The effects of overpopulation and poverty in the country have, in the same time period, taken their toll in the form of major deforestation across Ethiopia. In fact, nearly all Ethiopians still cook with wood and have been consuming the trees at an alarming rate. Erosion, flooding, and drought have had additional consequences on the environment, which in turn increase degradation to the ecosystem and further contribute to the risk of famine. In other words, the trees have been vanishing from the hills around the Awassa Children’s Center and Ethiopia, so the Children’s Center took action by hosting an environmental atelier in Awassa. The product of the atelier was the “Green Awassa Project”, an ongoing collaborative effort between the Children’s Center, the Gund Institute at the University of Vermont, and the City of Awassa. The vision is to create an ecologically sustainable and economically viable community in Awassa, Ethiopia.

In June, 2006, seven UVM graduate students and three faculty members met with American and African ecologists in an ecological focus group to discuss solutions to deforestation in the Lake Awassa basin as part of the Green Awassa Project. In addition to examining the problem of deforestation, the Green Awassa study group proposed solutions to make Awassa green and more energy efficient. One Love Theater (OLT) was chosen as the main vector for educating the people of Awassa about the use of sustainable fuels.

The Awassa Children’s Center has affirmatively acted to protect the environment by planting trees and to address erosion control. On the hillside of Mount Tabor, just steps from the Awassa Children’s Center, we have planted over 4,000 eucalyptus and acacia trees, donated by our German partners, to help prevent soil erosion on nearly 50,000 square feet of land above Lake Awassa.

We hope that our efforts will produce a truly “green Awassa” which will help lay the groundwork for a whole campaign of popular education on environmental issues throughout Ethiopia. A committee has been formed in Awassa to coordinate green programs, and this fall, a team of graduate students and faculty at UVM are writing grants to a variety of foundations to implement the ideas generated during the atelier.

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