Group of young Ethiopian students
Group of young Ethiopian students
01 Jan 2014 - 31 Dec 2020

Norad through the Norwegian Programme for Capacity Development in Higher Education and Research for Development (NORHED).

  • Ethiopia, particularly the Tigray region has been facing continues deforestation and subsequent land degradation for over 3000 years. In an attempt to reverse this, there have been many efforts in the region since the 1980's. Rehabilitating degraded communal grazing lands by the means of exclosures were among such efforts. Exclosures are areas set aside for rehabilitation through natural regeneration of plants.

    Currently, exclosures cover about 16% (1.2 million ha) of the region's land area. About 200,000 ha of remnant natural forests of the region are also under protection as regional state’s forest priority areas. Both the restored and remnant forests are however, under constant pressure from the surrounding rapidly increasing population and the subsequent growing demand for forestland and forest products, particularly fuel wood.

    On the other hand, there has been a growing global demand for conservation of tropical forests owing to the emergence of the financial incentives based climate change mitigation policy measure known as REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation plus enhancing forest carbon stocks, sustainable management and conservation of forests).

    The government of Ethiopia recognizes the urgent need for sustainable forest management strategies to maintain the existing forests while fulfilling the local demand for forest products and services. The national and regional effort to address this issue is however, limited by the lack of necessary forest management decision-support tools and data. This is mainly due to the lack of experts in the field of forestry.

    Ethiopia is a developing country where the higher education coverage in general and forestry in particular is still very low and in which gender inequality is very high. For example, 51% of men and 66% of women are illiterate, and this proportion widens when it comes to higher education where only 6.7% of the graduates are women. The government has put in place policies and structures to help narrow this gap.

    However, they are far from being effective as the number of female student dropout is 70% of all students dropping out. Some of the reasons given for this high present are lack of a strong background education, lack of female teachers to be role models, lack of assertiveness training, lack of appropriate guidance and counseling. The lack of a strong educational background has a lot to do with the culture related to the division of labor in the households, lack of social assertiveness of women, and lack of independent thinking and action. This can thus be partly addressed with tutorials, assertiveness training, and the setting of role models in the further education of women at Masters, PhD and post doc levels.

  • The main goal is to strengthen the capacity in forestry education and research at Mekelle University (MU) in order to promote sustainable utilization of the region’s forest resources by the local communities.

    The specific objectives are to:

    • Develop curricula to run MSc programs
    • Develop a curriculum for a PhD program
    • Launch the newly setup MSc programs
    • Improve teaching and research capacity at MU by upgrading the staff competence
    • Improve gender equality via giving priority to the capacity building of women
    • Provide forest management decision-support tools to policy makers and forest managers

  • Education

    • 3 PhD candidates have completed their studies (1 female)
    • 3 post-doc candidates have completed their studies (1 female)

    PhD topics

    • Data, models, and insights for informed decision-making in the management of exclosures in Tigray, northern Ethiopia (https://www.nmbu.no/en/faculty/mina/news/node/36203)
    • Socioeconomics and governance of exclosures in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia (https://www.nmbu.no/en/faculty/mina/news/node/36221)
    • An ecological and socio-economical study of a locally endangered tree species, Olea europaea subsp. cuspidata, in a dry Afromontane forest (https://www.nmbu.no/en/faculty/mina/news/node/36263)

    Post-doc topics

    • Use and value of the wild food resources from protected forests (Sarah Tewolde-Berhan)
    • Socioeconomics of protected forest management (Nigussie Abadi)
    • Soil biodiversity and carbon storage in exclosures, church forests and dry Afromontane forest landscapes of Northern Ethiopia (Emiru Birhane)

    MSc.Programs

    • Two curricula developed for the following two MSc programs
      • Agroforestry and land Rehabilitation
      • Green Development  and carbon Management
    • The two MSc. Programs are lounched and 3rd batch students are enrolled

    A curriculum for a PhD program on Dryland Ecology and Resource Management developed and national review workshop held

    A training in research proposal and research paper writing given to 34 female academic staff of MU 

  • From PhD studies:

    Gebregziabher D. & Soltani A. 2019. Exclosures in people’s minds: perceptions and attitudes in the Tigray region, Ethiopia. Forest Policy and Economics, 101: 1-14.  DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2019.01.012 

    Ubuy M.H., Eid T., Bollandsås O.M. & Birhane E. 2018. Aboveground biomass models for trees and shrubs of exclosures in the drylands of Tigray, northern Ethiopia. Journal of Arid Environments, 156 9-18. DOI: 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2018.05.007 

    Ubuy M.H., Eid T. & Bollandsås O.M. 2018. Variation in wood basic density within and between tree species and site conditions of exclosures in Tigray, northern Ethiopia. Trees, 32: 967. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-018-1689-9

    Wegasie M.O., Hofstad O., Klanderud K., Eldegard K. & Tewolde-Berhan S. 2018. Illegal Harvesting of Locally Endangered Olea europaea Subsp. cuspidata (Wall. ex G. Don) Cif. and Its Causes in Hugumburda Forest, Northern Ethiopia. Forests, 9 (8), 498. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/f9080498 

    Wegasie M.O., Eldegard K., Klanderud K., Tewolde-Berhan S. & Gidey K. 2018. Locally endangered tree species in a dry montane forest are enhanced by high woody species richness but affected by human disturbance Journal of Arid Environments, 158: 19-27. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2018.08.001 

    Gebregziabher D., Soltani A., Hofstad O. 2017. Equity in the distribution of values of outputs from exclosures in Tigray, Ethiopia. Journal of Arid Environments, 146: 75-85. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2017.07.003   

    Author links open overlay panel

    From Post doc studies and from other projects partly financed by the project:

    Birhane, E., Gebremedihin, K.M., Tadesse, T. et al. Ecol Process (2017) 6: 33. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13717-017-0101-9

    Alem Tadesse, Mulugeta Sibehatleab, Tsegazab Gebrelibanos,Fiseha Gebru and Emiru Birhane (2017): Hydrological Response to Changes in Land Use Land Cover and Water Harvesting Technologies in Abreha Weatsbeha Watershed, Northern Ethiopia. Journal of the Drlylands, 7(1): 568-581 

    Hailemariam, M., Birhane, E., Gebresamuel, G. et al. Agroforest Syst (2018) 92: 485. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-017-0146-x

    Birhane, E., Gebremeskel, K., Taddesse, T. et al. Agroforest Syst (2018) 92: 643. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-016-0027-8

    Birhane, E., Fatumah, N., Gidey, K. et al. J. For. Res. (2018) 29: 675. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-017-0493-5

    Welemariam, M., Kebede, F., Bedadi, B. et al. Agric & Food Secur (2018) 7: 42. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40066-018-0193-1

    Mengistu Welemariam, Fassil Kebede, Bobe Bedadi and Emiru Birhane, Chemical and Biological Technologies in Agriculture (2018) 5:12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40538-018-0124-1

    Solomon, N.; Hishe, H.; Annang, T.; Pabi, O.; Asante, I.K.; Birhane, E. Forest Cover Change, Key Drivers and Community Perception in Wujig Mahgo Waren Forest of Northern Ethiopia. Land 20187, 32.

  • Emiru Birhane

    Mekelle univesity

  • Kindeya Gebrehiwot
  • Mekelle univesity

    Nigussie Abadi

    Mekelle univesity

    Sarah Tewolde-Berhan

    Mekelle univesity

    Tewodros Tadesse

    Mekelle univesity