From Humbo to Copenhagen

Assefa Tofu joined World Vision Ethiopia about 5 years ago. He has a background in ago-forestry, and was surprised when he joined the organisation to find that it did not work specifically on environmental issues.

I chatted to Assefa yesterday afternoon: he is convinced that environmental issues in general, and climate change in particular, are a root cause of the poverty that he sees in his country. For him, the two issues cannot be separated.

He is now in charge of World Vision’s first climate change mitigation project, a community-managed reforestation project in Humbo, in the south west part of Ethiopia. It has been hailed as a highly successful example of a development reforestation project that benefits the environment through natural resource management and increased biodiversity. It also contributes to poverty alleviation in the community by creating a new community-based income stream through the generation of carbon offset credits under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) – a system that is part of the Kyoto Protocol, and that is reserved for developing countries.

The project uses a technique called Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration to restore indigenous, bio-diverse forest species. It has enabled the rural communities to own their own forests and forest products and see significant forest restoration over a relatively short period. The project is an example of how community participation, scientific knowledge and practical application can come together to benefit poor communities.

Assefa is also part of the official Ethiopian Government delegation here at the Copenhagen Climate Change talks. He has been included as a technical expert to advise the Ethiopian government. For him, this has been a remarkable experience as he has had to make regular shifts from dealing with on-the-ground effects of climate change in Humbo, to working with his government team on the position they should take for the country, and then to the international negotiation table itself.

I find the climate change talks an incredibly complex and complicated process that is difficult and exhausting to follow. Through his engagement with the process over a longer period of time, and with his experience and witness of climate change on the ground, this man of God seems to be thriving and making a real contribution, both for his country’s delegation and also for the World Vision team.

For more information: www.worldvision.org.uk