USAID launches $8.7mln biodiversity, community resilience investment project in South Omo zone

Addis Ababa, December 14, 2022 (FBC) – The United States through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), in collaboration with International Institute of Rural Reconstruction – IIRR, launched an $8.7 million project of Biodiversity and Community Resilience in the Omo Valley (BIOM).

According to USAID, the program is projected for the next 5 years to improve biodiversity, livelihoods, and human rights in Ethiopia’s lower Omo zone through community-based conservation, ecotourism, livestock production, and political advocacy training.

The activity will be implemented in partnership with the local government and members of the community, living between the Omo National Park and the Mago National Park.

This land is being considered for the establishment of a new conservation trust—the Tama Community Conservation Area.

The new activity will directly benefit over 2,000 square kilometres of the Tama Community Conservation Area and will engage over 400 households in employment in the conservation area programs and administration, including work in ecotourism lodges, local craft production and sales, and tourism experiences.

A benefit-sharing system will be established for those 13,500 residents of the area not directly involved.

At the launch event for the BIOM activity, the local community members appreciated the project’s grass roots approach of giving the local community the lead on the project’s design and their own development process.

In 2022, USAID has invested more than $1.6 billion across Ethiopia in humanitarian and development aid. This new project is another example of the cooperation between the Ethiopian and American people, USAID Ethiopia indicated.