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Overview
Ethiopia currently faces a myriad of challenges, brought on by a combination of extended periods of drought and famine, insufficient food supply, tremendous annual population increases (2 million people / year), and the deterioration of the forests, soil erosion, and inadequate access to water. In response to the increasing food insecurity and population vulnerability that have been witnessed in the pastoralist areas of Ethiopia since the late 1990’s, has been USAID-Ethiopia implementing an activity entitled Pastoralist Livelihoods Initiative (PLI). This initiative aims to improve the management of rangelands, provide alternative forages for livestock, and manage water resources to maximize access for livestock in an effort to mitigate the effects of disasters and improve livelihoods of pastoralists in Ethiopia. The PLI program is in its final stages, though much of the work undertaken under PLI initiative will likely be continued on a regional scale under the Regional Enhanced Livelihoods in Pastoral Areas (RELPA) program, which includes areas in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia.
US Forest Service is dedicated to continuing to provide quality technical support to the PLI program, and looks forward to further engaging in the region under RELPA in an attempt to lessen the population’s plight, and ameliorate the integrity of the environment. To these ends, US Forest Service has been involved in supporting the PLI program through long and short-term technical assistance missions since October 2005.
The overall objective of the USFS technical assistance to the PLI program has been to build capacity for rangeland management so that rangelands become more productive and can provide fodder for more or healthier livestock. To achieve this objective, the USFS works through partnerships with USAID, PLI implementing partners, and the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) to implement a series of activities that address specific aspects of rangeland management at the field-level and will feedback information and ideas into rangeland-related policy harmonization and protocol development. A primary goal of USFS has been to develop a strong partnership with relevant GoE agencies to ensure sustainability and institutionalization of these activities. Specific objectives of the PLI program include:
- Develop tools and provide training to limit or contain the spread of invasive species on rangelands
- Return Fire to Fire-Dependent ecosystems to improve quality of rangeland and forage production
- Training and curriculum development in Rangeland Ecology and Management for Improved Rangeland Health and Forage Productivity
- Contribute to landscape-level rangelands use planning process
- Support the development of policy protocols to scale-up and formalize improved rangeland management practices.
The RELPA Program aims to provide a bridge between emergency relief assistance and activities that promote economic development in arid and semi-arid pastoral areas. Specific RELPA activities include:
1. COMESA (Common Market for eastern and Southern Africa ) Secretariat Support:
Pastoral Areas Policy Engagement
2. Pastoral Areas Coordination, Analysis, and Policy Support (PACAPS) Activity under
the COMESA umbrella, which will include a Regional Coordination and Analysis
Sub-activity working with COMESA
3. Enhanced Livelihoods in the Mandera Triangle (ELMT): On-the-Ground activities,
training, and technical support
4. OFDA (United States Agency for International Development’s Office of Foreign
Disaster Assistance) support to emergency response activities in the greater Mandera
Triangle region.
USFS Ethiopia reports on FRAME:
http://www.frameweb.org/ev_en.php?ID=17090_201&ID2=DO_TOPIC
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