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Supporters
of FARM-Africa visit Bale Eco-Region
 FARM-Africa
major supporters visit, in second week
of December, Bale Eco-Region Sustainable
Management Programme (BERSMP) - a joint
forestry Programme of FARM-Africa and
SOS Sahel Ethiopia.
The purpose of the week long visit
according to Tessa Stanley Price, Major
Gifts Officer and coordinator of the
visit, is “to show existing major donors
some of the works in the field, to help
them to understand the impact of the
work and to make them feel more
engaged”.
The supporters visited Participatory
Forest Management (PFM) sites and
Collection, Processing and Learning
(CPL) centre, and discussed with the
community engaged in forest management.
Participants commented that the forestry
programme established a system that
encourages the community to use the
forests without destroying it and
improve their livelihoods.
Josephine Pringle was interested to
learn about the potential for
schools to be engaged in such
activities to replicate results.
Judith and James Stephen were
encouraged to see exploitation of
the tourist market in the Zone being
undertaken as a way to ensure
sustainability; and were impressed
to learn about the ways to transfer
skills and disseminate information
to the local community.
The economist, Andrew Loewenthal,
was very interested to learn about
the tripartite partnership and how
it gears its market approach towards
commercialization and establishing
sustainable markets for the Non
Timber Forest Products.
He said “sustainability needs to be
tempered with commercial reality; if
you are about to commit resources in
changing things then you have to
understand the commercial
constraints under which you
operate”.
 BERSMP
Bale Eco-Region Sustainable Management
Programme (BERSMP) is a partnership
between Oromia Forest and Wildlife
Enterprise (OFWE), FARM-Africa and SOS
Sahel Ethiopia.
The Programme aims at sustainably
enhancing the unique biodiversity and
vital ecological processes of the Bale
Mountains Eco-Region, and the social and
economic well-being of communities
dependent on the Eco-Region’s natural
resources.
The Eco-Region is the site for one of
the world’s largest REDD projects with
over approximately 500,000 hectares of
forest. BERSMP operates in 14 woredas of
Bale and West Arsi Zones of Oromia
region using a Participatory Forest
Management approach to reduce
deforestation.
FARM-Africa
FARM-Africa has been operating in
Ethiopia since 1989. In Ethiopia, since
2002, FARM-Africa and SOS Sahel Ethiopia
started to jointly implement forestry
programmes in Chilimo, Bonga and Borena.
At present, the two partner
organizations are implementing Bale
Eco-Region Sustainable Management
Programme (BERSMP), in Bale and West
Arsi Zone, and Strengthening Sustainable
Livelihoods and Forest Management
Programme, in Amahara, Benishangul Gumz,
Oromia and Southern Nations
Nationalities and Peoples Regions.
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