Because of the complex nature of the problem of deforestation, the Ethiopian government alone is not able to prevent deforestation. By now we also know that markets alone are unable to prevent this either.James. A, K.J. Gaston and A. Balmford 2000. Why private institutions alone will not do enough to protect biodiversity, Nature, 9 Mar 404: 120. Eventually local stakeholder participation will be required. Much of Ethiopia's national budget is covered by international development aid.With 1.6 billion USD per year, Ethiopia is one of the world’s most successful aid attractors. http://www.zef.de/hpnews.0.html Not surprisingly international aid agencies should also play a prominent role in sustainable forest management. The government of Ethiopia has asked several international agencies, like the Japanese ICA, the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and FARM-Africa to get involved in Participatory Forest Management. Such projects aim at developing forest management plans and signing contracts between local communities and the government. Different areas of the remaining forests are divided among the foreign aid agencies, where they carry out “their” projects on behalf of the government. What is needed, however, are direct, competent, trustworthy relations between local resource users and the federal authorities: a functioning and effective forestry extension service.
