To improve the conservation status of the Bale Mountains in Ethiopia.

Status: National Park, IUCN Category II, established 1970, but never clearly gazetted and managed as a multiple land-use area. .
Geographical Location: South-central Ethiopia
Size: Bale Mountains National Park 2,200 km²; Mena-Angetu National Forest Priority Area 1,800 km²

The Bale Mountains are the largest remaining alpine habitat on the African continent. They stand out for their many endemic animal and plant species and high biodiversity value. The proportion of endemic species in the Bale Mountain National Park is so high that with the loss of the Park more species would become extinct than in any other area of comparable size worldwide. Half of the still existing 500 Ethiopian wolves and about half of all mountain nyala live in this park. The water reservoir in the Bale Mountains supplies about 12 million people in the lowlands of southern Ethiopia and Somalia. Parts of the national park are populated and are therefore under increasing pressure.

The Bale Mountains National Park is suffering from decades of underinvestment and unmanaged use of its natural resources. The recent marked increase in this unrestricted and unsustainable use, particularly of wood and grazing, is destroying the environment and vital ecological processes. The Oromia Authorities lack the financial or technical resources required to manage the park effectively. In 2004, FZS committed to at least 10 years of investment to reverse the decline of the biodiversity and natural resources of the Bale Mountains, and thus also safeguard the ecosystem services for downstream users.

• Improving the park infrastructure and renovation of the park headquarters
• Intensifying park protection; construction of a ranger outpost in Sodata/Mocobwa; supplying the rangers with uniforms, tents, sleeping-bags and fuel
• Boundary marking
• Development and implementation of a General Management Plan for the park
• Development of a plan to support ecotourism in the park
• Support for community based natural resource management
• Environmental Education for local youth in Bale Mountains
• Development of strategic ecosystem health monitoring plan

Thadaigh Baggallay, Anouska Kinahan, Dereje Tadesse

Oromia Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Development
Wildlife Conservation Department of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
FARM-Africa/SOS Sahel
MELCA Mahiber
Institute of Biodiversity Conservation, through their Conservation and Sustainable Use of Medicinal Plants Project (Ethiopia)
Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme