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THE PROGRAMME ► Habitat protection
Objective: To protect areas of Afroalpine ecosystem in Ethiopia, particularly where wolves are found, so that exploitation of natural resources is maintained at sustainable levels.
Wolf populations are at high risk of extinction due to the loss and fragmentation of Afroalpine habitats, a consequence of the continuous expansion of high-altitude subsistence agriculture and overgrazing. If the species is to persist into the indefinite future, more Afroalpine areas requires protection, in the form of conservation areas or areas in which natural resources are exploited at sustainable levels.
EWCP promotes the long-term conservation of the Afroalpine ecosystem through protected area infrastructure support and the development of community-based sustainable use strategies. Our main role is to leverage the establishment of such projects and work with relevant organisations to obtain funds. The EWCP works closely with Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS) in Northern Ethiopia and the Bale Mountains National Park.
EWCP promotes Afroalpine protection:
The EWCP maintains a permanent presence in six of seven wolf ranges around the country, including the Bale and Simien Mountains National Parks.
EWCP has been supporting the Bale Mountains National Park with infrastructure, patrolling activities, and promoting tourism. Activities include the erection of trekking huts, provision of guidelines, publication of leaflets, guidebooks and trekking maps and the training of tourist guides.
EWCP assist monitoring the effectiveness of the local system of habitat protection in Guassa Menz, an important wolf population (see Box).
We encourage and seek financial support for the development of similar community-based resource use initiatives elsewhere.
Our monitoring in Simen Mountains indicated that the majority of wolf range falls outside of the gazetted National Park boundaries. We have been working with the NP authorities on the extension of the park boundaries.
Guassa-Menz community conservation Read this article
Prepared by Stuart Williams & Zelealam Teferra, April 2005
Since 1996 the EWCP mentors the work of Dr Zelealam Teferra in the Guassa-Menz range, home to a population of around 30 wolves. His work led to reviving a traditional management system of Afroalpine resources in the area.
The FZS partnership:
Objective: Conservation of the Afroalpine ecosystems of northern Ethiopia; protection of the rare Ethiopian wolf.
Specifics of the project:
• Mapping of all remaining Afroalpine ecosystems
• Analysis of the Ethiopian wolf´s status and the human use of the Afroalpine habitat
• Reduction of the threat to the ecosystems and the wolf population
• Information and public awareness campaigns
• Develope tourism, administrated by local populations
• Secure funding to maintain the Guassa-Menz sanctuary
• Evaluation of wolf reintroduction to Mt. Choke
Go to FZS for more information on this project
© EWCP 2005 - A WildCRU endeavour in parternishp with Ethiopia's Wildlife Conservation Department and Regional Governments.
Chiefly funded by Born Free. Under the aegis of IUCN/SCC Canid Specialist Group.