The Forest Policy Process, Regulatory, and Institutional Frameworks in Ethiopia

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to examine the trends of the forest policy process, its responses, legal frameworks, institutional developments, stakeholder relations, and stakeholder roles, as well as the major driving causes of the forest policy, regulatory, and institutional practices in Ethiopia. A qualitative content analysis method was employed for the study. The review of the literature is fundamentally based on data sources from archival and review of relevant empirical studies, as well as policy, legal, and strategy documents, supplemented with data sources from six key informants from the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) Ministry of Agriculture, FDRE Forest Development, and FDRE Environment Protection Authority who have relevant leadership and professional responsibilities in relation to forest policy, legal, and interdisciplinary issues. The result of the findings indicated that the trends were top-down and coercive. Moreover, the historical legacies of forest policy, legal, and institutional frameworks of past regimes have immensely affected the performance of the current forest policy and regulatory frameworks and their institutional strengths. Such an operation hindered public participation and resulted in poor forest policy outcomes. Therefore, the study recommends the urgency of creating strong inter-sectoral coordination in forest-related matters, ensuring participation, freeing institutional mandate allocation from the influence of the agriculture sector by balancing forest conservation and agriculture intensification, ensuring independent forest regulatory bodies across the tiers, providing the necessary implementation directives and guidelines, and giving adequate support to discharge their roles at the grassroots community level, as suggested.

Key terms: Forest policy, regulatory, institutional framework, Ethiopia

DOI: 10.7176/PPAR/13-3-02

Publication date: April 30^th 2023