As in many neighboring countries, most environmental issues in Ethiopia relate to

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated ...

and endangered species.

Geological issues

The

Main Ethiopian Rift Main may refer to: Geography * Main River (disambiguation) **Most commonly the Main (river) in Germany * Main, Iran, a village in Fars Province *"Spanish Main", the Caribbean coasts of mainland Spanish territories in the 16th and 17th centuries ...

is geologically active and susceptible to earthquakes. Hot springs and active

volcanoes A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...

are found in its extreme east close to the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...

. Elsewhere, the land is subject to

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is dis ...

overgrazing Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to intensive grazing for extended periods of time, or without sufficient recovery periods. It can be caused by either livestock in poorly managed agricultural applications, game reserves, or nature res ...

, deforestation, and frequent

droughts A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

. Water shortages are common in some areas during the dry season. The causes of degradation are primarily the demand for more land for

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

, fuel and construction as well as for grazing grounds.

Endangered animals

Ethiopian wolf

The

Ethiopian wolf The Ethiopian wolf (''Canis simensis''), also called the Simien jackal and Simien fox, is a canine native to the Ethiopian Highlands. In southeastern Ethiopia it is also known as the horse jackal. It is similar to the coyote in size and build, ...

is one of the rarest and most endangered of all

canid Canidae (; from Latin, '' canis'', " dog") is a biological family of dog-like carnivorans, colloquially referred to as dogs, and constitutes a clade. A member of this family is also called a canid (). There are three subfamilies found withi ...

species. The numerous names given to this species reflect previous uncertainties about its taxonomic position. However, the Ethiopian wolf is now thought to be related to the

wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

of the genus ''Canis'', rather that sold for about US$175 each to taxidermists who then retail the stuffed lions for US$400. "For the time being our immediate solution is to send them to the taxidermists, but the final and best solution is to extend the zoo into a wider area," Muhedin said.Amber Henshaw
"Rare zoo lion cubs poisoned"
BBC News website, originally published 22 November 2006 (accessed 8 January 2010) The director of the wildlife division of Ethiopia's

Ministry of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister ...

said he had no idea the lions were being culled.

Deforestation

Ethiopia had a 2018

Forest Landscape Integrity Index The Forest Landscape Integrity Index (FLII) is an annual global index of forest condition measured by degree of anthropogenic modification. Created by a team of 48 scientists, the FLII, in its measurement of 300m pixels of forest across the globe ...

mean score of 7.16/10, ranking it 50th globally out of 172 countries.

References

* Haileselassie, A. (2004) “Ethiopia’s struggle over land reform,” ''World Press Review'' 51.4, 32(2). Expanded Academic ASAP. * Hillstrom, K. & Hillstrom, C. (2003). ''Africa and the Middle east; a continental Overview of Environmental Issues''. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. * Maddox, G.H. (2006). ''Sub-Saharan Africa: An environmental history''. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. * McCann.J.C.(1990). "A Great Agrarian cycle? Productivity in Highland Ethiopia, 1900–1987," ''Journal of Interdisciplinary History'', 20:3, pp. 389–416. (Retrieved November 18, 2006 from JSTOR database) * McCann, J.C. (1999). ''Green land, Brown land, Black land: An environmental history of Africa 1800–1990''. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. * Mongabay.co
"Ethiopia statistics."
(Retrieved November 18, 2006) * Parry, J (2003). "Tree choppers become tree planters," ''Appropriate Technology'', 30(4), 38–39. Retrieved November 22, 2006, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 538367341) * Parry, K (2003) "Perceptions of forest cover and tree planting and ownership in Jimma Zone, Ethiopia” ''unasylva'', vol 54 Iss: 213 (2003), pp. 18(2). * Sucoff, E. (2003). "Deforestation", ''Environmental Encyclopedia'', at pp. 358–359. Detroit: Gale. * Williams, M. (2006). ''Deforesting the earth: From prehistory to global crisis: An Abridgment.'' Chicago: University Press.

External links

WildCRU – Conservation of Ethiopian wolves (Canis simensis)

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

Department of Zoology website
Eco-Tourism and Wildlife in Oromo territory
{{Country study Issues

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...