Nation scaling up endeavor of green development
Fekadu W.
Tulu Abamecha is a resident of the Illu-Abbabora Zone of Oromiya State. He said he has been fortunate enough to have a small biogas plant installed behind his residence. According to him, the plant made him regret the time he ignorantly squandered for so many years while he has so much resource to generate power from the dung of his cattle.
First, he said, he was reluctant when technologists from Ethiopia Rural Energy Development and Promotion Centre (EREDPC) have consulted him to start power generation from the massive dung being produced from his animals. It was unimaginable to have power from the dung of cattle and cook meals for the entire family.
Now all the family members are ecstatic that the tiresome work of collecting firewood all day long has been shunned long ago by the arrival of bio-gas installation in their back yard. Everything is clean. Students study their lessons at night and the family uses electricity generated from biogas to undertake various activities. The family members consider themselves as uniquely fortunate for they no more consume lots of fire wood to get light and cook their food, and they take the villagers as star-crossed who spend formidable times in search of firewood.
Woizero Momina, wife of Tulu, said life has become blissful an easy with the installation of bio-gas plant in their compound. She said she had spent most of her life by looking for firewood. Much to her chagrin, the emission of smoke and soot have affected her health. Particularly, her eyes had been seriously hurt by the smoke and, she said, she used to frequent zonal hospitals for some treatment. Now her health is recuperating very well since her family started to consume power generated from biogas.
Her burden related to cooking has been alleviated in the last couple of years. She said she pitied her neighbors laboring to get power from firewood, while she only had to supply the biogas with diluted dung.
Tulu’s house has been selected as a model to enjoy the bio-gas plant and the neighbors wished if they had one. He said everyone in the village is aspiring to have one like him. To this end, they have set up a task force to organize activities, generate fund and support the effort of the government to install biogas plants in their vicinity
Dechasa Alemu is also another model farmer who is enjoying bio-gas technology. He said the emergence of electricity generated from bio-gas has significantly changed the lifestyle of his family. Now the family dines with electric lamps and tunes to various channels at night and on holidays. His sons and daughters are studying their lessons at night. And they are scoring better grades as they study comfortably when they are back from school.
He said life was challenging earlier and he used to spend lots of time to collect firewood. Now, he is spending his invaluable time on his farm land and this has enhanced his productivity, parallel to improving the health condition of his family.
He wished this technology had arrived earlier. He regrets cutting the big trees in his compound and the farmland for the sake of obtaining firewood. He understands the very fact that the technology not only saves time and energy, but also it saves forests from being cleared for the sake of fire wood.
Currently, Dechasa said, he has become an environmentalist and his awareness about trees and forests has changed radically. He said he feels sudden pang when he sees individuals cutting down trees and clearing forests. Currently, seeing the benefit of biogas and its use to conserve the environment, he has become an ardent advocate of environmental conservation. According to him, no time had lapsed for him without speaking about environmental conservation on social gatherings.
Green economy results in improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities. It can be seen as a means to achieve a resilient economy that provides a better quality of life for all within the ecological limits of the planet.
It can be also seen as a means to link the economic, environmental and social considerations of sustainable development in such a manner that long-term economic development is achieved by investing in environmentally friendly and socially equitable solutions.
Green development is not a replacement for sustainable development. Rather, it provides a practical and flexible approach for achieving concrete, measurable progress across its economic and environmental pillars, while taking full account of the impacts of dynamic economies that do not harmonize themselves with protecting the environment.
The focus of green growth strategies is ensuring that natural assets can deliver their full economic potential on a sustainable basis. That potential includes the provision of critical life support services – clean air and water, and the resilient biodiversity needed to support food production and human health; natural assets are not infinitely substitutable and green development take account of that.
This type of development and the spirit of environmental conservation is gathering momentum on every corner of Ethiopia. Let alone farmers planting millions of trees every year, these days thousands of campaigns are being conducted by town residents to plant indigenous trees and rehabilitate affected localities. Similarly, the government is busily working to effect green development (in addition, it is organizing campaigns to help civil servants participate in forestation programs).
In this regard, Xinhua had on October 20, 2017, stated that Ethiopia’s green growth development project has received approval at the Global Green Growth Week. The Week had been celebrated in Addis Ababa under the theme “Unlocking Africa’s Green Growth Potential”. And policy makers and experts had emphasized need to unlock Africa’s green growth potential.
According to the Chinese Chronicler, Ethiopia’s green growth development project aims to drill boreholes and install small-scale irrigation schemes across the nine regional states; by combining 45 million U.S. dollars from Green Climate Fund (GCF) and 5 million U.S. dollars from the coffers of the government (GCF has also approved the endeavor of Ethiopia as the vanguard of green development).
The project is expected to enhance access to water and rehabilitate approximately 7,900 hectares of degraded land which in turn would benefit 330,000 Ethiopians directly and 990,000 indirectly. The project proposal was developed by the cooperation of various ministries and it has got the acceptance of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI).
Ethiopia is among the front-runner signatories of the Paris Agreement on climate change, committed to cut carbon emissions by 64% by 2030. Taking this fact in to account, the government has earmarked billions of dollars into hydropower megaprojects such as the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which will be the largest Dam in Africa up on finalization.
Nation’s tireless effort does not finish up in hydropower projects. It has aimed to become the wind power hub of Africa and beacon of green development. The government has planned to develop at least five further wind farms, and potentially many more, aiming to deliver up to 5,200 MW from wind power within four years. The cost is officially calculated at 3.1 billion USD although other estimates place it over 6 billion USD.
Despite the challenges related to finance and technological knowhow, Ethiopia is striving a lot to capitalize on its current economic growth by becoming more resilient to the impacts of climate change: developing green economy and aspiring to achieve middle-income status by 2025 in a carbon neutral way.
Similarly, the Second Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP-2) has stated that attaining the goal of green development requires boosting agricultural productivity, strengthening the industrial base, and fostering export growth. Hence, as responsible member of the world, Ethiopia is keenly playing its best role to fight climate change.
Ethiopia aims to significantly reduce poverty in line with climate-resilient green economy. Nation has formulated far-sighted plan in view of the very fact that following the conventional development path would, among other adverse effects, result in a sharp increase in green house gas (GHG) emissions and unsustainable use of natural resources (Ethiopia has developed a strategy to build a green economy and it is working in collaboration with domestic and international partners to avoid such negative effects).
As part of the strategy, the government has selected four initiatives for fast-track implementation: exploiting the vast hydropower potential; large-scale promotion of advanced rural cooking technologies; improving efficiency of the livestock value chain and Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD). These initiatives are expected to promote speedy growth, reduce the adverse effects of climate change and capture large abatement potentials and attract climate finance for implementation.
The plan to build green economy has also included four pillars: improving crop and livestock production practices to achieve higher food security and improve income of farmers, while reducing emissions; protecting and re-establishing forests for their economic and ecosystem services (as carbon stocks); expanding electricity generation from renewable sources of energy for domestic and regional markets and leapfrogging to modern and energy-efficient technologies in transport and industrial sectors, among others.
Ethiopia has so far realized many green development projects including wind (like Ashegoda and Adama III), water (like Gilgel Gibe III) and biogas, among others, through unflagging endeavor. These projects are witnessing that green development is a prioritized goal of the country. So far, national effort has won many plaudits from the international community and nation will continue undertaking same green projects.
Nation believes that transformation of its economy could be realized through green development. To this end, it will move heaven and earth to exploit every potential of green development; green development endeavor will continue as far and wide to exploit resources and meaningfully alleviate poverty.
Currently, thousands of citizens like Tulu and Dechasa are waiting to use cheap and renewable off-grid energy sources in their locality. And efforts are being exerted to scale up accessibility of green development projects to the wider rural community and materialize sizeable development across the country.