Ethiopian Wildlife and Natural History Society

Ethiopia

Ethiopian Wildlife and Natural History Society (EWNHS)

Ethiopian Wildlife and Natural History Society (EWNHS) is the BirdLife Partner

Mission of the organisation

Under the theme "Conservation for Survival", the overall goal of the Society is Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Ethiopian Resources; Specific Objectives are:

• Conduct and support research concerning Ethiopia’s fauna and flora
• Disseminate information and create awareness of the need for the conservation and wise use of Ethiopia’s natural resources and the environment

Key Activities

Indoor/Outdoor activities

• Serves the non-formal environmental education component
• Produces opportunity for members and non-members to learn about Ethiopia’s environment and national and historical heritage (lectures, Seminars, Workshops, Panel discussions, field trips etc,)
• Plant Locally and Nurture Trees (PLANT)
• Promote the planting of indigenous tree species
• Raise and distribute a variety of seedlings of indigenous tree species
• Provide information, technical advice and material support to schools, organisations and individuals on developing nurseries.
• Environmental Education Support Publication Prject (EESP) and Schools Environmental Education Projects (SEEP)
• Production and distribution of a range of thematic Environmental Education materials (Quasi-scientific Journal, Bi-annual School Magazine, Quarterly Newsletter, Fact Sheets, Readers, Posters, Brochures etc)
• Establishment of Nature Clubs at schools and other sectors
• Support production of school-based Club Newsletter (stationery, training, technical advice etc)
• Biodiversity Research Programme
• Identify, select and prioritize key sites for the conservation of biodiversity using birds as indicators
• Develop site conservation management/action plans
• Play advocacy roles and lobby conservation of key biodiversity sites
• Provide technical assistance to researchers.

Recent Achievements

• Continued to survey and monitor birds in wetlands, forests and mountainous areas
• Conducted fieldwork that extended the known range of Ankober Serin
• Discovered new sites and areas where Harwood's Francolin is locally abundant Monitored populations of White-winged Flufftail
• Found a new important site for the endemic Spot-breasted Plover
• Undertook an educational and awareness raising regional workshop on the vulnerable Harwood's Francolin. A bilingual (English and Amharic) poster was produced, urging conservation action to save the speices
• Continued to expand the annual waterfowl census programme. These data will be invaluable for monitoring future trends in waterbird populations.
• Carried out bird survey work on the Ankober Serin and Harwood's Francolin and field surveys at localities within the Great Rift Valley system
• Pressed for the Ethiopian Government to sign up to the African-Eurasian Migratory Water Bird Agreement and advocated for better management practices to be employed at the Weserbi and Berga wetlands, the only known breeding sites for the White-winged Flufftail
• Carried out intensive field surveys on the White-winged Flufftail, in collaboration with the Middelpunt Wetland Trust and the University of Natal, South Africa, resulting in the discovery of the first ever nest of the species
• Continued a programme of educational awareness raising with materials distributed to schoolchildren to enable them to take part in a Hammerkop survey