Desperate Women and Children Turn To the Forest in Ethiopia

Illegal destruction of the eucalyptus forests is a growing problem among the impoverished females citizens of Ethiopia. Due to extreme poverty women and children are forced to reluctantly turn to the forests in order to make less than $1 at the local market for approximately 65 pounds of wood. This article focused on a young girl named Maselech Mercho who has been gathering wood in the forests since she was six years old. Maselech, now 10, uses the money she earns from selling wood for food and to pay her school fees. The repercussions of being caught by the forest guards are terrifying. Usually those who are caught are beaten, however, rape also serves as a consequence. An approximate 15,000 women and girls earn about $240 per capita annually, which is double the average per capita income, collecting wood from this Entoto forest. The Former Women Fuel Wood Carriers Association (WFC) has been trying to provide jobs and opportunities by teaching these females other skills. The World Bank has finally stepped in and given Ethiopia $2 million in aid. The World Bank is hoping to hit two birds with one stone so to speak: “uplifting the lives of poor women and protecting the environment.”
While the World Bank and the Ethiopian government are trying to discourage illegal wood gathering, their approach is one of realism. They understand that they cannot completely put a halt to illegal wood gathering because of the large number of women who participate and who do so simply because they have no other options. Along with better access to forests where wood collection is permitted, the members of the World Bank helping with the implementation of their program are going to be looking for alternative methods of transportation. This solution is in order for the women to get the wood to better markets where they will be paid better prices. This approach to the problem is promising in that it acknowledges the current flaws and is trying to correct it and make it legal by slight changes rather than completely eliminating any possibilities of improvement for a different solution. These women do not choose to break the law and destroy the environment but are left with no alternatives. Hopefully, this new approach will be successful and accomplish both aspirations of the World Bank pushing Ethiopia to make some progress in the right direction and put an end to deforestation in the country.