Wetlands of Ethiopia

  • January 2003
  • In book: Wetlands of Ethiopia (pp.67-75)
  • Edition: 1st
  • Chapter: 8
  • Publisher: IUCN – The World Conservation Union
  • Editors: Yilma D. Abebe and Kim Geheb

Authors:

Zerihun Desta Beshah at Broward College

Zerihun Desta Beshah

Figures

Map of Ethiopia showing the regions and positions of neighbouring countries

Map of Ethiopia showing the regions and positions of neighbouring countries

… 

Broad strategies used in the National Wetlands Programme to improve wetland management in Uganda

Broad strategies used in the National Wetlands Programme to improve wetland management in Uganda

… 

. Details of the core wetland sites where biodiversity monitoring was undertaken

. Details of the core wetland sites where biodiversity monitoring was undertaken

… 

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Wetlands of Ethiopia

Proceedings of a seminar on the resources and

status of in Ethiopia’s wetlands

Yilma D. Abebe and Kim Geheb(Editors)

IUCN – The World Conservation Union

Founded in 1948, The World Conservation Union brings together States,

government agencies and a diverse range of non-governmental organisations

in a unique world partnership: over 980 members in all, spread across some

140 countries.

As a Union, IUCN seeks to influence, encourage and assist societies

throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to

ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically

sustainable.

The World Conservation Union builds on the strengths of its members,

networks and partners to enhance their capacity and to support global

alliances to safeguard natural resources at local, regional and global levels.

IUCN Wetlands and WaterResources

Programme

Rue Mauverney 28

CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland

Tel: + 41 22 999 0001

Fax: + 41 22 999 0002

E-mail:[email protected]

www.iucn.org/themes/wetlands/

IUCN Eastern Africa

Regional Office

P. O. Box 68200-00200

Nairobi, Kenya

Tel: ++ 254 20 890605-12

Fax: ++ 254 20 890615/407

E-mail: [email protected]

IUCN

Wetlands

and Water

Resources

Programme

IUCN

Wetlands of Ethiopia

BLUE SERIES

Wetlands of Ethiopia

Proceedings of a seminar on the resources and

status of Ethiopia’s wetlands

Editors

Yilma D. Abebe and Kim Geheb

IUCN

2003

Published by: IUCN

Copyright: 2003. International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural

Resources

This publication may be produced in whole or part and in any form

for education or non-profit uses, without special permission from the

copyright holder, provided acknowledgement of the source is made.

IUCN would appreciate receiving a copy of any publication which

uses this publication as a source.

No use of this publication may be made for resale or other

commercial purpose without the prior written permission of IUCN.

Citation: Abebe, Y. D. and Geheb, K. (Eds), 2003. Wetlands of Ethiopia.

Proceedings of a seminar on the resources and status of Ethiopia’s

wetlands , vi + 116pp.

ISBN: 2-8317-0689-0

Design and layout: Gordon O. Arara

Cover photographs: Front cover: Awassa wetland; Back cover: Fisherman in Awassa

© Alan Dixon, Research Fellow, Wetland and Natural Resources

Research Group, University of Huddersfield, Queensgate, Web site:

http://wetlands/hud.ac.uk

Available from: IUCN- EARO Publications Service Unit, P. O. Box 68200 – 00200,

Nairobi, Kenya; Telephone ++ 254 20 890605-12; Fax ++ 254 20

890615; E-mail: [email protected]

The designations of geographical entities in this book, and the presentation of the material, do not

imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the participating organizations

concerning the legal status of any country, territory, or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the

delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

The opinions expressed by the authors in this publication do not necessarily represent the view of

IUCN.

The IUCN Seminar on the Wetlands of Ethiopia acknowledges the generous support of the Royal

Netherlands Embassy, Addis Ababa.

IUCN – The World Conservation Union

IUCN – The World Conservation Union was founded in 1948 and brings together 79

states, 112 government agencies, 760 NGOs, 37 affiliates, and some 10,000 scientists

and experts from 141 countries in a unique worldwide partnership. Its mission is to

influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity

and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and

ecologically sustainable. Within the framework of global conventions IUCN has helped

over 75 countries to prepare and implement national conservation and biodiversity

strategies. IUCN has approximately 1000 staff, most of whom are located in its 42

regional and country offices while 100 work at its headquarters in Gland, Switzerland.

IUCN Wetlands and Water Resources Programme

The IUCN Wetlands and Water Resources Programme coordinates and reinforces

activities of the Union concerned with the management of wetland and water

ecosystems. The Programme focuses upon the conservation of ecological and

hydrological processes, in particular by developing, testing, and promoting means of

sustainable utilisation of wetlands. It does so in collaboration with IUCN members and

partners, in particular those other international institutions with a specific wetland

mandate, especially the Ramsar Convention Bureau, and the International Waterfowl

and Wetlands Research Bureau (IWRB).

The core of the Programme is a series of field projects which develop the methodologies

for wetland management, in particular in the countries of the developing world where

wetlands are used intensively by local communities which depend upon these for their

well-being. Related strategic and policy initiatives draw upon the results of these

projects and present their conclusions in a form useful for government decision makers

and planners.

The activities of the Programme are designed on the basis of the concerns and

information provided by IUCN members. To facilitate this, the Programme works

through IUCN’s regional offices. The Programme also works closely with the major

development assistance agencies to ensure that conservation considerations are

adequately addressed in their projects.

The Wetlands and Water Resources Programme receives generous financial support

from the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF), the Swiss Directorate of Development

Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid (DDA), the Finnish International Development

Agency (FINNIDA) and the Government of the Netherlands. Project support has been

received from the Swedish International Development Authority (SIDA), Norwegian

Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), United States Agency for

International Development (USAID), the Ford Foundation and a number of IUCN

members including the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation (FANC), Institut

Francais pour Le Developpement en Cooperation (ORSTOM), the Royal Society for the

Protection of Birds (RSPB), the United States National Park Service (USNPS) and the

World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). It is coordinated from the IUCN Headquarters in

Switzerland, with regional coordinators in Central America, South America, Brazil,

West, East and Southern Africa, and Asia.

Table of Contents

Wetlands of Ethiopia: an introduction……………………………………………………………….. 1

Yilma D. Abebe

The distribution and status of Ethiopian wetlands: an overview……………………………..12

Leykun Abunje

Biodiversity potentials and threats to the southern

Rift Valley lakes of Ethiopia…………………………………………………………………………..18

Lemlem Sissay

Wetlands, birds and important bird areas in Ethiopia …………………………………………..25

Mengistu Wonderfrash

Wetlands research in south-western Ethiopia: the experience of the

Ethiopian Wetlands Research Programme …………………………………………………………37

Afework Hailu

Wetland plants in Ethiopia with examples from

Illubabor, south-western Ethiopia…………………………………………………………………….49

Zerihun Woldu and Kumlachew Yeshitela

Wetlands, gender and poverty: some elements in the development

of sustainable and equitable wetland management ………………………………………………58

Adrian Wood

Challenges and opportunities of Ethiopian wetlands: the case

of Lake Awassa and its feeders………………………………………………………………………..67

Zerihun Desta

Water resources policy and river basin development as related to wetlands……………..76

Messele Fisseha

Wetlands policy development in Ethiopia………………………………………………………….81

Dessalagne Mesfin

Environmental impact assessment and the wise use of wetlands…………………………….86

Berhanu Tekaligne

Towards Sustainable Wetlands Management: The Ugandan Experience………………….97

Reint J. Bakema and Paul Mafabi

Appendix I. Ethiopian Wetlands…………………………………………………………………….108

Seminar attendance……………………………………………………………………………………..111

Contributors……………………………………………………………………………………………….113

Other titles in this series……………………………………………………………………………….114

1

Wetlands of Ethiopia: an introduction

Yilma D. Abebe

Regional Wetlands Programme

IUCN Eastern Africa Regional Office

P. O. Box 68200

Nairobi

Kenya

An introduction to wetlands

Wetlands are ecosystems or units of the landscape that are found on the interface

between land and water. While water is a major factor of wetland definition (Ramsar

Convention Bureau, 1997), soils, vegetation and animal life also contribute to their

unique characteristics (Koetze, 1996; Howard, 1995; Roggeri, 1995). As a result, it has

proved difficult to define wetlands, and over 50 definitions exist. That used by the

Ramsar Convention (1997: 2) is as follows:

“areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or

temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including

areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six meters”.

This definition provides significant latitude – wetlands, as a result, come in a whole host

of forms and types. The Ramsar Convention recognises five major wetland systems

(Ramsar Convention Bureau, 1997), while others identify up to seven main groupings

(Dugan, 1990). The major Ramsar groupings are:

– marine (coastal wetlands);

– estuarine (deltas, tidal marshes, and mangroves);

– lacustrine (lakes and associated wetlands);

– riverine (rivers, streams and associated wetlands);

– palustrine (marshes, swamps and bogs).

These forms are further divided into more than 30 sub-divisions classifying them

according to physical, chemical or biological characteristics.

Wetlands are distributed all over the globe and are estimated to cover about 6% of the

earth’s surface (Maltby, 1986) – some 5.7 million km2 (WCMC, 1992). Although Africa

is best known for its savannahs and hot deserts, 1% of its surface area (345,000 km2) is

covered by wetlands (Finlayson and Moser, 1991). These ecosystems range from the

Senegal River and the Inner Niger Deltas in the West, to the Sudd Floodplains and the

Ethiopian Wetlands in the East. Southwards, important wetlands include the Zaire Basin

Swamps, the Okavango Inland Delta, the Kafue Flats, the African Great Lakes and the

extensive Malagarasi-Moyovosi Wetlands in Tanzania. Wetland characteristics will also

vary with altitude, with high ground wetlands, such as those found in the Ethiopian and

Kenyan mountain systems, complementing lowland types found in the semi-desert.

Wetlands of Ethiopia

2

Wetlands have played a noticeable role in the growth of human civilisations and cultural

development. This is true globally, where major pre-historic civilisations, including

those on the Nile, Euphrates and Tigris, have emerged and developed (Finlayson and

Moser, 1991). It is noteworthy that the Great Rift Valley of Africa has yielded fossil

evidence of some of the world’s earliest hominids. This is especially true in the

Ethiopian Rift. Fossil remains from Hadar in the Afar depression, and at Omo in

Southern Ethiopia, suggest that in order for humans to have lived here, the Ethiopian

Rift must at one time have been better watered than it is presently. The Rift’s ever

changing geology, which was marked by the slow sedimentation of rivers and changes

in drainage and faulting, created ideal conditions for the rise and later development of

the hominids (Smith, 1995).

The importance of wetlands

Only 2.6% of the world’s water is fresh (Illueca and Rast, 1996). The remainder is

found in the oceans and brackish waters. Only a fraction of the world’s fresh water is

available for consumption because so much of it is locked up in polar icecaps and

glaciers (Illueca and Rast, 1996).

Freshwater resources are a finite, but global consumption rates are known to increase 2-

3% every year (Illueca and Rast, 1996). Africa uses only 4% of its renewable freshwater

resources because of the uneven distribution of water resources over the continent

(UNEP, 2000). At the same time, access to water is affected by its quality – much of

Africa’s water may be unsuitable for consumption by its people. These regional patterns

are also evident in Ethiopia, where water resources are unevenly distributed and only a

quarter of its population has access to safe water and sanitation.

Wetlands are the main custodians of these valuable water resources. They act as ‘banks’

from where water may be drawn, and groundwater replenished. Dugan (1990) explains

that wetland values are best understood in terms of their intrinsic conditions (biological,

chemical and physical), which allow them to carry out their distinctive functions and

generate products. Their functions comprise those natural processes that sustain

economic activities and fortify ecological integrity. Examples are groundwater

discharge and recharge, flood control, shoreline stabilisation and nutrient retention.

Besides water being the most basic product that a wetland can provide, food, fuel wood,

wildlife, fisheries, forage and agricultural resources are additional wetland products.

Wetland attributes are closely intermeshed with the ethical and aesthetic values that

human beings attach to them (Roggeri, 1995).

Wetlands are the most productive ecosystems in the world, by far outstripping some of

the alternative uses to which they are subjected. The annual primary production of

herbaceous swamps, for example, is impressive. Papyrus in tropical Africa can produce

up to 143 tonnes per hectare, while production rates for Typha range from 30 to 70

tonnes per hectare. Conversely, highly productive crops such as sugar cane and maize

produce just 63 tonnes and 60 tonnes per hectare respectively (Finlayson and Moser,

1991).

Wetlands of Ethiopia: an introduction

3

Threats to wetlands

While wetlands may be the most productive of ecosystems on earth, they are also the

most threatened. Wetland destruction and alteration has been and is still seen as an

advanced mode of development, even at the government level. Wetlands and their value

remain little understood and their loss is increasingly becoming an environmental

disaster. While rates of wetland loss are documented for the developed world, the

limited study of these ecosystems in countries like Ethiopia leaves us with little to say.

Wetland loss is evident wherever major developments like dams, irrigation schemes and

conversion projects are present in the developing world. While most of the threats that

wetlands face result from their misuse, many are also related to unsustainable resource

extraction. Another important reason for their vulnerability is the fact that they are

dynamic systems undergoing continual change (Barbier et al., 1996). As a result, many

wetlands are temporary features that disappear, reappear and re-create themselves over

time (Barbier et al. 1996).

Humans usually and very dramatically accelerate natural processes often unintentionally

but usually in the course of activities like agriculture, industry and urban development.

These activities can involve anything from drainage and diverting water, to dredging

and loading water sources with toxic chemicals. Perhaps the most destructive of all

activities is mining (Williams, 1990) which permanently destroys the substrate and

prevents the natural restoration of a site. Wetlands whose biotic balance has been

disturbed can often recover.

Dugan (1990) claims that 65% of wetland disturbances are of human origin, while the

remainder have natural origins. Out of these, 73% of disturbances are thought to result

from direct human actions, while the remaining 27% are believed to come from indirect

sources (Table 1).

Table 1. Causes of Wetland loss (after Dugan, 1990)

Human Actions

Direct Indirect Natural Causes

Drainage Sediment diversion Subsidence

Dredging Hydrological alterations Sea-level rise

Filling Subsidence Drought

Conversion Hurricanes and storms

Construction Erosion

Discharge Biotic effects

Mining

Abstraction

The results of wetland loss are far-reaching and disastrous. Humans and other life close

to wetlands, and who depend upon them, are the first to feel the impact of wetland loss.

Dam construction can significantly impact the lives of people living downstream, as

Wetlands of Ethiopia

4

waters are regulated. Animal and plant life dependent on a dammed river’s annual

floods may be exterminated or become endangered. Dams affect flooding cycles, water

chemistry, sediment behaviour and fish migrations (Maltby, 1986). All too often,

wetland functions, including flood protection, nutrient retention, erosion control or

sediment retention, will be compromised by well-meant development interventions.

Once a wetland has been destroyed, the services it previously provided now have to be

paid for by tax payers (Dugan, 1990). Examples of wetland services artificially

performed by human interventions are water purification and erosion control schemes

(Dugan, 1990). While industrialised countries can probably pay for most of these

services from tax incomes, this is not so in developing countries, where wetland

destruction can have a very serious impact on the livelihoods of the rural poor.

The wise use of wetlands

At its meeting in Regina, Canada in June 1987, the Ramsar Convention defined ‘wise

use’ as follows: “the wise use of wetlands is their sustainable utilisation for the benefit

of mankind in a way compatible with the maintenance of the natural properties of the

ecosystem” (Davis, 1993). The term ‘wise use’ encapsulates the need to safeguard the

integrity of wetlands while at the same time providing sustenance to the natural and

human communities around them. This position was clarified at the first meeting of the

Ramsar contracting parties in Cagliari, Italy, when it was emphasised that the “wise use

of wetlands involves the maintenance of their ecological character as a basis not only

for nature conservation, but for sustainable development” (Davis, 1993).

It goes without saying that the wise use of wetlands is impractical if the people who

make use of them are not involved in one way or another. The involvement of such

people and a knowledge of their values is the basis for the implementation of wise use

strategies. If many of the causes of wetland degradation and loss are of socio-economic

origin, then social and economic factors need to form the crux of wise use programmes.

In particular, indigenous populations should be the beneficiaries of the improved

management of wetland sites (Davis, 1993). The wise use of wetlands is a complex

concept to implement and requires the support of national programmes addressing

several factors including information, policy, research, awareness, management and

institution building (Dugan, 1990).

Ethiopia and its wetlands

Ethiopia is a country in North-Eastern Africa lying between 8º 00’ N and 38º 00’ E. Its

area covers an estimated 1,127,000 km2 of which some 7,444 km2 is covered by water.

Ethiopia has 5,311 km of frontiers that it shares with Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia

and Sudan.

Ethiopia’s ecological diversity and climatic variation is to a large extent explained by its

highly variable topography. Altitudes range from 125 m below sea level in the Dallol

Depression, to 4,620 m above sea level at Ras Dashen. These altitudinal extremes mean

that Ethiopia is a country of enormous habitat diversity, which is also influenced by the

country’s climate. The tropical monsoon rainfall pattern is influenced by moisture-laden

Wetlands of Ethiopia: an introduction

5

winds from the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean and also by the Inter-tropical

Convergence Zone and variations in altitude variation.

With the exception of coastal and marine-related wetlands and extensive swamp-forest

complexes, all forms of wetlands are represented in Ethiopia. These include alpine

formations, riverine, lacustrine, palustrine and floodplain wetlands. Floodplains are

found both in Ethiopia’s highlands and lowlands, although they are most common in the

North-Western and Western Highlands, Rift Valley and Eastern Highlands. Hillman and

Abebe (1993) estimate that wetlands cover 1.14% of the total landmass of the country,

while forests cover approximately 2%. Rivers from the Ethiopian Highlands annually

produce in excess of 110 billion m3 of water, of which 74% flows into rivers draining

into Sudan, Egypt, Kenya and Somalia.

In a country like Ethiopia, a wise use wetland programme would need a responsible

agency to co-ordinate national action. Because wetlands fall within the ambit of a

crosscutting issue like environmental protection, both public and private institutions

would need to contribute their expertise and work together. The development of a

management plan for Ethiopia’s wetlands will need basic studies, including awareness,

surveys and inventories, which should be part and parcel of a wetland development

programme (Davis, 1993; Ramsar, 1997).

Some of the institutions that could take the lead in the development of a wise use

wetlands management plan for Ethiopia have already been involved in wetlands-related

work for some time. These are:

– the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Organisation (EWCO): wetland distribution,

preliminary mapping and gathering information, protected area management;

– Ethiopian Wildlife and Natural History Society (EWNHS): wetland birds,

identification of wetland Important Bird Areas (IBAs) and promoting the research

and management of threatened species;

– Ethiopian Wetlands Research Project (EWRP): indigenous knowledge, sustainable

management, socio-economic processes, equity/gender, and cultural values;

– Environmental Protection Authority (EPA): environmental policy, conservation

strategies and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedures;

– Institute for Biodiversity Conservation Research (IBCR): biodiversity conservation

in Ethiopian Rift Valley Lakes;

– Addis Ababa University: amongst others, limnological studies, wetland

biodiversity and social studies.

An over-view of wetlands work in Ethiopia

It was with the kind and generous support of the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Addis

Ababa that the first ever meeting on the wetlands of Ethiopia was possible. The meeting

brought together major stakeholders from the country’s wetland conservation arena to

discuss and look at wetland issues more closely than they have been considered in the

past. The meeting’s final resolution aimed to create a core team comprising various

institutions to look at wetland conservation and management. The papers presented in

this volume look at wetlands from various angles.

Wetlands of Ethiopia

6

The first paper, by Leykun Abunie, sets out to try and classify Ethiopia’s wetlands. He

starts by grouping them broadly into four biomes. At a far more localised level, Abunie

goes on to group Ethiopian wetlands by habitat, physical and biological characteristics,

yielding ten different groups. Like many of the other papers in this volume, Abunie

identifies the main threats facing wetlands as relating to their drainage and to human

activities in their catchment areas.

Lemlem Sissay’s paper concerns the value of wetlands, and considers Ethiopia’s Rift

Valley lakes. She argues that they are of extremely high value in terms of the wetland

functions that they provide, the biodiversity that they support and the economic values

that they generate. She then identifies a series of threats to these valuable resources as

high population pressure, wood harvesting and other excessive natural resource

exploitation in wetland drainage basins.

Mengistu Wondefrash’s paper builds upon the introduction to wetlands presented here.

He argues that in Ethiopia, there is a lack of awareness of the wetland ‘concept’, too few

resources to provoke wetlands conservation, a derth of tools or documents to ensure the

formulation of an adequate national wetlands policy, few focal groups – in the

government or otherwise – through which wetland issues may be channelled and,

finally, a lack of a sense of responsibility for the protection and wise use of wetlands.

Wondefrash summarises what he sees as the major threats facing wetlands as

demographic pressures, development pressures, pollution, mis-management and weed

infestation.

The vital importance of wetlands as ecological reserves is also considered in

Wondefrash’s paper when he summarises the role that they play in the conservation of

bird life. Hence, many wetlands conservation initiatives will concentrate their efforts on

the preservation of birds, not least as valuable indicators of biodiversity and ecosystem

health. He points out that migratory waterfowl often use a multitude of wetlands as they

travel to and from their migratory destinations, necessitating that wetland conservation

approaches need to be international in scope and organisation. Wondefrash then goes on

to discuss Ethiopia’s Important Bird Areas (IBAs) and demonstrates the critical

importance of these habitats in the protection and conservation of many of Ethiopia’s

most threatened bird species.

Wondefrash concludes with a series of management recommendations that include the

raising of public awareness, the need for national advocacy roles, a conservation action

plan, research and monitoring at selected wetlands and the need to develop a focal

institution for wetlands. Amongst these, he calls for participatory approaches in the

management and monitoring of wetlands, pointing out how necessary this is in the light

of Ethiopia’s enormous and growing human population.

Afework Hailu’s paper is the first of three to discuss the output of the Ethiopian

Wetlands Research Programme (EWRP). The study was based in Illubabor in southwest

Ethiopia, and concentrated on eight ‘core’ wetlands. A multi-disciplinary approach was

employed to not only consider the physical parameters of these swamps, but also to

examine the characteristics and use values of the swamps to surrounding human

populations. As can be expected, the physical work on these swamps was to determine

that substantial changes occur when they are drained or heavily exploited. Importantly,

Hailu claims that amongst the surrounding populations there is evidence of traditional

Citations (2)

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Wetlands of Ethiopia

  • January 2003
  • In book: Wetlands of Ethiopia (pp.67-75)
  • Edition: 1st
  • Chapter: 8
  • Publisher: IUCN – The World Conservation Union
  • Editors: Yilma D. Abebe and Kim Geheb

Authors:

Zerihun Desta Beshah at Broward College

Zerihun Desta Beshah

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Map of Ethiopia showing the regions and positions of neighbouring countries

Map of Ethiopia showing the regions and positions of neighbouring countries

… 

Broad strategies used in the National Wetlands Programme to improve wetland management in Uganda

Broad strategies used in the National Wetlands Programme to improve wetland management in Uganda

… 

. Details of the core wetland sites where biodiversity monitoring was undertaken

. Details of the core wetland sites where biodiversity monitoring was undertaken

… 

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Wetlands of Ethiopia

Proceedings of a seminar on the resources and

status of in Ethiopia’s wetlands

Yilma D. Abebe and Kim Geheb(Editors)

IUCN – The World Conservation Union

Founded in 1948, The World Conservation Union brings together States,

government agencies and a diverse range of non-governmental organisations

in a unique world partnership: over 980 members in all, spread across some

140 countries.

As a Union, IUCN seeks to influence, encourage and assist societies

throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to

ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically

sustainable.

The World Conservation Union builds on the strengths of its members,

networks and partners to enhance their capacity and to support global

alliances to safeguard natural resources at local, regional and global levels.

IUCN Wetlands and WaterResources

Programme

Rue Mauverney 28

CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland

Tel: + 41 22 999 0001

Fax: + 41 22 999 0002

E-mail:[email protected]

www.iucn.org/themes/wetlands/

IUCN Eastern Africa

Regional Office

P. O. Box 68200-00200

Nairobi, Kenya

Tel: ++ 254 20 890605-12

Fax: ++ 254 20 890615/407

E-mail: [email protected]

IUCN

Wetlands

and Water

Resources

Programme

IUCN

Wetlands of Ethiopia

BLUE SERIES

Wetlands of Ethiopia

Proceedings of a seminar on the resources and

status of Ethiopia’s wetlands

Editors

Yilma D. Abebe and Kim Geheb

IUCN

2003

Published by: IUCN

Copyright: 2003. International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural

Resources

This publication may be produced in whole or part and in any form

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Citation: Abebe, Y. D. and Geheb, K. (Eds), 2003. Wetlands of Ethiopia.

Proceedings of a seminar on the resources and status of Ethiopia’s

wetlands , vi + 116pp.

ISBN: 2-8317-0689-0

Design and layout: Gordon O. Arara

Cover photographs: Front cover: Awassa wetland; Back cover: Fisherman in Awassa

© Alan Dixon, Research Fellow, Wetland and Natural Resources

Research Group, University of Huddersfield, Queensgate, Web site:

http://wetlands/hud.ac.uk

Available from: IUCN- EARO Publications Service Unit, P. O. Box 68200 – 00200,

Nairobi, Kenya; Telephone ++ 254 20 890605-12; Fax ++ 254 20

890615; E-mail: [email protected]

The designations of geographical entities in this book, and the presentation of the material, do not

imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the participating organizations

concerning the legal status of any country, territory, or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the

delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

The opinions expressed by the authors in this publication do not necessarily represent the view of

IUCN.

The IUCN Seminar on the Wetlands of Ethiopia acknowledges the generous support of the Royal

Netherlands Embassy, Addis Ababa.

IUCN – The World Conservation Union

IUCN – The World Conservation Union was founded in 1948 and brings together 79

states, 112 government agencies, 760 NGOs, 37 affiliates, and some 10,000 scientists

and experts from 141 countries in a unique worldwide partnership. Its mission is to

influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity

and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and

ecologically sustainable. Within the framework of global conventions IUCN has helped

over 75 countries to prepare and implement national conservation and biodiversity

strategies. IUCN has approximately 1000 staff, most of whom are located in its 42

regional and country offices while 100 work at its headquarters in Gland, Switzerland.

IUCN Wetlands and Water Resources Programme

The IUCN Wetlands and Water Resources Programme coordinates and reinforces

activities of the Union concerned with the management of wetland and water

ecosystems. The Programme focuses upon the conservation of ecological and

hydrological processes, in particular by developing, testing, and promoting means of

sustainable utilisation of wetlands. It does so in collaboration with IUCN members and

partners, in particular those other international institutions with a specific wetland

mandate, especially the Ramsar Convention Bureau, and the International Waterfowl

and Wetlands Research Bureau (IWRB).

The core of the Programme is a series of field projects which develop the methodologies

for wetland management, in particular in the countries of the developing world where

wetlands are used intensively by local communities which depend upon these for their

well-being. Related strategic and policy initiatives draw upon the results of these

projects and present their conclusions in a form useful for government decision makers

and planners.

The activities of the Programme are designed on the basis of the concerns and

information provided by IUCN members. To facilitate this, the Programme works

through IUCN’s regional offices. The Programme also works closely with the major

development assistance agencies to ensure that conservation considerations are

adequately addressed in their projects.

The Wetlands and Water Resources Programme receives generous financial support

from the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF), the Swiss Directorate of Development

Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid (DDA), the Finnish International Development

Agency (FINNIDA) and the Government of the Netherlands. Project support has been

received from the Swedish International Development Authority (SIDA), Norwegian

Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), United States Agency for

International Development (USAID), the Ford Foundation and a number of IUCN

members including the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation (FANC), Institut

Francais pour Le Developpement en Cooperation (ORSTOM), the Royal Society for the

Protection of Birds (RSPB), the United States National Park Service (USNPS) and the

World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). It is coordinated from the IUCN Headquarters in

Switzerland, with regional coordinators in Central America, South America, Brazil,

West, East and Southern Africa, and Asia.

Table of Contents

Wetlands of Ethiopia: an introduction……………………………………………………………….. 1

Yilma D. Abebe

The distribution and status of Ethiopian wetlands: an overview……………………………..12

Leykun Abunje

Biodiversity potentials and threats to the southern

Rift Valley lakes of Ethiopia…………………………………………………………………………..18

Lemlem Sissay

Wetlands, birds and important bird areas in Ethiopia …………………………………………..25

Mengistu Wonderfrash

Wetlands research in south-western Ethiopia: the experience of the

Ethiopian Wetlands Research Programme …………………………………………………………37

Afework Hailu

Wetland plants in Ethiopia with examples from

Illubabor, south-western Ethiopia…………………………………………………………………….49

Zerihun Woldu and Kumlachew Yeshitela

Wetlands, gender and poverty: some elements in the development

of sustainable and equitable wetland management ………………………………………………58

Adrian Wood

Challenges and opportunities of Ethiopian wetlands: the case

of Lake Awassa and its feeders………………………………………………………………………..67

Zerihun Desta

Water resources policy and river basin development as related to wetlands……………..76

Messele Fisseha

Wetlands policy development in Ethiopia………………………………………………………….81

Dessalagne Mesfin

Environmental impact assessment and the wise use of wetlands…………………………….86

Berhanu Tekaligne

Towards Sustainable Wetlands Management: The Ugandan Experience………………….97

Reint J. Bakema and Paul Mafabi

Appendix I. Ethiopian Wetlands…………………………………………………………………….108

Seminar attendance……………………………………………………………………………………..111

Contributors……………………………………………………………………………………………….113

Other titles in this series……………………………………………………………………………….114

1

Wetlands of Ethiopia: an introduction

Yilma D. Abebe

Regional Wetlands Programme

IUCN Eastern Africa Regional Office

P. O. Box 68200

Nairobi

Kenya

An introduction to wetlands

Wetlands are ecosystems or units of the landscape that are found on the interface

between land and water. While water is a major factor of wetland definition (Ramsar

Convention Bureau, 1997), soils, vegetation and animal life also contribute to their

unique characteristics (Koetze, 1996; Howard, 1995; Roggeri, 1995). As a result, it has

proved difficult to define wetlands, and over 50 definitions exist. That used by the

Ramsar Convention (1997: 2) is as follows:

“areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or

temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including

areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six meters”.

This definition provides significant latitude – wetlands, as a result, come in a whole host

of forms and types. The Ramsar Convention recognises five major wetland systems

(Ramsar Convention Bureau, 1997), while others identify up to seven main groupings

(Dugan, 1990). The major Ramsar groupings are:

– marine (coastal wetlands);

– estuarine (deltas, tidal marshes, and mangroves);

– lacustrine (lakes and associated wetlands);

– riverine (rivers, streams and associated wetlands);

– palustrine (marshes, swamps and bogs).

These forms are further divided into more than 30 sub-divisions classifying them

according to physical, chemical or biological characteristics.

Wetlands are distributed all over the globe and are estimated to cover about 6% of the

earth’s surface (Maltby, 1986) – some 5.7 million km2 (WCMC, 1992). Although Africa

is best known for its savannahs and hot deserts, 1% of its surface area (345,000 km2) is

covered by wetlands (Finlayson and Moser, 1991). These ecosystems range from the

Senegal River and the Inner Niger Deltas in the West, to the Sudd Floodplains and the

Ethiopian Wetlands in the East. Southwards, important wetlands include the Zaire Basin

Swamps, the Okavango Inland Delta, the Kafue Flats, the African Great Lakes and the

extensive Malagarasi-Moyovosi Wetlands in Tanzania. Wetland characteristics will also

vary with altitude, with high ground wetlands, such as those found in the Ethiopian and

Kenyan mountain systems, complementing lowland types found in the semi-desert.

Wetlands of Ethiopia

2

Wetlands have played a noticeable role in the growth of human civilisations and cultural

development. This is true globally, where major pre-historic civilisations, including

those on the Nile, Euphrates and Tigris, have emerged and developed (Finlayson and

Moser, 1991). It is noteworthy that the Great Rift Valley of Africa has yielded fossil

evidence of some of the world’s earliest hominids. This is especially true in the

Ethiopian Rift. Fossil remains from Hadar in the Afar depression, and at Omo in

Southern Ethiopia, suggest that in order for humans to have lived here, the Ethiopian

Rift must at one time have been better watered than it is presently. The Rift’s ever

changing geology, which was marked by the slow sedimentation of rivers and changes

in drainage and faulting, created ideal conditions for the rise and later development of

the hominids (Smith, 1995).

The importance of wetlands

Only 2.6% of the world’s water is fresh (Illueca and Rast, 1996). The remainder is

found in the oceans and brackish waters. Only a fraction of the world’s fresh water is

available for consumption because so much of it is locked up in polar icecaps and

glaciers (Illueca and Rast, 1996).

Freshwater resources are a finite, but global consumption rates are known to increase 2-

3% every year (Illueca and Rast, 1996). Africa uses only 4% of its renewable freshwater

resources because of the uneven distribution of water resources over the continent

(UNEP, 2000). At the same time, access to water is affected by its quality – much of

Africa’s water may be unsuitable for consumption by its people. These regional patterns

are also evident in Ethiopia, where water resources are unevenly distributed and only a

quarter of its population has access to safe water and sanitation.

Wetlands are the main custodians of these valuable water resources. They act as ‘banks’

from where water may be drawn, and groundwater replenished. Dugan (1990) explains

that wetland values are best understood in terms of their intrinsic conditions (biological,

chemical and physical), which allow them to carry out their distinctive functions and

generate products. Their functions comprise those natural processes that sustain

economic activities and fortify ecological integrity. Examples are groundwater

discharge and recharge, flood control, shoreline stabilisation and nutrient retention.

Besides water being the most basic product that a wetland can provide, food, fuel wood,

wildlife, fisheries, forage and agricultural resources are additional wetland products.

Wetland attributes are closely intermeshed with the ethical and aesthetic values that

human beings attach to them (Roggeri, 1995).

Wetlands are the most productive ecosystems in the world, by far outstripping some of

the alternative uses to which they are subjected. The annual primary production of

herbaceous swamps, for example, is impressive. Papyrus in tropical Africa can produce

up to 143 tonnes per hectare, while production rates for Typha range from 30 to 70

tonnes per hectare. Conversely, highly productive crops such as sugar cane and maize

produce just 63 tonnes and 60 tonnes per hectare respectively (Finlayson and Moser,

1991).

Wetlands of Ethiopia: an introduction

3

Threats to wetlands

While wetlands may be the most productive of ecosystems on earth, they are also the

most threatened. Wetland destruction and alteration has been and is still seen as an

advanced mode of development, even at the government level. Wetlands and their value

remain little understood and their loss is increasingly becoming an environmental

disaster. While rates of wetland loss are documented for the developed world, the

limited study of these ecosystems in countries like Ethiopia leaves us with little to say.

Wetland loss is evident wherever major developments like dams, irrigation schemes and

conversion projects are present in the developing world. While most of the threats that

wetlands face result from their misuse, many are also related to unsustainable resource

extraction. Another important reason for their vulnerability is the fact that they are

dynamic systems undergoing continual change (Barbier et al., 1996). As a result, many

wetlands are temporary features that disappear, reappear and re-create themselves over

time (Barbier et al. 1996).

Humans usually and very dramatically accelerate natural processes often unintentionally

but usually in the course of activities like agriculture, industry and urban development.

These activities can involve anything from drainage and diverting water, to dredging

and loading water sources with toxic chemicals. Perhaps the most destructive of all

activities is mining (Williams, 1990) which permanently destroys the substrate and

prevents the natural restoration of a site. Wetlands whose biotic balance has been

disturbed can often recover.

Dugan (1990) claims that 65% of wetland disturbances are of human origin, while the

remainder have natural origins. Out of these, 73% of disturbances are thought to result

from direct human actions, while the remaining 27% are believed to come from indirect

sources (Table 1).

Table 1. Causes of Wetland loss (after Dugan, 1990)

Human Actions

Direct Indirect Natural Causes

Drainage Sediment diversion Subsidence

Dredging Hydrological alterations Sea-level rise

Filling Subsidence Drought

Conversion Hurricanes and storms

Construction Erosion

Discharge Biotic effects

Mining

Abstraction

The results of wetland loss are far-reaching and disastrous. Humans and other life close

to wetlands, and who depend upon them, are the first to feel the impact of wetland loss.

Dam construction can significantly impact the lives of people living downstream, as

Wetlands of Ethiopia

4

waters are regulated. Animal and plant life dependent on a dammed river’s annual

floods may be exterminated or become endangered. Dams affect flooding cycles, water

chemistry, sediment behaviour and fish migrations (Maltby, 1986). All too often,

wetland functions, including flood protection, nutrient retention, erosion control or

sediment retention, will be compromised by well-meant development interventions.

Once a wetland has been destroyed, the services it previously provided now have to be

paid for by tax payers (Dugan, 1990). Examples of wetland services artificially

performed by human interventions are water purification and erosion control schemes

(Dugan, 1990). While industrialised countries can probably pay for most of these

services from tax incomes, this is not so in developing countries, where wetland

destruction can have a very serious impact on the livelihoods of the rural poor.

The wise use of wetlands

At its meeting in Regina, Canada in June 1987, the Ramsar Convention defined ‘wise

use’ as follows: “the wise use of wetlands is their sustainable utilisation for the benefit

of mankind in a way compatible with the maintenance of the natural properties of the

ecosystem” (Davis, 1993). The term ‘wise use’ encapsulates the need to safeguard the

integrity of wetlands while at the same time providing sustenance to the natural and

human communities around them. This position was clarified at the first meeting of the

Ramsar contracting parties in Cagliari, Italy, when it was emphasised that the “wise use

of wetlands involves the maintenance of their ecological character as a basis not only

for nature conservation, but for sustainable development” (Davis, 1993).

It goes without saying that the wise use of wetlands is impractical if the people who

make use of them are not involved in one way or another. The involvement of such

people and a knowledge of their values is the basis for the implementation of wise use

strategies. If many of the causes of wetland degradation and loss are of socio-economic

origin, then social and economic factors need to form the crux of wise use programmes.

In particular, indigenous populations should be the beneficiaries of the improved

management of wetland sites (Davis, 1993). The wise use of wetlands is a complex

concept to implement and requires the support of national programmes addressing

several factors including information, policy, research, awareness, management and

institution building (Dugan, 1990).

Ethiopia and its wetlands

Ethiopia is a country in North-Eastern Africa lying between 8º 00’ N and 38º 00’ E. Its

area covers an estimated 1,127,000 km2 of which some 7,444 km2 is covered by water.

Ethiopia has 5,311 km of frontiers that it shares with Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia

and Sudan.

Ethiopia’s ecological diversity and climatic variation is to a large extent explained by its

highly variable topography. Altitudes range from 125 m below sea level in the Dallol

Depression, to 4,620 m above sea level at Ras Dashen. These altitudinal extremes mean

that Ethiopia is a country of enormous habitat diversity, which is also influenced by the

country’s climate. The tropical monsoon rainfall pattern is influenced by moisture-laden

Wetlands of Ethiopia: an introduction

5

winds from the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean and also by the Inter-tropical

Convergence Zone and variations in altitude variation.

With the exception of coastal and marine-related wetlands and extensive swamp-forest

complexes, all forms of wetlands are represented in Ethiopia. These include alpine

formations, riverine, lacustrine, palustrine and floodplain wetlands. Floodplains are

found both in Ethiopia’s highlands and lowlands, although they are most common in the

North-Western and Western Highlands, Rift Valley and Eastern Highlands. Hillman and

Abebe (1993) estimate that wetlands cover 1.14% of the total landmass of the country,

while forests cover approximately 2%. Rivers from the Ethiopian Highlands annually

produce in excess of 110 billion m3 of water, of which 74% flows into rivers draining

into Sudan, Egypt, Kenya and Somalia.

In a country like Ethiopia, a wise use wetland programme would need a responsible

agency to co-ordinate national action. Because wetlands fall within the ambit of a

crosscutting issue like environmental protection, both public and private institutions

would need to contribute their expertise and work together. The development of a

management plan for Ethiopia’s wetlands will need basic studies, including awareness,

surveys and inventories, which should be part and parcel of a wetland development

programme (Davis, 1993; Ramsar, 1997).

Some of the institutions that could take the lead in the development of a wise use

wetlands management plan for Ethiopia have already been involved in wetlands-related

work for some time. These are:

– the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Organisation (EWCO): wetland distribution,

preliminary mapping and gathering information, protected area management;

– Ethiopian Wildlife and Natural History Society (EWNHS): wetland birds,

identification of wetland Important Bird Areas (IBAs) and promoting the research

and management of threatened species;

– Ethiopian Wetlands Research Project (EWRP): indigenous knowledge, sustainable

management, socio-economic processes, equity/gender, and cultural values;

– Environmental Protection Authority (EPA): environmental policy, conservation

strategies and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedures;

– Institute for Biodiversity Conservation Research (IBCR): biodiversity conservation

in Ethiopian Rift Valley Lakes;

– Addis Ababa University: amongst others, limnological studies, wetland

biodiversity and social studies.

An over-view of wetlands work in Ethiopia

It was with the kind and generous support of the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Addis

Ababa that the first ever meeting on the wetlands of Ethiopia was possible. The meeting

brought together major stakeholders from the country’s wetland conservation arena to

discuss and look at wetland issues more closely than they have been considered in the

past. The meeting’s final resolution aimed to create a core team comprising various

institutions to look at wetland conservation and management. The papers presented in

this volume look at wetlands from various angles.

Wetlands of Ethiopia

6

The first paper, by Leykun Abunie, sets out to try and classify Ethiopia’s wetlands. He

starts by grouping them broadly into four biomes. At a far more localised level, Abunie

goes on to group Ethiopian wetlands by habitat, physical and biological characteristics,

yielding ten different groups. Like many of the other papers in this volume, Abunie

identifies the main threats facing wetlands as relating to their drainage and to human

activities in their catchment areas.

Lemlem Sissay’s paper concerns the value of wetlands, and considers Ethiopia’s Rift

Valley lakes. She argues that they are of extremely high value in terms of the wetland

functions that they provide, the biodiversity that they support and the economic values

that they generate. She then identifies a series of threats to these valuable resources as

high population pressure, wood harvesting and other excessive natural resource

exploitation in wetland drainage basins.

Mengistu Wondefrash’s paper builds upon the introduction to wetlands presented here.

He argues that in Ethiopia, there is a lack of awareness of the wetland ‘concept’, too few

resources to provoke wetlands conservation, a derth of tools or documents to ensure the

formulation of an adequate national wetlands policy, few focal groups – in the

government or otherwise – through which wetland issues may be channelled and,

finally, a lack of a sense of responsibility for the protection and wise use of wetlands.

Wondefrash summarises what he sees as the major threats facing wetlands as

demographic pressures, development pressures, pollution, mis-management and weed

infestation.

The vital importance of wetlands as ecological reserves is also considered in

Wondefrash’s paper when he summarises the role that they play in the conservation of

bird life. Hence, many wetlands conservation initiatives will concentrate their efforts on

the preservation of birds, not least as valuable indicators of biodiversity and ecosystem

health. He points out that migratory waterfowl often use a multitude of wetlands as they

travel to and from their migratory destinations, necessitating that wetland conservation

approaches need to be international in scope and organisation. Wondefrash then goes on

to discuss Ethiopia’s Important Bird Areas (IBAs) and demonstrates the critical

importance of these habitats in the protection and conservation of many of Ethiopia’s

most threatened bird species.

Wondefrash concludes with a series of management recommendations that include the

raising of public awareness, the need for national advocacy roles, a conservation action

plan, research and monitoring at selected wetlands and the need to develop a focal

institution for wetlands. Amongst these, he calls for participatory approaches in the

management and monitoring of wetlands, pointing out how necessary this is in the light

of Ethiopia’s enormous and growing human population.

Afework Hailu’s paper is the first of three to discuss the output of the Ethiopian

Wetlands Research Programme (EWRP). The study was based in Illubabor in southwest

Ethiopia, and concentrated on eight ‘core’ wetlands. A multi-disciplinary approach was

employed to not only consider the physical parameters of these swamps, but also to

examine the characteristics and use values of the swamps to surrounding human

populations. As can be expected, the physical work on these swamps was to determine

that substantial changes occur when they are drained or heavily exploited. Importantly,

Hailu claims that amongst the surrounding populations there is evidence of traditional

Citations (2)

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Tempo‐spatial land use/cover change in Zeway, Ketar and Bulbula sub‐basins, Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia

Article

  • Oct 2018

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Integrated qualitative assessment of wetland hydrological and land cover changes in a data scarce dry Ethiopian highland watershed

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