Ethiopia's Last Highland Forests Survive as Islands Around 35,000 Churches

Ethiopia once had about 40% forest cover and now has less than 5%, yet the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church conserves forest around an estimated 35,000 churches. The church's development arm, EOC-DICAC, works with Bread for the World on a church forest programme that raises community awareness of the link between forests and water, collects seed for tree nurseries, trains households in sustainable farming and sheep keeping, and helps people find alternatives to cutting firewood. It was also a local partner in the Norwegian Church Aid-backed Ethiopian Church Forest Initiative, whose 2022 evaluation found pressure from surrounding communities on the forests had been substantially reduced. In early February 2025 DICAC hosted a delegation of Kenyan faith and conservation leaders on four church forest visits to explore replicating the model.