the local residents, church leaders and local government officials.
Then as you may see in the picture the fencing has been started. Per the discussion with the people, this year we will finish constructing the fences all round the boundary with minimum 70-80 cm height (half of it already done). Then next year they promised to increase the height of the wall and make the gate, which means the focus of this year should be delineating the boundary and putting the land mark. I think this is a great progress and more than my expectation from Woji.
