Text Box: Talking to Ethiopian trees! Akababi editorial July 3, 2005 As an editor of Akababi, contemplating on our yearn for good governance and democracy led me to experiment with an idea of asking Ethiopian trees to get a sensation of their reaction for a possible change in government in Ethiopia. To the dissatisfaction of many, my inner sentiment tells me the trees would convincingly reply: “We feel fear whenever there is a change of government!” Why would the trees say so? All who closely follow the recent history of environmental degradation in Ethiopia know very well that deforestation gets unprecedentedly intensified during days of transition as a change of government looms. We have seen this happening fourteen years ago during the last days of the government of Mengistu Hailemariam and the first few days of the government of EPRDF. At that time a huge number of trees were cut down in different rural and urban parts of country in a matter of days. The magnitude of these deforestations was so devastating that millions of seedlings planted since then have not yet made up for the damage incurred. Such deplorable actions have resulted in a complete deforestation of forests developed in 20 to 30 years. The most lamentable thing is that intensified deforestation has again been witnessed in Addis Ababa just after the announcement of the provisional election results of the May 15. According to an official from Addis Ababa Administration interviewed by the Ethiopian Reporter of 2005-07-03 this severe deforestation is associated with the fact that a new administration is expected to take office. The public mindset seems to dictate that new governments taking office would not care while outgoing ones will not have time and interest to act to stop such deforestation. This is not something for governments in office or newly elected governments. It should be a concern for all citizens and thus should not be left unchecked. Why do people take such undesirable measures? It is beyond doubt that problems associated with both energy supply and economic reasons of households are behind these actions. There is also a lack of awareness in weighting satisfying immediate needs against damages that will cost us, as a society, for many generations to come. Akababi thus calls up on all civic societies and other activist groups to carry out regular awareness creation activities to combat this problem. It also calls up on the government to prioritise the issue of improving the livelihood of people who depend on cutting down trees for reasons associated with both energy supply and income generation. Akababi: Online Journal on Ethiopian Environmental and Energy concerns