Poverty Alleviation and Environmental Restoration Using the Clean Development Mechanism: A Case Study from Humbo, Ethiopia Douglas R. Brown • Paul Dettmann • Tony Rinaudo • Hailu Tefera • Assefa Tofu Received: 13 October 2009 / Accepted: 12 November 2010 / Published online: 4 December 2010 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010 Abstract Poverty, hunger and demand for agricultural land have driven local communities to overexploit forest resources throughout Ethiopia. Forests surrounding the township of Humbo were largely destroyed by the late 1960s. In 2004, World Vision Australia and World Vision Ethiopia identified forestry-based carbon sequestration as a potential means to stimulate community development while engaging in environmental restoration. After two years of consultation, planning and negotiations, the Humbo Com- munity-based Natural Regeneration Project began imple- mentation—the Ethiopian organization’s first carbon sequestration initiative. The Humbo Project assists com- munities affected by environmental degradation including loss of biodiversity, soil erosion and flooding with an opportunity to benefit from carbon markets while reducing poverty and restoring the local agroecosystem. Involving the regeneration of 2,728 ha of degraded native forests, it brings social, economic and ecological benefits—facilitating adaptation to a changing climate and generating temporary certified emissions reductions (tCERs) under the Clean Development Mechanism. A key feature of the project has been facilitating communities to embrace new techniques and take responsibility for large-scale environmental change, most importantly involving Farmer Managed Nat- ural Regeneration (FMNR). This technique is low-cost, replicable, and provides direct benefits within a short time. Communities were able to harvest fodder and firewood within a year of project initiation and wild fruits and other non-timber forest products within three years. Farmers are using agroforestry for both environmental restoration and income generation. Establishment of user rights and local cooperatives has generated community ownership and enthusiasm for this project—empowering the community to more sustainably manage their communal lands. Keywords Agroforestry Á Climate change Á Carbon markets Á Community participation Á Farmer managed natural regeneration Introduction Following the severe famine of 1984 in Ethiopia, World Vision, a large humanitarian non-governmental organiza- tion (NGO), established operations in the Humbo area. High population density, variable rainfall, environmental degra- dation and an over-reliance on maize has meant that the area still experiences food shortages. Prior to the start of the project, of the 48,893 people living in the Humbo area, an estimated 85% lived in poverty (World Vision Ethiopia 2003) where the average per capita annual income was under $US 100 in 2003 (Government of Ethiopia 2003). Poverty, hunger and increasing demand for agricultural land have driven local communities to over-exploit forest resources. Forests surrounding Humbo, located 360 km south-west of the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, (see Figs. 1, 2) were largely destroyed by the late 1960s and across Ethiopia less than 4% of native forests remain today D. R. Brown (&) Department of International Studies, Glendon College, York University, 2275 Bayview Avenue, Toronto, ON M4N 3M6, Canada e-mail: douglas.r.brown.1@gmail.com P. Dettmann Á T. Rinaudo World Vision Australia, 1 Vision Drive, East Burwood, VIC 3151, Australia H. Tefera Á A. Tofu World Vision Ethiopia, Amce Bole Road, Addis Abeba, Ethiopia 123 Environmental Management (2011) 48:322–333 DOI 10.1007/s00267-010-9590-3