Skip to main content

AfDB Committed to supporting Degraded Land Restoration in Ethiopia

Countries
Ethiopia
Sources
Govt. Ethiopia
Publication date
Origin
View original

Addis Ababa August 30/2019 African Development Bank (AfDB) expressed its commitment to support the efforts being made by Ethiopia to restore its degraded land.

James Kinyangi, Coordinator of Climate and Development Special Fund at AfDB, told ENA that the bank is working very closely with the Ethiopian government in supporting the country’s development endeavors.

An analysis of forest coverage by Ethiopia’ Environment, Forest and Climate Change Commission found that nearly 12,000 square kilometers of forest was lost between 2000 and 2013.

However, vowing to reinstate 150,000 square kilometers of its degraded and deforested land by 2025, the country has joined the global movement toward forest landscape restoration.

In 2016, Ethiopia turned to forestry sector development projects in the form of short rotation planting and rehabilitation of degraded lands.

Appreciating the efforts of the government in planting trees to restore degraded lands, James Kinyangi said “I think we very much welcome the efforts by the Ethiopian government to restore degraded land and depleted forest resources by planting the trees.”

He affirmed that AfDB will boost its support for Ethiopia’s endeavors in restoring its degraded land, which resulted widely in the reduction of the country’s productivity.

“I think going forwards is one area we would like to engage the government even more closely to work with them to make sure that, we are not only supporting development sectors, but we are also supporting the sector in recovering from land degradation,” he added.

On other hand, James Kinyangi pointed out that AfDB has provided support for National Meteorology Agency on expanding national network for observing and monitoring fluctuations on water resources.

“We mainstream projects related to climate and green economy in our priority areas for funding projects in different countries,” he added.

In 2018, AfDB has allocated 1.6 billion USD for climate adaption actions leveraging additional resources across the five operational areas that guide the bank’s focus on strengthening the adaptive capacities of its regional member countries.

The bank is investing 17 million USD through its climate related development programs and to modernize Africa’s climate and weather observation networks and for providing access to satellite data and delivering services to offer timely and reliable weather and climate forecasts.