Sheka Forest
The Sheka Forest is located in southwest Ethiopia, and covers almost half of the Sheka Zone, one of the 13 zones of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Regional State. The 2000-square kilometer Sheka Zone lies over 600 km south of Addis Ababa. As nearly half of the Sheka Zone is forest cover, the Sheka Forest has long been a source of livelihoods and spiritual practices for local communities. The Shekacho community, which is found mostly in the present day Sheka Zone, has traditional rules related to their indigenous knowledge that determine forest conservation and usage. The future of the Sheka Forest, known as the last indigenous forest in Ethiopia, is threatened by the growth illegal logging and population pressure (including new settlements). Now, land is being rapidly cleared for coffee and tea plantations, including those that sell products to Starbucks. “We used to hunt and fish in there, and also we used to have honeybee hives in trees,” a Sheka man, Mikael Yatola, told a reporter recently. “But now we can’t do that…When we were told to remove our beehives from there, we felt deep sorrow, deep sadness.”
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Resources
- “Research and development options for enhancing income and sustainability of farming systems in Kafa-Sheka zone of Ethiopia,” Shalander Kumar, Francis Baah, Efrain A. Pozo, Taye Kufa, Africa Zeleke and Julius Okwadi. International Centre for Development Oriented Research in Agriculture, Wageningen, Netherlands, 2000.
- Million Belay, “The Political Ecology of the Sheka Forest and the Shekacho Community.” SIEMENPUU, Discussion Papers, 2006.
- “Uses and conservation status of medicinal pants used by the Shinasha people”, Desalegn Desissa, May 2000.
- “Community Ecological Governance,” Quarterly Update, October, 2006. Gaia Foundation.
- “Community Ecological Governance,” CEG News, July, 2007. Gaia Foundation
- “The Coffee Empire”, Tom Knudson, September 30, 2007, McClatchy Newspapers.
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