Ethiopia

Feasability study for a biosphere reserve "Dessa'a Forest", Tigray region

The Dessa forest is one of the last remaining forest stands in the semi-arid zone of Ethiopia and is therefore of enormous importance for the landscape water balance and the preservation of biodiversity. It secures the livelihoods of more than 250,000 people and is located in the area where the Tigray and Afar regions overlap, which results in very complex interlinkages of land use and stakeholders. Illegal logging and expansion of agricultural land have reduced the forest area of the Desa'a Forest by about 40% between 1972 and 2018. To avoid further degradation and forest destruction, the implementation of sustainable land and forest management strategies involving the local population is urgently needed.

The Succow Foundation is therefore working together with the University of Hamburg on a feasibility study for a UNESCO biosphere reserve in the Dessa'a Forest. Other partners in this project are WeForest, Bread for the World, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Mekelle University, the regional government of Tigray, the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture of Ethiopia. Part of the project is, among other things, the establishment of a competence network for the establishment of the biosphere reserve and the preparation of the nomination dossier for the application to become a UNESCO biosphere reserve.