Analysis Of Ethiopia S Wildlife Policies And Laws

Ethiopia is committed to wildlife conservation and has in place a wildlife policy and strategy that guides the administration of the wildlife sector. This policy is translated into legislation for purposes of making its provisions enforceable. There is legislation that establishes the institutional framework of the wildlife sector and legislation that regulates the wildlife sector. The wildlife legislation has strong provisions that address wildlife crime and wildlife trafficking but it also has gaps that need to be sealed in order to successfully administer and adjudicate over wildlife cases. Ethiopia is quite strong in complying with international standards that address wildlife crime including standards on reduction of wildlife trade, fighting of organized criminal groups, curbing money laundering and fighting corruption. The effectiveness of the legislation cannot be accurately gauged as there is lack of consistent and reliable data on wildlife cases.

Uganda has a very strong wildlife policy and the government is committed towards wildlife conservation and protection and fighting wildlife crime. Uganda is a party to various international conventions that provide for the conservation in wildlife, regulation of trade in wildlife and wildlife products, proper law enforcement and anti‐corruption initiatives. Being a party to these instruments demonstrates Uganda’s commitment to meet international standards in protection of wildlife and reduction of wildlife crime in the country. However, even with a strong policy and commitment to international standards, wildlife crime still occurs in Uganda that is a serious threat to the survival of some key iconic species in the country. One of the reasons is that the wildlife legislation and other laws do not reflect the standards set in the policy or the international requirements. Uganda is working towards review of its laws to catch up with its policies and international standards and hopefully this will address the gap and weaknesses in the wildlife legislation.

Tanzania is one of the most bio‐diverse countries on the African continent with a long history of conservation. The Tanzanian government remains committed to conserving wildlife resources and their habitats. Legislation on wildlife conservation in Tanzania dates as far back as the 1890’s and from that time, it has been transformed to address modern day challenges and changing wildlife conservation methods. Tanzania is also a party to various international instruments including CITES, UNCAC and UNCTOC. These instruments make provisions for parties to enact legislation that will enhance wildlife law enforcement. They include provisions on regulation of wildlife trade, prevention of organized crime and money laundering and addressing corruption. Tanzania has domesticated these provisions by enacting various pieces of legislation including anti‐money laundering laws, prevention of organized crime laws and anti‐corruption laws. These laws support the main wildlife legislation in providing harsher penalties for wildlife offences and addressing corruption as a driver of wildlife crimes. Despite all the policy and legislative efforts made by Tanzania to prevent wildlife crime, there has been a worrying loss of wildlife in the recent past. This has been attributed to high demand for wildlife products in Asia, poverty in Tanzania that incentivises wildlife crime, penetration of organised criminal groups into Tanzania and corruption in law enforcement. Tanzania has been working to overcome these challenges and has seen wildlife poaching and trafficking kingpins arrested and handed very hefty penalties which will hopefully deter other wildlife offenders.

Botswana has a long history of wildlife conservation dating back to 1890 when the first game protection statute was enacted. Since that time, wildlife policies and laws have been developed to address increased threats to wildlife, especially poaching and trafficking in wildlife products. Botswana now has in place various strategies and policies on wildlife conservation and management which guide the enactment of wildlife legislation. The key wildlife law is the Wildlife Conservation and National parks Act enacted in 1992. The Act sets out the institutional and administrative framework of the wildlife. There are strong provisions that strictly regulate wildlife conservation and utilization and address wildlife crime and wildlife law enforcement. Nevertheless, there are still some gaps that exist within the law that need to be sealed in order to effectively curb wildlife crime. Botswana is quite robust in adopting international standards to address wildlife crime and has enacted legislation to stop illegal trade in wildlife and wildlife products and deter profiting from wildlife crime by confiscating proceeds of crime and criminalizing money laundering. Legislation to curb corruption among public officials, including those who deal with wildlife matters, is in place and its rigorous enforcement has led to Botswana being one of the least corrupt countries in Africa. The effectiveness of the wildlife legislation in Botswana cannot be accurately gauged as there is little information on the number of wildlife crimes committed and the conviction rates of wildlife offenders.

Forests harbour a large proportion of the Earth’s terrestrial biodiversity, which continues to be lost at an alarming rate. Deforestation is the single most important driver of forest biodiversity loss with 10 million ha of forest converted every year to other land uses, primarily for agriculture. Up to 30 percent of tree species are now threatened with extinction. As a consequence of overexploitation, wildlife populations have also been depleted across vast areas of forest, threatening the survival of many species. Protected areas, which are considered the cornerstone of biodiversity conservation, cover 18 percent of the world’s forests while a much larger 30 percent are designated primarily for the production of timber and non-wood forest products. These and other forests managed for various productive benefits play a critical role in biodiversity conservation and also provide essential ecosystem services, such as securing water supplies, providing recreational space, underpinning human well-being, ameliorating local climate and mitigating climate change. Therefore, the sustainable management of all forests is crucial for biodiversity conservation, and nations have committed to biodiversity mainstreaming under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Mainstreaming biodiversity in forestry requires prioritizing forest policies, plans, programmes, projects and investments that have a positive impact on biodiversity at the ecosystem, species and genetic levels. In practical terms, this involves the integration of biodiversity concerns into everyday forest management practice, as well as in long-term forest management plans, at various scales. It is a search for optimal outcomes across social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. This study is a collaboration between FAO and the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), lead centre of the CGIAR research programme on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA). This report is a compilation of country case studies as supplementary material to the main publicaiton, which reviews progress and outlines the technical and policy tools available for countries and stakeholders, as well as the steps needed, to effectively mainstream biodiversity in forestry.

With the current Second Growth and Transformation Plan (2015-2020), the Government of Ethiopia expects the agro-industrial sector to play key role in economic growth of the Country. Accordingly, the creation of Integrated Agro-Industrial Parks has been identified as one of the key mechanisms for accelerating the development of the sector and the structural transformation of agriculture. Agro-industrial parks will play a significant role in transitioning Ethiopia from an agricultural-led into an industrial-led economy. In view of that, the development of Integrated Agro-Industrial Parks has been prioritized in Ethiopia’s national development strategy and four Agro-Industrial Growth Corridors have been selected for piloting the establishment of four Integrated Agro-Industrial Parks. The initiative aims at driving the structural transformation of the Ethiopian economy while reducing rural poverty and creating a better environment for increased investments in agro-processing and allied sectors. Since 1981, FAO has been a strong partner of the Government of Ethiopia towards the achievement of national food security and economic growth goals. FAO is working closely with the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources to empower value chain actors and to promote inclusive, efficient and sustainable agricultural value chains. The present document is the second one of a series of detailed analyses of prioritized commodities, which will lead to inclusive, sustainable and stronger agricultural value chains in the Agro-Commodities Procurement Zone of the pilot Integrated Agro-Industrial Park in Central-Eastern Oromia.