Local communities have met with government officials as well as other stakeholders to hold discussion on how to preserve and protect Choke Mountain and set up community conservation site. Choke Mountain is located on the  part of the  Afromontane Biodiversity Hotspot found South of Lake Tana in Amhara Region.

The event was led by President of the Amhara Region State Mr. Gedu Andargachew and was organized in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Environment, Forest and Climate Change Commission and Debre Markos University.

The dialogue focused on harmonizing the conservation of the ecosystem and biodiversity of Choke mountain with creating alternative livelihood opportunities to the surrounding communities.

Some of the major objectives of the interaction focused on creating awareness, building rapport and promoting a sense of ownership among the local communities.

Speaking at the forum Amhara Region President Mr. Gedu Andargachew told the local community that, “the time is now to conserve Choke Mountain as your livelihood depends on it,” stressing the importance of ” Giving it time to rest and revive before it’s too late to restore the ecosystem from its current degraded state.”   

Members of the surrounding communities expressed their concern that Choke Mountain is in danger of losing its environmental and biodiversity potential. They added that investment in alternative livelihoods for the surrounding communities is a must to protect the mountain.

Wubua Mekonnen, a Programme Specialist in UNDP noted that the next step is for the draft decree for the delineation of Choke Mountain as a Community Based Protected Area to be presented to the parliament. Choke Mountain’s status will be governed under the The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) category VI, which refers to a protected area with sustainable use of natural resources.   [The IUCN, created in 1948, is a membership Union comprising government and civil society organisations. It provides public, private and non-governmental organisations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature conservation to take place together. Source: https://www.iucn.org/about ]

Once the decree is passed, Ethiopia is expected to benefit from ecotourism, as well as from the conservation of biodiversity and sustaining the use of the mountain’s unique ecosystem services.

Choke Mountain is a biodiversity rich hotspot area with unique flora and fauna. It is also referred as a water tower of the upper Blue Nile Basin as it is a source of over 60 rivers and 270 springs ; 29 of these rivers are responsible for a significant amount of water flowing to the upper Blue Nile.  Choke Mountain  contributes 10% of the Blue Nile water.

So far only about 6,005 hectares from the 19,000 hectares of land identified in the feasibility study is delineated as a core zone. 12,000 hectares will be placed under a transition zone for conservation. 17,000 households are expected to benefit from delineation of Choke Mountain Community Based Protected Area through introduction to alternative livelihoods and accessing sustainable ecosystem services payment.

UNDP’s support for the preservation and conservation of Choke Mountain falls under its project on  ‘Mainstreaming Incentives for Biodiversity Conservation in the Climate Resilient Green Economy Strategy’. This supports the preparation of the Payment for Ecosystem Services Legislation and Law ; the delineation of protected areas; identification of community based organizations; increased government investment in pro-conservation of protected areas and increased awareness on biodiversity and ecosystem services protection among policy makers, the general public and local communities.

Going forward the draft decree to delineate Choke Mountain as a Community Based Protected Area will be presented to the Amhara regional parliament for approval.

The Amhara regional president has instructed his regional Environment, Forest and Wildlife Conservation Authority and east Gojjam zone cabinet to secure the full consent of the surrounding community in order to finalize the legal process of the protected area.

In the meantime, the UNDP supported project will continue promoting sustainable ecosystem services where users including private sectors will pay incentives for the communities through Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) for shared benefits of ecological services, provision of water, biodiversity, tourism and green energy.