- In southern Ethiopia, unsustainable farming practices and tree cutting for fuel are causing land degradation.
- The Integrated Women’s Development Organization has planted fruit and other trees as well as grass for animal fodder to restore soil and tree cover and provide additional income for its members.
- IWDO recently became a member of the GLFx network, connecting it with similar independent, community-oriented groups to strengthen its work protecting and restoring healthy forests and other landscapes.
In the southern Ethiopian region of Sidama, unsustainable farming practices and tree cutting for fuel are causing land degradation. In response, members of the Integrated Women’s Development Organization are planting indigenous trees, bananas and vegetables as well as desho (Pennisetum glaucifolium) and elephant grass (Cenchrus purpureus) for cattle fodder in an effort to restore damaged farmland and build more resilient livelihoods.
In an email interview, IWDO’s general manager, Ruhama Getahun, told Mongabay that the women and youth who make up the NGO’s membership have planted more than 1,250 hectares (3,080 acres) since 2020. She said these initiatives have begun generating income for community members — particularly women — helping them rely less on forest products such as charcoal and firewood for survival.
Negasi Solomon, a land and environment researcher at Tigray Institute of Policy Studies in Mek’ele, Ethiopia, told Mongabay that rapid population growth means the average size of a household’s land in the Sidama region has shrunk. This has pushed farmers to expand their plots onto fragile and steep hillsides.
Solomon told Mongabay in an email that women are — or should be — central to land use and land restoration decisions in Sidama, and in Ethiopia in general, because of the role they play in day‑to‑day farm management.
He noted, however, that many women in Ethiopia still face obstacles to taking up leadership roles. “Patriarchal norms and customary systems often concentrate land ownership and key decision‑making in men, while limiting women’s inheritance and control over land even where statutory law grants equal rights.”
In recent years, formal certification of land title and the creation of youth and woman-led land restoration groups have helped strengthen women’s voices and impact on land management across Ethiopia. Solomon said he hoped that through groups like the Integrated Women’s Development Organization, more women will be able to participate in formal land use planning bodies.
IWDO is one of 12 new “GLFx chapters” announced in February, expanding a movement that mobilizes and connects grassroots efforts on restoration of degraded landscapes around the world. GLFx is a collection of independent, community-oriented initiatives working to transform their landscapes and advocating for stronger policy.
The network, a project of the Global Landscapes Forum, is aimed at strengthening local actors by connecting them with knowledge, tools and connections that can enable them to achieve sustainable results.
Getahun hopes joining the GLFx will equip the women with new approaches in their efforts and provide them with opportunities for more social, economic and environmental gains.
“It will also magnify the role of women on nature restoration and biodiversity conservation,” she said. “Generally, it helps us to show what we have done over the last 8 years in southern part of Ethiopia.”
Banner image: Integrated Women’s Development Organization at work in Sidama, Ethiopia. Image courtesy of Ruhama Getahun.
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