Economic Valuation of Lake Tana: A Recreational Use Value Estimation through the Travel Cost Method

Lake Tana is a well-known tourist spot in northern Ethiopia that lures both domestic and foreign tourists. The lake’s value is still underrated, despite the site’s immense potential for recreation and tourism. In this study, the recreational value of Lake Tana is estimated, and the consumer characteristics associated with recreational demand are analyzed. The study employs a Zero-Truncated Poisson (ZTP) regression model for data generated by the Individual Travel Cost Method (ITCM) and draws information from 1094 on-site surveys. According to ZTP regression results, variables that are significantly and positively associated with demand for Lake Tana recreation include the monthly income and age of the visitors and their preference for other recreation destinations such as Tis-Abay and Gondar Fasiledes Royal Castle. However, respondents’ leisure time, overall cost, and residential distance from the recreational site are all negatively associated with the demand for recreation. It is also evident that Lake Tana is endowed with a wealth of attributes, ranging from natural beauty to ancient religious and cultural heritages, making the lake a highly desirable recreation destination. According to the estimation, Lake Tana has a yearly recreational value of around USD 68.5 million. However, it also demonstrates that if lake settings were to improve in quality, the value of Lake Tana would rise considerably, reaching USD 151 million. The value of sentimental attachment implies that determining Lake Tana’s recreational value is a key element in the resource’s sustainable utilization and management. To make greater use of Lake Tana’s recreational amenities, however, uncontrolled waste disposal, favorable recreation facilities, and the spread of water hyacinth should be addressed immediately. Furthermore, it is imperative to maintain the lake’s diverse attributes, as the integration of these attributes is what gives the lake its primary appeal

Effects of exotic <em>Eucalyptus spp.</em> plantations on soil properties in and around sacred natural sites in the northern Ethiopian Highlands

Species of the genus Eucalyptus (common name eucalyptus) are widely planted all across Ethiopia—including on large areas of land previously allocated to food production. In recent decades eucalyptus has also increasingly been planted on lands around and within “church forests,” sacred groves of old-aged Afromontane trees surrounding Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido churches. These revered holy sites have long been recognized for their cultural values and also for their ecosystem services—including their potential to support species conservation and restoration, as church forests are some of the only remaining sanctuaries for many of Ethiopia’s indigenous and endemic plant and animal populations. Ethiopian Orthodox church communities have a long history of planting and nurturing indigenous tree seedlings to sustain church forest groves. However, due to the fast-growing nature of eucalyptuscombined with its widely recognized socio-economic benefits (as fuelwood, charcoal, construction wood, etc.), this introduced species has been widely plantedaround church forests—in some cases even replacing native tree species within church forests themselves. In many developing country contexts the introduction of exotic eucalyptus has been shown to have ecological impacts ranging from soil nutrient depletion, to lowering water tables, to allelopathic effects. In this study, we collected soil samples from indigenous forest fragments (church forests), adjacent eucalyptus plantations, and surrounding agricultural land to examine how eucalyptus plantations in Ethiopian Orthodox church communitiesmight impact soil quality relative to alternative land uses. Soil properties, including organic matter, pH, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus were measured in samples across 20 church forest sites in South Gondar, East Gojjam, West Gojjam, Awi, and Bahir Dar Liyu zones in the Amhara Region of the northern Ethiopian Highlands. Findings indicate that although soil in eucalyptus stands is more acidic and has lower organic matter and nutrient levels than nearby church forests, eucalyptusplantations also exhibit consistently higher organic matter and nutrient levels when compared to adjacent agricultural land. These findings suggest that eucalyptus planting could potentially benefit soil fertility on land that has been degraded by subsistence agriculture