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The Contribution of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church in Forest Management and Its Best Practices to be Scaled up in North Shewa Zone of Amhara Region, Ethiopia

Received: 7 May 2015     Accepted: 25 May 2015     Published: 8 June 2015
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Abstract

This research was conducted in selected moasteries of Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOTC) in North Shewa zone. The main objective of the study is to identify main constraints which hinder the society to learn from religious instituions and apply the best practices and habit of experiences on forest conservation. Accordingly six monasteries were selected at different altitudes and sites purposively. Once the study forest areas were identified, 10 X 10 m quadrats were laid systematically in the forests for vegetation sampling. For the socioeconomic survey, 112 individuals were selected. Moreover, focus group discussion and key informant interviews were employed. Church forests enveloped in this study have an area ranging from 1.6 ha to 100 ha. The total number of species and families in each of the six churches ranged from 17 to 60 and 15 to 39 respectively. Different regeneration status was revealed from the height and diameter class distribution for some of the woody species. The height and diameter class distributions for all individuals in each studied church showed that the forests are at different secondary stages of development. The classification of the species group by ordination techniques showed the differentiation in species group types has a strong relationship with altitude. These church forests didn’t come to exist just by chance. Results indicated that it is by the commitment of the church based on strong theological thoughts and biblical basis. It was found that the local community respects and protects church forests, and considers the church as a central institution and platform. However, the community is not strongly committed to adopt forest management culture of the church due to: 1) the church leaders didn’t teach more to their followers to plant trees and to transfer the knowledge; 2) limited knowledge of the community about the benefits of forests to their livelyhood. 3), In general, the result of this study revealed that, forests conserved by EOTC and its tradition provide an opportunity to establish insitu and exsitu conservation sites for forest resources. They also have greater prospects in implementing forestry conservation, development, research and education programs with some avoidable threats and constraints for which recommendations were presented. Hence, it willl be worthy to include the church and mosque communities when delivering trainings and sharing responsibilities in aforestation programes.

Published in Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Volume 4, Issue 3)
DOI 10.11648/j.aff.20150403.18
Page(s) 123-137
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2015. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Monasteries, Indigenous Knowledge, Natural Forest, Conservation, Sustainability

References
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[2] Alemayehu Wasie (2002). Opportunities, Constraints and Prospects of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Churches in Conserving Forest Resources: The Case of Churches in South Gonder,Northern Ethiopia. MSc thesis, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Skinnskatterberg, Sweden.
[3] Alemayehu Wasie, Demel Teketay and N. Powell (2005). Church forests in North Gondor Administrative Zone, Northern Ethiopia. Forests, Trees and Livelihood 15(4): 349-374.
[4] Aymro Wondmagegnehu and Motovu, J., (1970). The Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The Ethiopian Orthodox Mission, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
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[7] Cunningham, A.B. (2001). Applied Ethnobotany: People, wild plant use and conservation. Earthscan, London.
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[18] Mwendera, E.J. and M.A. Mohamed Saleem (1997). Hydrologic response to cattle grazing in the Ethiopian highlands. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 64: 33-41.
[19] Siboniso M. Mavuso, Absalom M. Manyatsi, Bruce R. T. Vilane(2015). Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Coping Strategies at Malindza, a Rural Semi-Arid Area in Swaziland. American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry. Vol. 3, No. 3, 2015, pp. 86-92. doi: 10.11648/j.ajaf.20150303.14
[20] Tadesse Woldemariam (1998). Diversity of Woody Plants and Avifauna in a Dry Afromontane Forest, On the Central Plateau of Ethiopia. SLU: Ethiopian MSc in Forestry Program thesis work.
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[24] Zewge Teklehaimanot (2001). Biodiversity conservation in ancient church and monastery yards in Ethiopia.
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    Abiyou Tilahun, Hailu Terefe, Teshome Soromessa. (2015). The Contribution of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church in Forest Management and Its Best Practices to be Scaled up in North Shewa Zone of Amhara Region, Ethiopia. Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, 4(3), 123-137. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.20150403.18

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    ACS Style

    Abiyou Tilahun; Hailu Terefe; Teshome Soromessa. The Contribution of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church in Forest Management and Its Best Practices to be Scaled up in North Shewa Zone of Amhara Region, Ethiopia. Agric. For. Fish. 2015, 4(3), 123-137. doi: 10.11648/j.aff.20150403.18

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    AMA Style

    Abiyou Tilahun, Hailu Terefe, Teshome Soromessa. The Contribution of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church in Forest Management and Its Best Practices to be Scaled up in North Shewa Zone of Amhara Region, Ethiopia. Agric For Fish. 2015;4(3):123-137. doi: 10.11648/j.aff.20150403.18

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  • @article{10.11648/j.aff.20150403.18,
      author = {Abiyou Tilahun and Hailu Terefe and Teshome Soromessa},
      title = {The Contribution of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church in Forest Management and Its Best Practices to be Scaled up in North Shewa Zone of Amhara Region, Ethiopia},
      journal = {Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries},
      volume = {4},
      number = {3},
      pages = {123-137},
      doi = {10.11648/j.aff.20150403.18},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.20150403.18},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.aff.20150403.18},
      abstract = {This research was conducted in selected moasteries of Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOTC) in North Shewa zone. The main objective of the study is to identify main constraints which hinder the society to learn from religious instituions and apply the best practices and habit of experiences on forest conservation. Accordingly six monasteries were selected at different altitudes and sites purposively. Once the study forest areas were identified, 10 X 10 m quadrats were laid systematically in the forests for vegetation sampling. For the socioeconomic survey, 112 individuals were selected. Moreover, focus group discussion and key informant interviews were employed. Church forests enveloped in this study have an area ranging from 1.6 ha to 100 ha. The total number of species and families in each of the six churches ranged from 17 to 60 and 15 to 39 respectively. Different regeneration status was revealed from the height and diameter class distribution for some of the woody species. The height and diameter class distributions for all individuals in each studied church showed that the forests are at different secondary stages of development. The classification of the species group by ordination techniques showed the differentiation in species group types has a strong relationship with altitude. These church forests didn’t come to exist just by chance. Results indicated that it is by the commitment of the church based on strong theological thoughts and biblical basis. It was found that the local community respects and protects church forests, and considers the church as a central institution and platform. However, the community is not strongly committed to adopt forest management culture of the church due to: 1) the church leaders didn’t teach more to their followers to plant trees and to transfer the knowledge; 2) limited knowledge of the community about the benefits of forests to their livelyhood. 3), In general, the result of this study revealed that, forests conserved by EOTC and its tradition provide an opportunity to establish insitu and exsitu conservation sites for forest resources. They also have greater prospects in implementing forestry conservation, development, research and education programs with some avoidable threats and constraints for which recommendations were presented. Hence, it willl be worthy to include the church and mosque communities when delivering trainings and sharing responsibilities in aforestation programes.},
     year = {2015}
    }
    

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    T1  - The Contribution of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church in Forest Management and Its Best Practices to be Scaled up in North Shewa Zone of Amhara Region, Ethiopia
    AU  - Abiyou Tilahun
    AU  - Hailu Terefe
    AU  - Teshome Soromessa
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    DO  - 10.11648/j.aff.20150403.18
    T2  - Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
    JF  - Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
    JO  - Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
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    EP  - 137
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2328-5648
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.20150403.18
    AB  - This research was conducted in selected moasteries of Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOTC) in North Shewa zone. The main objective of the study is to identify main constraints which hinder the society to learn from religious instituions and apply the best practices and habit of experiences on forest conservation. Accordingly six monasteries were selected at different altitudes and sites purposively. Once the study forest areas were identified, 10 X 10 m quadrats were laid systematically in the forests for vegetation sampling. For the socioeconomic survey, 112 individuals were selected. Moreover, focus group discussion and key informant interviews were employed. Church forests enveloped in this study have an area ranging from 1.6 ha to 100 ha. The total number of species and families in each of the six churches ranged from 17 to 60 and 15 to 39 respectively. Different regeneration status was revealed from the height and diameter class distribution for some of the woody species. The height and diameter class distributions for all individuals in each studied church showed that the forests are at different secondary stages of development. The classification of the species group by ordination techniques showed the differentiation in species group types has a strong relationship with altitude. These church forests didn’t come to exist just by chance. Results indicated that it is by the commitment of the church based on strong theological thoughts and biblical basis. It was found that the local community respects and protects church forests, and considers the church as a central institution and platform. However, the community is not strongly committed to adopt forest management culture of the church due to: 1) the church leaders didn’t teach more to their followers to plant trees and to transfer the knowledge; 2) limited knowledge of the community about the benefits of forests to their livelyhood. 3), In general, the result of this study revealed that, forests conserved by EOTC and its tradition provide an opportunity to establish insitu and exsitu conservation sites for forest resources. They also have greater prospects in implementing forestry conservation, development, research and education programs with some avoidable threats and constraints for which recommendations were presented. Hence, it willl be worthy to include the church and mosque communities when delivering trainings and sharing responsibilities in aforestation programes.
    VL  - 4
    IS  - 3
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Biology, College of Natural Science, Debre Berhan University, Debre Berhan, Ethiopia

  • Department of Biology, College of Natural Science, Debre Berhan University, Debre Berhan, Ethiopia

  • Department of Environmental Science, Science faculty, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

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