ShareA group of children were listening to a story beneath the shade of an African juniper tree in a small church forest near Debre Tabor in northern Ethiopia. Although some sacred forests are fairly accessible, like the island forests on Lake Tana that can be visited on a half-day boat tour from the city of Bahir Dar, in the rural, mountainous landscapes of South Gondar, east of Bahir Dar, where I now was, the church forests can be harder to find. Although it’s mostly the trees between the forests that have disappeared, the sacred forests are indirectly affected, too. It turns out that technologies developed for war are now helping inform a project on conservation in church forests. Eucalyptus plantations have sprung up on the edges of many sacred forests and have become central to the economy.

Source: Ethiopian News May 20, 2019 23:37 UTC