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Can you imagine living in a land that has been inhabited in the same way for hundreds of years? You farm your fields just as your ancestors did many generations ago. You care for your livestock with the same methods - skills passed down from parent to child.

But unfortunately for you, the world around you has changed. A huge increase in population has put the land under unsustainable pressure, and has made your traditional farming techniques obsolete.

Even though you can see the land deteriorating before your very eyes, you can’t understand why. Meanwhile, you continue to farm the land in the same way as before. 

Only now, unwittingly, you are abusing it.

SUNARMA, which stands for Sustainable and Natural Resource Management Association, is a national NGO based in Ethiopia. We at SUNARMA have seen this story repeated all across rural Ethiopia.

Although we are still a relatively young organization, we already run two projects, covering a large area, both of which aim to improve the lives of rural communities through the proper use of their natural resource - the very land they depend on.

In our first project, we are aiming to work with rural communities to prevent the ongoing deforestation of the natural Wof-Washa Forest.  This forest lies just North-East of the capital, Addis Ababa, and is one of the few remaining areas of indigenous forest in the land.  Whilst working to protect it, we are ensuring the people there are truly able to benefit from the forest they rely on.

In our second project, we want to provide a reliable source of income for people in two Woredas (Districts), Wuchale and Jidda, just North of Addis, where the land is unsuitable for crops. By encouraging the people here to branch out into new income-generating activities we hope they can be provided with a more sustainable future.

We focus on increasing environmental awareness amongst the local people to help them understand and appreciate their most valuable asset, as well as providing the means for them to implement good, environmentally-friendly work practices.

As it stands, large swaths of Ethiopia face a perilous future. The rural population is increasing to such a huge extent that it is predicted the population will have doubled by 2025.

This inevitably puts huge pressure on the land.

Many local people understand what is happening but are without the means to address the problem, and know that they may face a desolate future. Soil erosion, deforestation, over grazing, disease and droughts already mean many of the communities are food insecure during some periods of the year and often hover on the edge of starvation.

SUNARMA strongly believes that, with the right assistance, the communities themselves can overcome their own problems, and that SUNARMA can help in this by building strong links between local communities, other NGOs and the government. Only through working together can lives truly be changed.

If you are interested and wish to learn more, or think you might be able to help us, please feel free to contact our friendly and helpful staff, either here in Ethiopia, or with our sister organization SUNARMA UK based in the United Kingdom