Walia Special Edition on the Bale Mountains (2011) - Zoologische ...

understood threats were also identified.
This programme provides the framework for management orientated monitoring and research
of the PECs, their key ecological attributes and their threats - a crucial stage in adaptive management
of the ecosystem. Information on the status of the PECs and their threats will be fed back to enable
the design and implementation of appropriate management actions in this and other programmes.
The ecosystem monitoring plan also identifies ecological indicators for monitoring the achievement
of the park purpose and is thus a key component of the overall monitoring and evaluation of GMP
implementation.
Actions were also developed to address the paucity of data and limited understanding of
ecosystem processes in the BMNP. A list of prioritised research questions was drawn up which
would be promoted within the wider research community, both nationally and internationally, and
facilitated by park management wherever possible. In addition, thresholds of potential concern,
which will trigger management action to maintain the desired state of each PEC, would be developed
during the course of the three year action plan for PEC and threat monitoring.
Sustainable Natural Resource Management (SNRM) Programme
Human settlement and cultivation inside the BMNP has been increasing since the park was established
in the 1970s and has reached unsustainable levels, with concurrent rapid resource degradation. At the
time of writing, the GMP aimed to reduce human settlement and cultivation by restricting it to the
C&SNRMZ. This would be achieved by a suite of actions, including identifying rightful residents,
restricting access of those with land rights elsewhere, using the land certification/registration scheme
to encourage voluntary resettlement out of the park and renegotiating boundaries to reflect the current
realities of rightful settlement and near-pristine areas available for protection. Negative impacts on
the ecosystem of remaining settlement and agriculture would be mitigated using restoration where
necessary in partnership with the EM programme. Similarly, land use planning both inside and
outside the park would minimise the extent and environmental impact of different land use regimes
on ecosystem health and function.
Within the C&SNRMZ, the SNRM programme aimed to convert currently unsustainable
natural resource use in the BMNP to sustainable levels through a participatory process whereby
communities would enter into joint natural resource management agreements with park management.
The process would be based on participatory forest management approaches used by Farm Africa/
SOS Sahel in Bale, Borana and elsewhere in southern Ethiopia, and by GTZ around Adaba-Dodola
in Bale.
SNRM agreements, facilitated and negotiated between park management and community
resource management groups, would specify the type and amount of resource use and would lay
out rights, roles and responsibilities as well as the methods for community monitoring, regulation
and resource protection. A key component of this programme was to build the capacity of both
communities and park management to manage, regulate and monitor these agreements through
training, experience sharing visits and a ‘learning by doing’ approach. The process of establishing
<strong>Walia</strong>-<strong>Special</strong> <strong>Edition</strong> on the Bale Mountains 251