Forestry - Arbour Day July 19, 1958
``This is the third occasion on which We celebrate Arbour Day. As We have stated
on previous occasions, the main objective of the development programme which We
have adopted for the welfare of Our people is to preserve and augment the wealth
derived from our land, and, agriculture being the basis of our economy, to
increase the yield of Our soil through maximum utilization.
The forest resources of Our Empire constitute one of the most important elements
of the wealth of Our land.
When Our forests are properly conserved, they protect the fertile soil of
Ethiopia from erosion; they render the landscape green and beautiful. But when
forests are neglected and gradually destroyed, the wealth of Our land is
progressively reduced and the country slowly becomes bare and barren.
Wood-cutting is an important source of income for our rural population. But the
needlessness of their tree-cutting and their thoughtless misuse of Our timber
stands demonstrate clearly that they do not understand the great and
far-reaching importance of preserving Our forests.
The uses of trees are many and varied. Groves of trees protect our fields and
plantations from being desiccated by the desert winds that blow from
neighbouring regions. During the summer months, they provide moisture and shade.
If trees are not presently planted to replace those being cut down from time to
time, Our constant efforts to conserve and develop the wealth of Our country for
the welfare of present and future generations will be rendered ineffective and
futile. We are greatly grieved to observe the many thousands of gashas of rich
forest land being destroyed every year by reckless timber-cutting, thoughtless
forest burning, unregulated forest grazing, and other misuses of Our forest
wealth, due to popular ignorance and desire for temporary advantage on the part
of Our people.
Afforestation
It is a matter of great concern for Us that the forest wealth which God in His
mercy has bestowed upon Our country is thus being continually reduced and
wasted. Hence it becomes the duty and obligation of every single Ethiopian to
become aware of the tremendous industrial and agricultural advantages to be
derived from Our forest resources, and to practise tree-planting, in order that
Our hills and planes which have been stripped of their wooded cover may once
again be clothed in their green mantle.
The existence or non-existence of forest wealth in a country is one of the most
important factors influencing its development and progress. The increasing pace
of deforestation and the growing dearth of timber in Ethiopia, caused by
unregulated tree-cutting and the failure to replace these by new plantings, give
Us occasion for anxiety that a severe economic problem will confront the coming
generation. It is essential that steps be taken here and now to stop this
wastage and to check this destruction.
In these days when all nations of the world, in recognition of the tremendous
importance of forest wealth, have launched intensive programmes for forest
conservation and re-forestation, it behoves Our country also to take the
appropriate measures to solve this problem.
It is Our wish and Our desire that each and every citizen of Our country follow
the example We set on this Arbour Day in planting this tree, and himself plant
as many trees as he can, for his own benefit as well as for the benefit of
future generations.``