The Oromia Forest and Wildlife Enterprise describes community participation schemes and the involvement of partners as a viable way to protect forest. Clap of Hands (A wake up call to start community development works)

“BaQaDa” is a newly coined Oromiffa term used as a strategy to mobilize farmers who live in and around the forest region in the Oromia regional state. This clapping of hands tone heralds the beginning of getting lessons on the use and benefit of forests from the Development Agents (DAs) or forest experts. It is also a wakeup call for the community at the grass root level to do their day-to-day development works .That is a moment upon which the social gathering and field day is organized and the farmers start to share their best practices among one another. Through this intervention forests in the Oromia regional state have highly been protected and the community have started to reap the fruits of this natural resource. Despite protecting the environment, the community have now started to generate income from the sale of crops mainly coffee. After a recent four day field visit to the Belete- Gera Participatory Forest Management Project and other sites in the Jimma Zone of the Oromia Regional State, Forest and Wildlife Enterprise Director General with the region Dr Girma Amente told journalists that the participatory approach and the cooperation with partners like JICA have started to witness tangible results. According to the Director General the approach has created a sense of ownership among the society and transformed the experts from becoming guard to advisors. He said the strategy has greatly helped to improving the forest condition and livelihood of the community living in the surrounding areas.Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Japan in Ethiopia Mr Yoshiaki Ito, who was in the field visit for his part, expressed his satisfaction over the achievements that the society in the region has made. Relevant data attests that 40 per cent of the land in Ethiopia was covered in a recent past. Currently, the country has only 11 per cent forest coverage. Through the intervention of the Oromia Forest and Wildlife Enterprise, 270,000 hectares of forest land have been protected and covered with different types of plant species though the 385 user groups, 57 cooperatives and 2 unions in the Oromia Regional State. Well around 200,000 hectares of land is also on the pipeline in the region to be reforested and afforested though this scheme. (AFRO FM)