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Decision-Making: Coordinating Bodies
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Decision-Making: Legislation and Regulations
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Decision-Making: Strategies, Policies and Plans
Agriculture is the mainstay of the Ethiopian Economy. The long-term development
strategy of the Government of Ethiopia expects the continuing dominance of
agriculture in the economy and stresses the need to give it due attention. The
National Agricultural Research Policy and Strategy was published in 1993 and
provided the framework to enable the Institute of Agricultural Research (IAR) to
broaden its mandate to become the Ethiopian Agricultural Research Organization (EARO).
Since 2000, much direct responsibility for agricultural research has been
decentralized to the regional governments, which are now developing their
respective regional agricultural research strategies. Importantly, privatisation
of state farms is being accelerated in accordance with the free-market oriented
economic policy of the Government.
A
number of opportunities present themselves to facilitate or enhance agricultural
development and rural livelihoods in Ethiopia. The most significant opportunity
is the recently introduced comprehensive Rural Development Policy for Ethiopia,
which grants local communities the power and rights to determine their own
priorities for development with the specialized sectors (agriculture, education,
health, etc) providing the appropriate support in their areas of expertise.
Decision-Making: Major Groups Involvement
No information is available.
Programmes and Projects
Despite
the observed improvement in overall grain production, there is still a need for
food aid for vulnerable groups. In acknowledging the substantial increase in
production and its resultant fall in grain prices, the government of Ethiopia
initiated the local food-aid purchase program in 1996. The local purchase
programs are intended to support domestic production by reducing the volume of
grain circulating in local markets during surplus and price depression periods.
In the interest of producers and consumers, the government may need to opt for
the launching of a price support programme for farmers.
Status
There
are three broadly defined food production systems in Ethiopia: the smallholder
farming system, the pastoral nomadic system, and the commercial farming system.
Most food crops (cereals, root crops, pulses, oil seeds), as well as coffee, are
produced by smallholder farmers.
Despite
the observed improvement in overall grain production, there have been no notable
efforts to stabilize market prices. The increase in cereal production has come
at a time when both urban and rural people in Ethiopian have very low purchasing
power. Institutional support to
agricultural development in terms of providing modern inputs, credit, research
and extension services, and rural infrastructure has improved but is still
inadequate. There is sufficient evidence pointing to the inappropriateness of
past agricultural and rural development policies, e.g. government meddling in
community affairs and compulsory labour to build terraces and plant trees, and
the attendant disincentives for farmers. The agricultural sector accounts for
the lion's share (90 percent) of the total foreign exchange earnings with coffee
contributing about 63 percent of total value (or 70 percent of the total value
of agricultural exports) and roughly 2 percent of the world coffee market.
Imports of grain and processed agricultural products, often in the name of
‘food aid’, have undermined local food production and food processing
industries, particularly that for edible oil.
Even
in periods following good harvests, many people in Ethiopia go hungry because of
inadequate purchasing power. Local
purchase operations provide the means to support the incomes of
surplus-producing households while also mobilizing food for relief and for
buffering stocks. But the long-run
problem is poverty and the sustainable solution will lie in the process of
sustainable economic development and ecologically sound environmental
management.
Despite
considerable land degradation, Ethiopia is endowed with vast land potential for
agricultural development. The government needs clear policies and programmes on
pricing, marketing of outputs and inputs, rural credit, research, extension and
irrigation. Fair distribution of land amongst smallholders is an important
policy issue since land quality and availability varies widely from one location
to the other, even within the land used by one farming community.
Challenges
The
government should consider mechanisms for expanding irrigation in the country
through the construction of small dams and the use of other water harvesting
mechanisms for use by small holder farmers as well as through private sector
participation in larger scale commercial farming. The challenge is to help
farmers increase production while maintaining the traditional diversity found on
their farms in order to ensure food security. Getting farmers to change the
management practices for their domestic animals is a major challenge. They need
to restrict grazing and use more cut and carry for stall feeding in order to
make better use of the feed resources available as well as conserve the energy
of the animals.
Agricultural/rural
consumers’ and producers’ cooperatives can do a lot to protect rural
producers from seasonal price fluctuations that are a source of complaint in
rural Ethiopia. The government, donors and agencies promoting improved
production must link this production to the development of markets. Without
markets, farmers will forever avoid investment for improved production.
Capacity-building, Education, Training
and Awareness-raising
The
Central Statistics Authority’s (CSA) and FAO/WFP’s forecast for 2000/01
production showed that grain production was expected to be about 10 percent
higher than in 1999/2000. The number of government agricultural experts and
development agents to advise and help farmers have been increased with
in-service training for better performing workers as an incentive to improve
their careers. The Ministry of Agriculture, together with the Ethiopian
Agricultural Research Organization (EARO), has produced an agro-ecological zone
(AEZ) map of Ethiopia. AEZs are now being used to plan regional agricultural
research and development. An increase in the production of leather goods by the
private sector has helped raise standards of production in both private and
state-owned enterprises and enabled Ethiopia to export these products
competitively. Although the overall situation for coffee production and export
has declined, some of Ethiopia’s distinctive regional coffee types have
entered the specialised coffees market.
Ethiopia
has an extensive extension service, encompassing all areas of agricultural
endeavour and reaching all of the major smallholder agricultural systems in the
country. Ethiopian farmers have accumulated agriculturally related indigenous
knowledge over generations that needs to be built into the agricultural
education, research and extension systems.
Information
No information is available.
Research and Technologies
No information is available.
Financing
No information is available.
Cooperation
No information is available.
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Decision-Making: Coordinating Bodies
In Ethiopia, the National Meteorological Services Agency (NMSA), by virtue of Proclamation No. 201 of 1980, is entrusted with the monitoring of the atmosphere, including the provision of meteorological and climatological services. NMSA is also mandated to coordinate issues of climate change and ozone layer depletion. Ethiopia ratified the UNFCCC on 5 April 1994. An ad-hoc committee, the National Climate Change Steering Committee, composed of representatives from governmental, non-governmental, and academic/research institutions has been formed in 1998 to oversee the implementation of the UNFCC. A National Ozone Committee has also been established.
Decision-Making: Legislation and Regulations
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Decision-Making: Strategies, Policies and Plans
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Decision-Making: Major Groups Involvement
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Programmes and Projects
No information is available.
Status
No information is available.
Challenges
Some
of the major constraints are: inadequacy of national coverage of meteorological
and climatological stations for effective atmospheric monitoring; weak data
generation, gathering, archiving and analysing capacity; inadequacy of training
and technical expertise in the areas of climate change and ozone depletion; low
level of awareness about climate change and ozone depletion among policy makers,
professionals and the general public; weakness of research in the area of
atmospheric sciences, climate change and ozone depletion; lack of access to
environmentally friendly technologies, etc.
Capacity-building in terms of enhancing data collection and monitoring
capability, developing and implementing awareness and training
programmes/projects on climate change and ozone depletion, establishing and/or
strengthening national institutions for technology transfer and the development
of local research capability, are indispensable for overcoming these
constraints.
Ethiopia
is highly vulnerable to climate variability. Climate change has adverse impacts
on various socio-economic activities, particularly agriculture, water resources,
forestry, human health, biodiversity and wildlife. Ironically, rural Ethiopia's
impact on the atmosphere is insignificant, and Ethiopia is basically rural.
Capacity-building, Education, Training
and Awareness-raising
A wide variety of activities have been undertaken in order to
increase awareness on climate change and ozone depletion.
These include workshops, seminars, lectures, the production of brochures,
posters, calendars, organizing painting competitions, mass media programmes,
etc.
Information
No information is available.
Research and Technologies
A national GHG (greenhouse gases) inventory and a climate change impact and mitigation study have been carried out.
Financing
No information is available.
Cooperation
No information is available.
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Decision-Making: Coordinating Bodies
The
Institute for Biodiversity Conservation and Research (IBCR) replaced the former
Biodiversity Institute and incorporated the Plant Genetic Resources Center. The
Institute has an expanded mandate to collect and conserve not only all types of
plant genetic resources but also those of animal and microbial genetic resources
using ex-situ and in-situ
conservation strategies. The holdings of the genetic resources centre are some
60,000 accessions of 101 crop/plant species. Priority in collecting operations
is governed by the economic and social importance of the crop/plant, its risk of
genetic erosion, etc. The International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry
Areas (ICARDA), the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid
Tropics (ICRISAT), and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) are
among the international users of Ethiopia's crop/plant germplasm.
Decision-Making: Legislation and Regulations
No information is available.
Decision-Making: Strategies, Policies and Plans
It has been recognized that the conservation and sustainable development of
genetic resources is unlikely to succeed without a national commitment expressed
in an appropriate government policy. To this end, a National Biodiversity
Conservation and Research Policy was formulated based on the rationale that the
conservation of biodiversity is the basis for overall socio-economic development
and sound environmental management.
Decision-Making: Major Groups Involvement
No information is available.
Programmes and Projects
In-situ
conservation activities
include the management of conservation sites for forest coffee. Since 1989,
Ethiopia has been supporting smallholder farmers to conserve their crop
varieties on their farms as well as short-term ex-situ conservation in community seed banks.
Status
Ethiopia
is known for its high biological diversity, particularly that of its crops. The
recorded animal species complement consists of 277 mammals, 861 birds, 201
reptiles, 63 amphibians, 150 fish and 324 butterflies. Many crop plants have all
of their genetic diversity in Ethiopia. Others with gene pools in other
countries also have a high diversity within Ethiopia. The protected areas
systems covers about 14 percent of the country. It consists of 9 national parks
of which 2 are gazetted, 3 sanctuaries, 11 wildlife reserves, 18 controlled
hunting areas, and 58 national forest priority areas.
Deforestation
is still prevalent, but forest regeneration is also growing fast, particularly
in the previously devastated areas in the north of the country. Research to
support this is poor because forestry research in Ethiopia is young. The quality
and quantity of such research, however, is improving fast.
Challenges
The
challenges involved in the sustainable management of biodiversity are many. All
biodiversity conservation activities come under IBCR, but this institution was
established focusing on biological diversity at the infraspecific level of crop
genetic diversity. EWCO has been recognized as the Ethiopian authority to
oversee the conservation of national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. Policy,
institutional and material support has been growing and there is thus the
environment for the more aggressive implementation of activities to support the
conservation and sustainable utilization of the country’s biodiversity.
A
major constraint to implementing biodiversity conservation programmes is the
inadequacy of data for most of the lower plants and animals – particularly
invertebrates and fungi for the country. It is thus impossible to produce
reliable information on species distribution, abundance, and conservation status
in general, and genetic diversity in particular.
Capacity-building, Education, Training
and Awareness-raising
The
infrastructure of the protected areas deteriorated much during the instabilities
associated with the change of government of 1991. But there has been much
rehabilitation since, including the building of better relationships with the
local communities in and around the protected areas.
Information
A
number of studies have been undertaken on the threatened mammal species of
Ethiopia, particularly the Walia Ibex, Ethiopian Wolf, Erer Valley Elephant, and
Somali Wild Ass.
Research and Technologies
No information is available.
Financing
No information is available.
Cooperation
No information is available.
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Decision-Making: Coordinating Bodies
See under Decision-Making: Legislation and Regulations.
Decision-Making: Legislation and Regulations
The Government of Ethiopia signed the Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD) in October 1994 and ratified it in June 1997.As a first step in the implementation of the Convention, the Government of Ethiopia designated the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) as the Focal Point to coordinate the implementation of the Convention in Ethiopia. To carry out this mandate, EPA established a National Steering Committee (NSC) for the formulation of a National Action Programme to Combat Desertification and Mitigate the Effects of Drought (in short, NAP) as well as formed a task force for the formulation of a National Desertification Fund (NDF).
Decision-Making: Strategies, Policies and Plans
As a response to what is expressed in the Convention and the urgent Action for
Africa, the Government of Ethiopia gave priority to the preparation of a NAP to
implement the Convention. The NAP was endorsed by the participants of the firsts
national forum for implementation of the Convention in November 1998.
By design, the NAP takes into account its own integration into the
process of national economic and spatial planning. The effort to involve
international partners in the NAP formulation and implementation process has not
been successful. The UNDP field office in Ethiopia coordinated donors for the
NAP process. In recognition of the need, EPA facilitated the formulation of a
National Strategy to mainstream gender in the NAP process.
Decision-Making: Major Groups Involvement
No information is available.
Programmes and Projects
No information is available.
Status
No information is available.
Challenges
No information is available.
Capacity-building, Education, Training
and Awareness-raising
No information is available.
Information
No information is available.
Research and Technologies
No information is available.
Financing
No information is available.
Cooperation
See under Decision-Making: Legislation and Regulations.
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This issue is covered under the Chapter Changing Consumption Patterns.
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Decision-Making: Coordinating Bodies
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Decision-Making: Legislation and Regulations
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Decision-Making: Strategies, Policies and Plans
No information is available.
Decision-Making: Major Groups Involvement
No information is available.
Programmes and Projects
No information is available.
Status
No information is available.
Challenges
Despite
the efforts made by the Government in various sectors of forest management, many
chronic forestry problems remain unsolved. Given a conducive environment for the
conservation and sustainable development of the forestry sector, the following
issues are challenges: halting/minimizing the rate of deforestation; developing
appropriate technologies to improve conservation, development and utilization of
forest products; development of forest resources to meet the demands of the
ever-growing population of the country; rehabilitating degraded land; and
maintaining the productivity of agricultural land.
Capacity-building, Education, Training
and Awareness-raising
Forest
resources have economic, environmental and social functions. Some efforts have
been made in the last ten years to implement some forest conservation and
development measures, and to reduce the pressures on the remaining forests. A
Participatory Forest Management (PFM) approach was introduced into the country
to ensure the involvement of the local communities in the conservation of these
resources in such a way that they may share benefits accruing from the forests,
and benefit in other locally relevant ways. Other activities have included
forest demarcation and inventory, preparation of management plans, and federal
and regional capacity building activities. There is an encouraging involvement
of NGOs in the conservation and development of forest resources.
Information
No information is available.
Research and Technologies
No information is available.
Financing
No information is available.
Cooperation
No information is available.
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Decision-Making: Coordinating Bodies
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Decision-Making: Legislation and Regulations
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Decision-Making: Strategies, Policies and Plans
The Ethiopian Water Resources Policy was approved in 1999 and is regarded as a
major achievement. The policy covers aquatic resources, aquatic environments,
watershed management, water resources protection and conservation, water quality
management, integrated water supply and sanitation, and irrigation and
hydropower generation. The Water Resources Proclamation was enacted in 2000.
The Water
Sector Strategy mainly aims at improving the overall management of the
country’s water resources and supports the sustainable development of the
water sector. It is being prepared within the planning framework of Ethiopia’s
macro-economic development priorities and programmes based on the Water
Resources Management Policy and the Water Resources Legislation. The Water
Resources Development Strategy aims at fulfilling the following targets:
supporting the realization of food self-sufficiency and food security through
the expansion of irrigation; improving the living standard and general
socio-economic well being of the people through the provision of safe drinking
water and sanitation; contributing to optimal power generation; and enhancing
the contribution of water resources in attaining national development
priorities, programmes and objectives.
Decision-Making: Major Groups Involvement
No information is available.
Programmes and Projects
The Government of Ethiopia has
embarked upon a programme for integrated development of all the natural water
resources of the country. Furthermore, the economic strategy of the country
allots great emphasis to the development of irrigation. So far, integrated and
comprehensive water resources development master plan studies have been prepared
for the Omo–Gibe, Baro–Akobo, Abbay, Tekeze and Mereb river basins. The
other river basins remain unstudied.
The Water
Sector Development Programme is an implementation action plan that serves as a
basis for the efficient and sustainable development of irrigation, hydropower,
water supply and other water resources projects.
Status
Ethiopia is
well endowed with fresh water resources having twelve major lakes and twelve
river basins, nine of them with perennial flows.
However, the mountainous nature of the topography and the spatial
distribution of the surface water limit the utilization of the fresh water
resources. The country’s annual renewable fresh water resource amounts to some
122 km3/yr spread over the twelve river basins out of which about
seventy percent is in the Ethiopian portion of the Abbay (Blue Nile) sub-basin
catchment. From the total water resources available, only 9 percent remains in
the country, the bulk goes to the lowlands of the neighbouring countries, and is
particularly important for Somalia, Sudan and Egypt.
Much effort
has been put into improving the rural and urban water supply and sanitation.
Since 1994, rural and urban water supply and sewerage services have been under
their respective regional government bureaus. Households that enjoyed safe
drinking water were 19 percent in 1996, and 23.7 percent in 1998.
Safe drinking water comes from protected wells (10.2 percent), treated
and tapped water accessed through public taps (10.8 percent), own taps (2.7
percent) and other sources. In urban areas, however, the majority (83.5%) of the
households have access to safe water, only 10.6 percent in 1998 used unsafe
drinking water. Despite Ethiopia’s large potential for irrigation, the area
under irrigation so far is only about 3 percent.
Many studies
state that Ethiopia stands second only to the Congo Basin in hydropower
potential in Africa. So far however, the country has utilized only a fraction of
this potential. The identified gross energy potential of the country is in the
order of 650 TW/yr. The corresponding economically exploitable capacity is
estimated to be 30,000 MW. The power stations currently connected to the
interconnected system (ICS) have a total installed capacity of 386 MW, but due
to general wear and tear, production is about 320 MW.
Challenges
Constraints
to water resources development in Ethiopia are numerous. These are legal,
political, social and technical in nature, mostly in combination. An irrigation
development strategy and a national plan for overall investment in water
resources development have been prepared aiming to solve these problems.
The fact that
the majority of the population live in the fragile ecosystems of the highlands
is a major challenge. Damming valleys displaces people from their land.
Delivering water across a mountainous landscape is not easy. Much effort is
needed in education, both formal and informal, to improve attitudes on the care
of fresh water sources and in sanitation and the safe disposal of wastes.
Ensuring that
there is adequate watershed planning and management in all micro-dam projects is
a major challenge. The dams also need to be better managed to prevent
contamination and the spread of water borne diseases, particularly
schistosomiasis and malaria. The same is true for all major irrigation schemes.
Capacity-building, Education, Training
and Awareness-raising
Given adequate funding and
trained manpower, there are many opportunities for Ethiopia to develop and make
good use of its wealth in fresh water resources. The Rural Development Policy
for the country is aimed at making local communities responsible for their own
development. With appropriate backup in technical information, communities will
manage their own water resources effectively, particularly the protection of
watersheds, and the control of the use of micro-dams and small-scale irrigation
schemes.
Information
No information is available.
Research and Technologies
No information is available.
Financing
No information is available.
Cooperation
Ethiopia is the source of transboundary rivers shared with all its neighbouring countries. The most important of these rivers is the Nile, which is the longest river in the world, 6,850 km, with its basin covering more than three million km2 and its waters shared by ten riparian states. Ethiopia contributes eighty-six percent of the total flow of the Nile, and actively participates in the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI). The Eastern Nile Basin Subsidiary Action Programme (ENSAP) is a co-operation among the three Eastern Nile countries: Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt.
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Decision-Making: Coordinating Bodies
Until 1992, the Ministry of Agriculture had a Land Use Planning and Regulatory
Department (LUPRD), which was
responsible for setting up land use plans to regulate land management
activities. Its priority was increasing crop productivity per unit area vis-à-vis
expansion of arable land into traditionally non-cultivated areas, particularly
forests and grazing land. Studies were carried out in the specific disciplines
of soil conservation and land resources. Seven area-based land use planning
studies encompassing a total area of 571,110 ha were successfully conducted to
enhance both food-self sufficiency and the conservation and development of the
natural resources of those areas. The land use planning studies conducted
highlighted the degree of land pressure, the extent, the causes and processes of
encroachment, and possible intervention scenarios to ease the pressure on steep
to very steep lands.
Decision-Making: Legislation and Regulations
No information is available.
Decision-Making: Strategies, Policies and Plans
The
importance of utilizing indigenous knowledge to cope with land degradation is
indisputable. In 2001, the
government instituted a new department for Rural Development at the ministerial
level with the mandate to guide the holistic development of rural Ethiopia,
including resolving issues of land management. The government document on rural
development is well thought out and its emphasis is on sound ecological
management as the basis for soil fertility and improved agricultural production.
Decision-Making: Major Groups Involvement
No information is available.
Programmes and Projects
No information is available.
Status
Now,
the system has been decentralized, and Regional Land Use Planning Offices are
striving to establish better institutional arrangements and develop land use
policies and plans relevant for their particular conditions. These initiatives
can provide a good start for achieving sustainable land use management as well
as determining existing land use patterns in the various agro-climatic zones and
applying suitable land use management systems.
A
high population growth has been and continues to be the major driving force in
the exacerbation of ago-ecological problems related to land use and land
management. With a controlled growth of the population, family life can be
improved and the pressure on the land eased.
Challenges
Possible
intervention scenarios must be considered to ease the pressure on this rugged
land. This requires, among others, continuously up-dated land use planning data
complete with the synthesis and analysis to feed an up-to-date land use related
policy and strategy. The current situation, therefore, calls for developing a
land use study programme in each region that will aim at achieving proper land
resources utilization on a sustainable basis.
Capacity-building, Education, Training
and Awareness-raising
No information is available.
Information
No information is available.
Research and Technologies
See under Decision-Making: Coordinating Bodies.
Financing
No information is available.
Cooperation
No information is available.
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Decision-Making: Coordinating Bodies
No information is available.
Decision-Making: Legislation and Regulations
No information is available.
Decision-Making: Strategies, Policies and Plans
Since Ethiopia is mostly mountainous, all development activities have to reflect
the conditions found in mountainous environments. These conditions are
accommodated in the Environmental Policy of Ethiopia and in other relevant
policies and strategies, e.g. those on forestry and water resources development.
The Environmental Policy of Ethiopia and other policy documents relating to
natural resources management all take the mountainous nature of Ethiopia into
consideration.
Decision-Making: Major Groups Involvement
No information is available.
Programmes and Projects
No information is available.
Status
Ethiopia is a
country of great geographic diversity with high and rugged mountains,
flat-topped plateaus, deep gorges incised by river valleys and rolling plains.
Despite the opportunities available within the country for encouraging
international advocacy and strong commitment by some international organizations
for sustainable development of mountain ecosystems, the achievements recorded so
far in Ethiopia specifically aimed at the Agenda 21 chapter on Sustainable
Mountain Development are not significant.
Challenges
The major
challenge is to reconcile the demands of modern development with the constraints
of the fragile ecosystems found in mountains, particularly the problems of
making roads, and water supply and waste disposal for urban development, and
those of an expanding tourist industry.
Capacity-building, Education, Training
and Awareness-raising
In direct response to Agenda
21, a Survey of the Flora and Fauna of the Simen Mountains National Park,
Ethiopia, was published in 1998, and Reconciling Conservation with Sustainable
Development: A Participatory Study Inside and Around the Simen Mountains
National Park, Ethiopia, in 2000. Some
projects aimed at understanding and conserving high mountain biodiversity are
being implemented.
Information
No information is available.
Research and Technologies
No information is available.
Financing
No information is available.
Cooperation
No information is available.
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Decision-Making: Coordinating Bodies
No information is available.
Decision-Making: Legislation and Regulations
As a flag state, Ethiopia actively participates in the UN body, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), and engages itself in the effective implementation of IMO conventions.
Decision-Making: Strategies, Policies and Plans
The Ethiopian Shipping Lines Share Company (ESLSC)
is a national shipping organization currently owning and operating a fleet of
eight multipurpose General Cargo Ships and a Tanker. The ships call in a total
of thirty-nine ports around the globe. ESLSC has produced a policy on safety and
environmental protection with complementary objectives and strategies.
Replacement of the old fleet with new ships equipped with state of the art
technology remains a major challenge.
The recent
policy of the Government of Ethiopia “to streamline the foreign currency
utilization of the country” has created a favourable condition for national
shipping. In addition to its contribution to Ethiopia's foreign trade, the
company may satisfy the sea transport needs of some of Ethiopia’s neighbouring
countries.
Decision-Making: Major Groups Involvement
Programmes and Projects
No information is available.
Status
No information is available.
Challenges
No information is available.
Capacity-building, Education, Training
and Awareness-raising
No information is available.
Information
No information is available.
Research and Technologies
No information is available.
Financing
No information is available.
Cooperation
See under Decision-Making: Legislation and Regulations.
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Decision-Making: Coordinating Bodies
No information is available.
Decision-Making: Legislation
and Regulations
The following legal instruments deal with the use of potentially dangerous chemicals:
· Explosives Proclamation (1942);
· Pharmacy Regulation (1964);
· Pesticides Registration and Control (1990);
· Radiation Protection Proclamation (1993);
·
Fertilizer Manufacturing and Trade Proclamation
(1998).
In 1999, the Environmental Protection Authority produced the National
Chemicals Management Profile for Ethiopia. The document describes the nature of
chemical management in the country. It also provides a framework so as more data
are made available the Profile can be revised and enriched. It also enumerates
areas of needed improvement. A draft law for controlling pollution has been
submitted by EPA to the government for approval by the Council of Ministers and
thence the House of People's Representatives.
Decision-Making: Strategies, Policies and Plans
The
Environmental Policy of Ethiopia has a number of provisions devoted to the
management of hazardous materials including toxic chemicals, but overall the
country is poor in capacity to ensure the safe use of toxic chemicals.
Decision-Making: Major Groups Involvement
No information is available.
Programmes and Projects
No information is available.
Status
Ethiopia is neither a heavy user nor a heavy producer of chemicals. The chemical industry in Ethiopia is very young. What the sub-sector produces is limited to consumer chemicals- soaps, detergents, paints, drugs, and a few industrial chemicals like carbon dioxide, oxygen, foam, alkyd resin, caustic soda, aluminium sulphate and sulphuric acid. Most chemicals are imported from diverse countries.
Challenges
See under Decision-Making: Strategies, Policies and Plans.
Capacity-building, Education, Training
and Awareness-raising
No information is available.
Information
No information is available.
Research and Technologies
No information is available.
Financing
No information is available.
Cooperation
No information is available.
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Decision-Making: Coordinating Bodies
The National
Radiation Protection Authority (NRPA) has been established as an autonomous
regulatory public agency to control and supervise the introduction, operation
and disposal of all sources of ionising radiation. Regulatory activities are in
line with the main regulatory instruments: notification, authorization,
inspection and compliance enforcement. In its effort to develop a systematic
regulatory regime in a professional transparent and sustainable manner, NRPA has
developed and tested in practice pertinent guidelines and procedural manuals.
NRPA is also considering the adoption of the IAEA Radioactive Materials
Transport Regulations in the draft Radiation Protection Regulations as a legally
binding norm governing the transport of any radioactive material inside
Ethiopia.
Decision-Making: Legislation and Regulations
Ethiopia
ratified the Basel Convention for the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes
and Their Disposal in April 2000 and the POPs and PIC conventions in July 2002.
It is also in the process of ratifying the Basel Protocol on Liability and the
Ban Amendment to the Basel Convention.
Decision-Making: Strategies, Policies and Plans
The management of wastes is given thorough coverage in the Environmental Policy
of Ethiopia, and the draft Pollution Control Proclamation has articles expressly
on the management of hazardous and all types of municipal wastes.
Decision-Making: Major Groups Involvement
No information is available.
Programmes and Projects
In June 2000, the Ministry of Agriculture assisted by FAO started a two-year project to remove and destroy obsolete pesticides that had accumulated over the past forty or more years. The Project started with training of local staff in safety procedures for handling these hazardous materials, and a more detailed inventory. The inventory found over two thousand tonnes of obsolete pesticides scattered in more than nine hundred sites throughout the country. This makes Ethiopia the country with the largest amount of obsolete pesticides in Africa. As can seen from the very high density of birds of prey in the country, however, environmental contamination has not been serious.
EPA is now
actively pursuing the following five aims in order to rectify the situation:
instituting a sustainable industrial development policy and strategy, setting
environmental standards, establishing a system of regulatory enforcement,
building capacity in human resources and a sustainable industrial development
database. The Ethiopian Science and Technology Commission has established a
National Cleaner Production Centre.
In June 2000, NRPA issued the final public call for registration of all
radiation sources and radioactive materials, and launched a coordinated campaign
to register them. The response was significant and an up-to-date inventory of
about ninety-five percent of the radiation sources and radioactive materials in
the country has been made.
Status
No information is available.
Challenges
One of the
poorest environmental performances in Ethiopia pertains to the management of all
types of wastes. Except for an inventory of obsolete pesticides, virtually no
data are available regarding the generation, storage, transport and disposal of
hazardous wastes. The country lacks any disposal or destruction facility —
sanitary landfills, incinerators, biological or chemical treatment plants
(neutralization, precipitation/separation or chemical detoxification) — for
hazardous wastes, and regulations and guidelines for their management. This,
however, does not mean that hazardous wastes are nonexistent in the country; on
the contrary, all sorts of hazardous wastes are being generated from hospitals,
industrial activities, radioactive materials, and even from consumers. In Addis
Ababa, hazardous solid wastes, totally untreated, may be put into the city's
municipal dump whenever 'properly' disposed of, or remain undealt with in the
general environment. The situation for Addis Ababa is now being repeated in the
fast developing urban centres throughout the country, particularly the regional
and zonal capitals where hospitals and a variety of industries are being
established.
In cities and
towns, domestic and industrial effluents are released into waterways with
minimal or no treatment, threatening both human and animal health as well as
aquatic life. The proportion of the urban population covered by sanitation
services in this country is very small. More than twenty-nine percent of the
residents of Addis Ababa, for instance, lack any kind of sanitary service, even
the simplest pit latrine. Many, therefore, are forced to defecate and urinate in
open spaces or in watercourses, making the various ‘green areas’ stinking
public toilets, and the streams and rivers running through the city virtually
open sewers. This is the situation in all other urban areas. Of the total waste
generated in Addis Ababa in 1996, estimated to be about two thousand cubic
metres (1,386–2,165 m3) a day, the amount collected and disposed of
by the municipal service was no more than fifty-five percent. Leaving the
question of aesthetics aside, uncollected domestic waste is the most common
cause of blocked drainage channels, increasing, inter alia, the risk of flooding
and vector borne diseases. It also covers pavements and other walkways, as well
as filling the open spaces between buildings.
A major
constraint in all wastes management is the low priority that urban
administrations allot to waste management services. No municipal waste disposal
systems worthy of the name exist in the country, and the same is true for
hazardous wastes, which are treated no differently from regular solid wastes.
There are no public or municipal incinerators. The solid waste disposal facility
for Addis Ababa is an area where rubbish trucks dump their loads. The site has
never been subjected to an EIA process. All sorts of scavengers, both humans and
other animals, including nocturnal ones, prey on the site. The poor state of
this disposal site is also causing a number of other environmental problems
affecting both human health and the environment. Water pollution, both ground
and surface waters, from leached materials is bound to be rife as both the
composition of the disposed waste, and the lack of control of leached materials
due to the absence of proper drainage design of the dump make this possible. Air
pollution from gaseous emissions such as methane and smoke are daily occurrences
at the disposal site.
The country
needs to elaborate a mechanism and establish facilities for the life-cycle
management of hazardous wastes, emphasizing the minimization or avoidance of the
build up of these wastes. For all major Ethiopian urban centres, including Addis
Ababa, the challenge is for effective community action in waste management. Over
sixty percent of the wastes generated in Addis Ababa are organic materials that
could be recycled to generate biogas and organic fertilizer, particularly
compost. The percentage of potentially recyclable organic materials in the waste
of the other urban centres is likely to be higher.
The
challenges in the area of radioactive wastes management are: shortage of
qualified human resource, limitations in awareness and concern regarding
radiation hazards, and deficiency in scientific and technical capacities.
Capacity-building, Education, Training
and Awareness-raising
No information is available.
Information
No information is available.
Research and Technologies
No information is available.
Financing
No information is available.
Cooperation
Ethiopia has been actively cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in diverse fields and has participated in regional projects in areas specifically concerning radiation and the safety of waste. There are some opportunities to help promote better radioactive waste management. NRPA is actively participating in regional and interregional programmes of the IAEA.
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