Eroding Our Future

Posted July 18th, 2008 by beruk

Climate change was high on the agenda of the recent G8 summit in Japan, and somehow they always seem to fail to reach an agreement to curb the disaster that has already stared to manifest itself in various areas. Prolonged drought followed by heavy rain is the major problem in countries like Ethiopia, where the erosion of the top soil is reducing the agricultural output, posing a major treat to the country’s food self sufficiency plan. Forestation seems for now, the only way out from this vicious cycle. It is no secret that the Sahara desert is enlarging by the day, and Ethiopia is one of the candidates of the so called "deforestation and desertification". Only a staggering 3% or even less of the Ethiopian land mass is covered by forest these days, but a few decades back this figure was said to be about 40%. Combating this phenomenon may have taken a 180o turn when the government mobilized the whole country so that everyone could plant two trees for the new Ethiopian Millennium. More than half a million seedlings have been planted nationwide within the past year alone and for this rainy season, mid-June up to mid-September, the motto has been changed to "three trees for the third Millennium". This national campaign has been backed by various organizations, and last April, during her visit Ethiopia the famous US actress and UNICEF goodwill ambassador Sarah Jones planted two endemic trees in a move to show solidarity with the Ethiopian people. Jones planted the trees in the northern outskirts of the capital, Addis Ababa, where a local organization is repopulating mount Entoto with various endemic trees. Emperor Menelik II settled in this area before moving downhill to found Addis Ababa as his capital. Eucalyptus trees were imported from Australia to combat the shortage of fuel wood faced in Addis Ababa. The Eucalyptus tree grows relatively fast compared to other local trees making it the favorite candidate. Unfortunately though, this type of tree has a long root and is known for the excessive amount of water that it takes from the soil, drying up the surrounding area, and thereby exposing the soil to erosion. Nowadays the top soil in Mount Entoto is not more than 25 cm, because of years of erosion.

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