Potential Ramsar Sites of Ethiopia

Yilma Dellelegn Abebe

A paper presented at the National Stakeholder Consultative Workshop on Ramsar Convention and Ethiopia

March 18-19 2004

Addis AbabaEthiopia

15 March 2004

Potential Ramsar Sites of Ethiopia

Yilma Dellelegn AbebeEthiopian Wildlife and Natural History SocietyP. O. Box 13303Addis Ababa

1. Introduction

Ethiopia is a country that is better known for recurring droughts and extensive drylands. This notion presents the impression that the country has minimal water resources not to mention its potential of providing millions of m3 of water to other neighbouring countries. EPA (2003) in its recent State of the Environment Report on Ethiopia explains that 11 of Ethiopia's rivers flow out of the country into neighbouring countries. On the contrary Ethiopia is rich in water resources that are exemplified by various types of wetlands ranging from alpine tarns to marshes, swamps, lacustrine and riverine forms.

Ethiopia is rich in water resources and is believed to have more than 120 x 106 m3 of water discharged from 12 river basins annually (EPA, 2003). It is also estimated that only 9 % of this total discharge remains in the country in various water formations including lakes, rivers, bogs, swamps, springs and marshes. Water retained in wetland formations is estimated to cover 18, 587 km2 of land area of Ethiopia (EPA, (2003). Total coverage of wetlands comprises only 1.5% of the total land area of the country. This appears minimal in the first place but the compound effect of mismanagement is also another factor that places Ethiopia in the water stress/ water scarce zone of the region.

Water like many other resources is not equally distributed in nature. This effect can also be a factor when raising issues in conservation and prioritising for utilisation. Many of these wetland sites are open with no protection status. This is an important fact with its own pros and cons for the future of several natural areas including wetlands.

With the various scenarios that wetlands face, either in their plight or proper management, the world has come up with agreements that take into consideration the protection of wetlands world over. The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance or the Ramsar Convention is the only global environmental treaty that brings nations together in the conservation of a particular ecosystem, wetlands. Being an instrument for the protection of wetlands it has certain legal bindings that contracting parties have to consider upon accession. One of the commitments is the requirement to designate at least one wetland site of international importance upon accession and also make the effort to maintain the ecological integrity of that wetland. There are of course guidelines that assist in the selection and maintenance of integrity of wetlands.

Ethiopia is not a contracting party and thus has not designated a wetland of international importance. But in the probable event of signing the treaty now or in the future, there is need to premeditate conditions including preparing a country list of possible candidate Ramsar sites for selection.

2. Ramsar Sites - an overview

Ramsar sites or wetland sites with special global importance are found in all contracting parties. The main impetus for coming up with a List of Important Wetlands is to "develop and maintain and international network of wetlands which are important for the conservation of global biological diversity and for sustaining human life through the ecological and hydrological functions they perform" (Ramsar Bureau Convention, 1997). Some members have gone ahead and listed several sites while others still maintain the first one or two they committed at the time of accession. Most recent update on number of contracting parties is 138. The total number of sites designated by these countries is 1,368 and the total area covered by the sites is 119,611,621 ha. At the first Convention meeting in Ramsar, Iran, Article 2.1 set out the fact that all contracting parties need to commit one site for designation at the time of signing the treaty. Furthermore, the Convention has made clear indication that the setting aside of these special wetland areas denotes that the sites are important not only to the country or region but to humanity as a whole. Sites are selected according to standardized criteria based on hydrological, limnological, ecological, zoological and/or botanical factors.

A country that agrees to join the Convention must designate a site to be included in the List of Wetlands of International Importance. Subsequent designation of other sites is also possible as long as the country feels the need to set aside more. A Ramsar site that accompanies the actual contracting procedure must also have filled out an information sheet as supplied by the Ramsar Bureau with a map that describes its boundaries. In some cases boundary definition is difficult by the very nature of wetlands, whose edges could increase or decrease with seasons or years. In these kind of cases, boundaries should be defined as precisely as possible. One solution to this kind of problem is to designate a wider ecosystem that encloses the wetland e.g. the terrestrial habitats of a national park that enclose a wetland (Ramsar Convention Bureau, 1997).

While designation is a prerogative of each contracting party, conservation action at site level is also required. At the 4th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 4), in Montrreux, Switzerland a recommendation (Recommendation 4.2) was stated that would assist the parties to take action at their designated sites (Ramsar Convention Bureau, 1997). Accordingly, States are free to decide on the legal status or protection measures at sites, undertake conservation work with the aim of preventing changes to sites and promote wise use of wetlands by maintaining positive traditional land use practices and establishing nature reserves where possible. One important way of carrying out the wise use concept is to develop management plans for all sites that have been listed as Ramsar sites or not (Ramsar Convention Bureau, 1997).

4. Criteria for Identifying Wetlands of International Importance

Guidelines for selecting Ramsar sites are clear and have been adopted by the 4th and 6th

meetings of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to assist the implementation of Article 2.1 sites (Ramsar Convention Bureau, 1997). The criteria are based upon:

a) Representative or unique wetlandsThese are wetlands that represent a habitat that is more or less natural and found in a characteristic bio-geographical zone. These systems could also play a significant role in the upkeep of the ecological system of an area. This could be related to the multiple functions that wetlands provide including floodwater protection, nutrient cycling, reservoirs for water, home to biodiversity etc.

b) Significance in terms of plant or animal A site can be internationally important if it supports considerable numbers of endangered, rare or endemic species of plant or animal species. Maintenance of genetic pool for ecological diversity of a region and aspects of acting as a habitat for critical stages in the biological cycle of certain fauna or flora is also considered.

c) Specific criteria based on waterfowl Regularly supports 20,000 or more waterfowl Regularly supports high numbers of certain species of waterfowl Regularly supports 1% of the total population of one species or subspecies of

waterfowl

d) Specific criteria based on fish Holds significant proportion of indigenous fish species subspecies or families Source of food for fishes, spawning ground or migration path for fish.

The above criteria have been elaborated further to help Contracting parties assess the suitability of wetlands for inclusion on the List of Wetlands on International Importance.

5. Ethiopia's Potential Ramsar Sites The assessment of sites has not been carried out in Ethiopia before with the objective defining and designating them for Ramsar. As a result, we would need to rely on previous similar work that would give us a general impression of what we have within our borders.

Ethiopia is believed to have a high number of potential Ramsar Sites and the presence of many would need some kind of prioritisation work for selection. This is evident especially when we observe that the ecological and landform diversification in Ethiopia is multifarious. One work we can refer to would be the Important Bird Area Programme

carried out by the Ethiopian Wildlife and Natural History Society. According to this programme, there are 73 hotspots for birds in this country. Out of these 73 sites 41% are wetlands (Mengistu, 2003). From the recent work of Birdlife International (2002) Ethiopia has 31 sites that could qualify as Ramsar sites. The Birdlife publication (Birdlife, 2002) mentions the convergence of the criteria used by Ramsar Convention and Birdlife International to select sites. Based upon this union, this book has identified that there are at least 586 wetland sites in Africa that are IBA but could well fulfil the criteria for Ramsar listing.

The objectivity of the criteria used to select these sites is strong enough to suggest that even if the end point of the Birdlife approach is to assign sites as hotspots for birds and biodiversity in general, the Ramsar approach has also used criteria that converge with the Birdlife one. It has been seen that Ramsar uses 4 of the main criteria used by Birdlife.

The Birdlife criteria compatible with Ramsar for IBA selection are:

a) Sites that hold significant numbers of globally threatened speciesb) Sites that hold 1% of a biogeographic population of waterbird speciesc) Sites that hold 1% global population of congregatory seabird speciesd) Sites that hold 20, 000 waterbirds or 10,000 seabirds of one or more species.

Ramsar Criteria compatible with Birdlife for site selection are:

2). Sites that support vulnerable, endangered species or threatened ecological communities.

4). Sites that support plants or animals at critical stages of its development or provides refuge during adverse conditions.

5). Site that regularly support 20,000 or waterbirds.6). Sites that regularly support 1% or more of the individuals of a population of

one species or subspecies of waterbird.

List of potential Ramsar Sites in Ethiopia

Potential Ramsar Site Ramsar criteria Region

1 Abe (Lake) 2,4,5 Afar2 Abijatta-Shalla Lakes National Park 2,4,5,6 Oromiya3 Akaki-Aba Samuel 2,4,5,6 Oromiya

4 Alemaya & Adele (Lake) 4,6 Oromiya

5 Ashenge (Lake) 2,4,6 Tigray6 Awassa (Lake) 4,5,6 Southern Peoples7 Awi zone 2 Amhara8 Bahir Dar-Lake Tana 2,4,5 Amhara9 Bale Mts National Park 2 Oromiya10 Baro River 2,4,5,6 Gambella11 Berga 2,4,6 Oromiya

12 Bishoftu 2 Oromiya

13 Boyo wetland 2,4,5 Southern Peoples14 Chelekleka 2,4,5,6 Oromiya15 Chew Bahir 2,4,5,6 Southern Peoples16 Dessa'a Forest 2 Tigray17 Finchaa/Chomen 2 Oromiya18 Fogera plains 2 Amhara19 Gambella National Park 2 Gambella20 Gefersa Reservoir 2,4,6 1421 Green Lake 2,4,5,6 Oromiya22 Guassa (Menz) 2 Amhara

23 Gudo 2 Oromiya

24 Jibat Forest 2 Oromiya25 Koka dam and Gelila 2,4,5,6 Oromiya26 Langano (Lake) 2 Oromiya27 Metu-Gore-Tepi 2 Oromiya28 Nechisar National Park 2 Southern Peoples29 Sululta 2,4,6 Oromiya30 Turkana (Lake) and Omo Delta 2,4,5,6 Southern Peoples31 Zway 4,5 Oromiya

6. Implications of defining Ramsar Sites in Ethiopia

I dare say that designating a wetland as a Ramsar site would mean conserving it. Ethiopia can designate a site or sites but does that imply that we are doing all that we can to ensure that the various functions and values from the wetland are being used wisely. The Ramsar Convention has three pillars one of which is designating sites to the List (Birdlife International, 2002). The other pillars are wise use of all wetlands and the practice of international cooperation in relation to shared aquatic systems. It goes without saying that the pillar of listing sites is without value if the other two pillars are not adhered to. The notion that designating sites is very different from gazetting sites as traditional nature reserves. Ramsar sites world over respect the traditional or indigenous values attached to the use of wetlands and accept that wetlands should be used wisely to ensure lasting value to people. But it should also be known that committing a site also means that the Government and especially Regional States make necessary effort to protect that site from deleterious causes. It means working together with communities and traditional societies to bring about a change in the status quo of use of a wetland. Once a wetland becomes a Ramsar site, the site is part of an international network of sites that would offer protection to various life forms and provide sustenance to livelihoods. Committing a site means that the site would need our time, effort and financial capacity to bring it to a standard that is internationally acceptable. When we consider the benefits that would be accrued from the wetland providing necessary support is perhaps the basic requirement that a Government can provide.

7. Conclusions

Ramsar listing is an important step in the accession of the Convention. Ethiopia has yet to ratify the Convention but ratification is meaningless without proper education and awareness of basic facts that underlie the reason for conserving these ecosystems. I would like to suggest that Ethiopia should necessarily take this step to show international commitment but also have a strong national programme that promotes the values and conservation of wetland ecosystems. As an important ecosystem to which all our water needs are associated to, the Government should also think about formulating a policy and guidelines for the protection and proper use of these systems.

8. References

EPA. 2003. State of the Environment Report for Ethiopia. Environmental Protection Authority. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Ramsar Convention Bureau. 1997. The Ramsar Convention Manual: a Guide to the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, Iran, 1977) 2nd ed. Ramsar Convention Bureau, Gland, Switzerland.

Birdlife International. 2002. Important Bird Areas and potential Ramsar Sites in Africa. Cambridge, UK: Birdlife International.

Yilma D. Abebe and Kim Geheb (eds). 2003. Wetlands of Ethiopia. Proceedings of a seminar on the resources and status of Ethiopia's wetlands, vi + 116 pp. IUCN- Eastern Africa Regional Office, Nairobi, Kenya.

Mengistu Wondafrash. 2003. Wetlands, Birds and Important Bird Areas in Ethiopia.In: Wetlands of Ethiopia: Proceedings of a seminar on the resources and status of Ethiopia's wetlands (eds. Yilma D. Abebe and Kim Geheb) pp 25-36. IUCN-EARO, Nairobi, Kenya.