WeForest, FAO and GIZ have just delivered a forest-water capacity building workshop in Mekelle, Ethiopia.

The workshop ran from 18th-24th June with the aim of strengthening local knowledge and capacity in measuring and monitoring forest-water relationships and enabling the integration of forests and water in Forest Landscape Restoration strategies.

We brought together 16 technical participants from a diverse range of organisations operating at district and regional levels including key staff from government, local and international NGOs and scientific research organisations. The workshop followed a train-the-trainer approach, allowing participants to expand their knowledge and gain practical skills during the field-based exercises. As a result, they are now in a position to pass on this knowledge to others in their organisations.

One key result of the workshop was a draft forest-water monitoring plan for WeForest’s Desa’a FLR project in Tigray and Afar regions which will become part of the project’s management plan. The participants also formed the Ethiopia For Water Interest Group which will focus on strengthening this new network of forest-water stakeholders to facilitate and scale-up forests and water interventions in Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR) and Integrated Watershed Management (IWM). This workshop was a timely and very important step towards addressing issues of land degradation, drought and climate change resilience through Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR) in Ethiopia.

Read also this blog from the landscapes portal webpage.