This time animal and bird species are migrating long from their previous tranquil habitat. The flora is also downsizing from time to time. This tragic unfolding is highly attributed to the risky impact of human beings on nature.
Recently, a new Oromia State Tourism Transformation task force was established in a bid to protect, retrieve and utilize national parks located in the state. The task force is organized with a multi-agency task force.
And the leading organizer of the task force is the Oromia State Forest and Wildlife Enterprise.
In order to rehabilitate the national parks and galvanize public participation mindful of the concern for natural resources, the task force is expected to be effectively coordinated.
As it is comprised of different agencies the task force is said to bring tangible changes in the tourism industry. Experts from different backgrounds and having wide-ranging experiences have come on board with a spirit of collaboration. Maintaining national biodiversity and rewarding or sustaining timeless local community based environment conservation in the state are task force’s main objectives.
Enterprise Deputy Director General Ararsa Regassa said that the enterprise is doing its level best regarding promoting the tourism industry. Thus, it is contributing its part for increasing tourists inflow to the national parks located in the state. The establishment of this new tourism transformation task force by the enterprise paves way for transforming and facilitating the tourism sector. In addition to this, it helps in carrying out mutual cooperation with the enterprise in managing and coordinating the national parks in the state to contribute more to national tourism.
The task force is established after a robust consultative meeting with pertinent stakeholders. It is entrusted with the responsibility to monitor, mobilize and facilitate the Arsi and other national parks located in the state to earn from tourism. The established task force primarily focuses on the retrieval of endemic flora and fauna of the state. It was also said that the task force encourages partners’ collaboration to utilize the untapped tourism potential of the national parks.
As the task force will constitute different stakeholders, it is believed to make a tangible change in ensuring that the country is home to diverse flora and fauna.
The task force is organized involving active actors from the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority and Oromia Wildlife Enterprise, different National Park Administrators, Natural Resource Associations, the Ethiopian Tourism Organization, local NGOs as well as embassies and other stakeholders.
At a consultative workshop organized by State Forest and Wildlife Enterprise for stakeholders, Enterprise Wildlife Development and Utilization Director Chemere Zewdie said that developing national parks for tourism destinations requires the commitment and active involvement of the local community, private partners, pertinent stakeholders and the government. The Oromia State Forest and Wildlife Enterprise currently works actively for the betterment of the state’s wildlife and vegetation. ” If we employ efforts effectively in strengthening strategies of energizing the tourism industry we have enormous potential. But the tourism sector is not yet harnessed well,” he said.
Developing national parks as tourist spots would be a preferable approach to save country’s wildlife heritages and render local communities mutually beneficiaries.
On the workshop, the participants have confirmed readiness to perform actively regarding facilitating national parks to provide more for national economic growth and GDP share in terms of tourism.
Presenting a paper on tourism development approaches and the potential of Oromia State, Ethiopian Tourism Organization Tourism Destination Development Director Chernet Tilahun emphasized that the country has diverse ecological and climate systems worth to be tourist destinations. To this end, working to boost the tourism industry is required from pertinent stakeholders. Utilizing the sector’s potential is possible through conducting a thorough and successive assessment as well as providing successive training, monitoring and supervision to sector practitioners and tour organizations.
The expansion of lodges, cultural centers, museums, standardized hotels as well as other tourist services and facilities is improving from time to time both in quality and quantity and displaying a commendable progress in the country.
He underline that since the state is home to various tourist attraction sites it needs to be developed in a way to do away with encumbrances thereby generate more from tourism. In addition to this, the active involvement of the local community, private partners, pertinent stakeholders and the government is valuable to maintain the safety of wildlife being conserved in the national park. Motivating local communities to accomplish their share and responsibility regarding the safety of national parks plays indispensable role to the tourism industry.
Association for Sustainable Development Alternatives (ASDA) Executive Director Tekele Teshome said on the occasion that coordinating community dialogue centers to sustain the national parks’ wildlife and forest safety still begs for additional exertions. To mention the tourist attraction potentials in the areas of the Awash Waterfall, a variety of bird species, endemic animals as well as the unique features of geographical landscapes are the prominent ones.
Most of the national parks located in the state abound in numerous water points.
The stewardship of individuals towards Mother Nature or natural resources depicts a tangible role to pass down natural wildlife resources to the future generations. A community-based biodiversity tourism development plays a significant role towards the enhancement of tourist influx. A paradigm shift in national park conservation would be created when effective public awareness works are done to acquaint the community.
He recommends undertaking successive wildlife census to prove the healthiness of the area through agro-forestry, poultry keeping and facilitation of experience sharing forums among residents of the area. He also underlined increasing a sense of ownership among the community, enhancing schools’ trip clubs to discover more and grow public knowledge about the areas.
At the consultative workshop it was indicated that effective moves regarding comprehensive assessment, management plan and marketing strategy development will be strengthened to prove the national park’s tourism potential.
The workshop concluded by providing a way forward for a collaborative involvement and doing follow-up tasks–promoting pertinent stakeholders’ dialogue on biodiversity conservation, strengthening the multi-sectoral task force, undertaking destination studies as well as integrating natural resource management and eco-tourism
On the other hand, the critical and the main challenges to the weakening of the sector were explained.
The task force is also expected to popularize the tourism transformation strategies. Facilitating, promoting, mobilizing and coordinating the national parks in the state would also be strengthened while all actors contribute their share.
To sum up, currently Ethiopia is undertaking a path breaking measures to utilize the maximum from its tourism potential. But having tremendous wildlife, vegetation as well as divers and sumptuous climatic conditions the country has not yet utilized the most from national park tourism potential. Regarding this, the recent moves seem showing a progress along with facilitating the necessary preconditions of the tourism sector.
[allafrica.com]