Awashc&d project |
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Awash |
the problem Over the past half century, pastoralists and nomads living besides the Awash River in Ethiopia's magnificent Rift Valley have gradually lost access to their traditional grazing lands as a result of large-scale agricultural development. Increasingly, they have had to rely on the grasslands within the Awash National Park and today, more than two thirds of the park is permanently occupied by people and their livestock. Poverty and malnutrition are high because neither the local communities nor the park authority are fully empowered to manage the park's natural resources, resulting in loss of the park's special biodiversity and habitats, over-grazing and soil erosion. the solution CARE Ethiopia launched the Awash Conservation and Development Project (ACDP) in 1995. The project aims to relieve poverty and increase the food security of the local people while at the same time conserving the park's habitats and biodiversity. In 2000, a new 5-year phase of the ACDP was launched that builds on lessons learnt in Phase I and on recent advances in integrated conservation and development project theory and practice (see Bwindi ICD strategies project). Specifically, Phase II places emphasis on the development of a natural resources management plan for the national park and surrounding area that both the local communities and the park authority are committed to, and that reconciles community development and conservation needs. Another significant advance is the launch of a park outreach programme, aimed at building a positive dialogue between park managers and local residents. CDC’s contribution CDC carried out an assessment of Phase I which led on to the Phase II project design including a major overhaul of the project's objectives and activities. CDC also developed a separate proposal to secure new donor funding for the ACDP's expanded activity programme. We are now providing continuing technical support to Phase II in particular the participatory natural resources planning process. This has included:
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fact file
main project theme: project design & management Synopsis: Ethiopia's Awash National Park is facing major conflicts between biodiversity conservation and the livelihood needs of the local pastoralist communities. CARE Ethiopia has been working to reconcile these conflicts since 1995, and in 1999, they enlisted the support of CDC in redesigning the project approach to place greater emphasis on community involvement in the planning and management of the park's natural resources. This collaboration between park authorities and local communities is the key to achieving lasting improvements in community livelihood while securing the park's unique Rift Valley biodiversity and habitats. Customers/Partners:
Other collaborators:
Donor:
LOCATION: Awash National Park, Afar and Oromiya Regions, Ethiopia TIMEFRAME: September 1999 - ongoing |
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