Protecting Humans and Nature at Ethiopia’s Largest Lake

Over the next four years, the Michael Succow Foundation, in cooperation with Germany’s Nature Conservation Alliance (Naturschutzbund Deutschland; NABU), will be working towards establishing a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve around Ethiopia’s Lake Tana. This project is based on a feasibility study conducted last year by the Michael Succow Foundation. The region, including about 3.000 square kilometers of lake area, is the source region of the Blue Nile and represents an area of international importance in regard to its biodiversity as well as its cultural heritage. Intensive farming, huge irrigation projects and hydropower plants pose an increasing threat to “Ethiopia’s Riviera” with its impressive waterfalls. The Biosphere Reserve is expected to further the protection of the remaining pristine natural areas, conservation of the region’s cultural heritage, and creation of long-term revenue sources for the local population.

Lake Tana, Africa’s highest-elevation lake and the largest lake in Ethiopia, represents the most important wintering area for the Common Crane and numerous other water birds and passerines. The region is home to hippopotamus, crocodiles, monitors, mountain python, and no less than 15 endemic species of fish found nowhere else in the world. On many of the lake’s 37 islands, Ethiopian-orthodox monasteries and churches can be found. Around them, the last remnants of the so-called “church forests,” once considered sacred by the local population, have been preserved. These forests, with more than 100 tree species, are also the northernmost occurrence of wild coffee in Ethiopia, the homeland of coffee. Human intervention in this sensitive ecosystem is creating an ever-increasing pressure on the environment. Already, almost half of the local population lives in abject poverty and is forced to overuse its natural surroundings.

It is our long-term goal to preserve the unique nature of this region and to create new revenue sources for the local population through ecotourism in the Biosphere Reserve as well as the sale of regional products. By conserving large wetlands, the project furthermore contributes to global climate protection. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung; BMZ) supports this joint project with 1.6 million Euros.