Ecotourism Development and Planning in Western Ethiopia
Erik Douds & Tyler Papa
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Table of Contents:
Research Highlights
Executive Summary
Introduction
Historical Context
Key Research Institutions
Methods
Results
Discussion
Recommendations
Works Cited
Research Highlights
- This chapter examines opportunities for ecotourism to balance economic development and environmental conservation goals in the Gambella Region of Western Ethiopia.
- Ecotourism is a growing form of sustainable development used around the world to meet poverty alleviation and conservation goals.
- Ethiopian Community Tourism Partners provides an existing institutional framework for ecotourism development in Ethiopia.
- Ecotourism has the potential to protect wildlife by generating income to fund conservation areas.
- Local communities are key stakeholders in ecotourism development because they depend on natural resources.
- International financial support can provide crucial long-term funding for ecotourism development, but also risk overshadowing the needs of local communities.
- Major actors need additional data to better consider the possible environmental, social, and economic impacts of ecotourism development.
Executive Summary
The Gambella Region of Western Ethiopia is a 30,000 square kilometer, sparsely populated area rich in flora and fauna, wetlands, and mountains. Long valued for its natural habitat, the region is home to over 230 animal species. Gambella National Park was created in 1973 to protect this diversity. The Park constitutes roughly 14% of the Gambella Region’s territory, and has noteworthy potential for ecotourism development. Although ecotourism in other regions already makes up 20% of Ethiopia’s total tourism industry, a lack of management and infrastructure has inhibited Gambella National Park’s ability to attract visitors and reach its potential as a major ecotourism destination in East Africa.
A growing literature identifies accepted principles of ecotourism that address the economic, social, and environmental impacts of development. The focus of these principles is outlined by the United Nation’s Agenda 21 on ecotourism, as well as the Quebec Declaration on Ecotourism. The Declarations represent collaboration between international actors, governments, NGOs, local populations, and others affected by ecotourism.
This paper explores opportunities to develop ecotourism infrastructure in Gambella National Park, with a focus on key land features, ecosystems, and communities. Using aerial photographs, Bing maps, and land survey maps, this study identifies locations of important and attractive landmarks, wildlife populations and migration routes, and current settlements to inform ongoing debates on appropriate locations for roads and other development. We contribute to filling gaps in publicly available data by digitizing historic survey maps and compiling other resources on terrain, land cover, and population distributions critical to consider when developing ecotourism infrastructure.
Findings suggest that additional data are needed to fully comprehend the environmental, economic, and social impacts of ecotourism development in Gambella National Park. Ecotourism has the potential to alleviate poverty among rural people while preserving the rich natural resources of the region: tourists can visit destinations that offer spectacular natural beauty across the lush landscape, while also being immersed in the variety of indigenous cultures of the region. Continued digitization of existing information and data is essential to provide the resources for planning and implementing sustainable development activities.
This paper contributes to the development of data on Gambella National Park that are crucial for infrastructure development, as well as identifies the location of settlements likely to be impacted by development activities, and finally potential future sites to consider for ecotourism expansion.
Introduction
Ethiopia has seen significant growth in the ecotourism sector in recent years. In 2008, ecotourism in Ethiopia generated $15.4 million USD, which accounts for roughly 20% of the tourism industry’s total revenue (Edwards, 2010). This trend mirrors patterns in ecotourism growth observed in neighboring Sub-Saharan African countries (Akama & Kieti, 2007). The United Nations has formally acknowledged ecotourism as an exemplary form of sustainable development in the developing world (Butcher, 2006).
Ecotourism is a form of tourism which seeks to integrate environmental, economic, and sociocultural sustainability. It addresses environmental sustainability by actively conserving and preserving the natural resources of destinations, and increasing awareness of the importance of natural heritage (World Tourism Organization & United Nations Environment Programme, 2002a). Further, well-implemented ecotourism might offer a development strategy to alleviate the economic burden of rural people by engaging them in the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources (Akama & Kieti, 2007; Edwards, 2010a; Martin, 2008; World Tourism Organization, 2010). From a sociocultural standpoint, it involves local and indigenous communities in planning, managing, and monitoring of tourism activities (Butcher, 2006a; World Tourism Organization & United Nations Environment Programme, 2002a). Through their involvement, the local communities benefit from ecotourism development in the form of job security, access to improved infrastructure development, and direct and indirect positive impacts of landscape conservation.
Located in the heart of the Horn of Africa region, Ethiopia has two of the world’s 34 global biodiversity hotspots, areas featuring exceptional concentrations of endemic species (Edwards, 2010; Myers, Mittermeier, Mittermeier, da Fonseca, & Kent, 2000). The landscape is also endowed with diverse vegetation that range from tropical rain forests to the cloud forests of the Ethiopian highlands (Edwards, 2010). Despite this rich landscape, several government-led poverty alleviation programs, and billions of dollars of international aid, Ethiopians remain among the poorest people in the world, with 81% living on less than $2 USD per day (Edwards, 2010; Horne, 2011). This suggests that past and present management efforts have not found balance in the management and sustainable use of Ethiopia’s natural resources (Edwards, 2010). Even though Ethiopia’s rural communities heavily rely on forest resources and the rich landscape in many areas, particularly in the vast underdeveloped territories of the Gambella Region, they are severely threatened by land degradation (Edwards, 2010; Earth Trends, 2004).
The Gambella Region in western Ethiopia offers a particularly intriguing opportunity for ecotourism development to help alleviate poverty while preserving valuable natural ecosystems. Within this region is the 5,000 square kilometer Gambella National Park, created in 1973 to conserve its unique habitats and protect 230 known bird and mammal species, as well as many other threatened or endangered plants and animals (Edwards, 2010a; Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation, 2013). However, this conservation effort has been limited by weak management of park boundaries due to a combination of staff shortages, inadequate funding, lack of education, and insufficient transportation and infrastructure (Edwards, 2010a; Purdie, 2010a; Young, 2013a). Poor management of forest and wildlife resources puts the livelihoods of local populations in greater risk, since they are reliant on such natural resources to meet subsistence needs.
In this context, this paper asks: What are the opportunities for development of the ecotourism sector in Gambella National Park? Specifically, given that one of the primary impediments to ecotourism and infrastructure development in Gambella is a lack of quality data on the land, wildlife, and human communities, we also ask: How might Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analyses inform infrastructure planning to improve Gambella National Park access while minimizing costs and negative environmental impacts? This paper provides information and data for ecotourism development and planning by using GIS analysis and Bing Maps. The study aims to inform ongoing efforts to promote sustainable development in and around Gambella National Park.
Historical Context
Through a variety of laws and ministries, Ethiopia has established a multifaceted political framework to protect the rich natural resources and biodiversity hotspots that attract tourists to destinations like the Rift Valley (Edwards, 2010; Marcus, 2002). Starting in the 19th century, authoritarian governments controlled Ethiopian forests (Devereux & Guenther, 2007). From 1976 to 1991, all farmland was confiscated by the government and redistributed equally per capita to give all rural households the means to achieve sustainable productivity and income (Devereux & Guenther, 2007). After the Derg government was overthrown in 1991, the EPRDF government, under Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, reaffirmed the Derg’s decision to keep land in the hands of rural households. Despite this, there was a shift towards a market-oriented, Western-aligned democratic system for land ownership (Devereux & Guenther, 2007).
Today, forest products such as fuel wood are major sources of income for people living in rural areas such as Gambella, however, deforestation is occurring at an alarming rate across Ethiopia (Edwards, 2010b; Gebreegziabher & van Kooten, 2013; Getahun, Van Rompaey, Van Turnhout, & Poesen, 2013). The current government has established its environmental policies by signing international treaties to protect natural resources, reforming many older laws that scholars viewed as inefficient (Devereux & Guenther, 2007; Edwards, 2010), and hosting public-private workshops to promote sustainable development (World Tourism Organization, 2010). But strict enforcement of conservation policies is a challenge, especially given that approximately 84% of Ethiopia’s population lives in rural areas, and thus depends heavily upon local land and forest resources to meet basic needs (Devereux & Guenther, 2007; Edwards, 2010a).
Gambella is among the most underdeveloped and impoverished regions in Ethiopia. A few explanations for the underdevelopment are the remoteness of the area, internal conflicts amongst indigenous tribes, a history of clashes with Sudanese groups, and the lack of education (Young, 2013). However, Gambella is home to several tourist attractions that support the principles of ecotourism: preserving cultural and natural heritage (Ababa et al., 2012; Purdie, 2010b). Ecotourism attractions include the white-eared-kob, which undergoes a large-scale annual migration between southern Sudan and the Gambella region, as well as many rare species that maintain some of their only sustainable populations in Gambella. The region’s waterways also support the most diverse populations of fish species in Ethiopia (HoA-REC&N, 2013). Although the region has great potential to uphold a thriving ecotourism sector, the region, as well as Ethiopia as a whole, has lagged behind other ecotourism destinations like neighboring Kenya and Tanzania.
The tourism – and thus ecotourism – development strategy of Ethiopia has contributions from international, national, and local stakeholders. All members play critical roles, ranging from providing financial resources and setting developmental goals and principles to implementing and monitoring final plans. Analyzing these actors assists in understanding the current situation and how to advance sustainable development in the future.
Institutional Perspectives on Ecotourism in Ethiopia
Worldwide ecotourism has grown steadily over the past 20 years and international, national, and local institutions have emerged to create common practices and principles for the sector. In 2002, as set of goals and principles of ecotourism were formally ratified by the U.N. in Agenda 21, and outlined in the Quebec Declaration on Ecotourism (United Nations, 2002; World Tourism Organization & United Nations Environment Programme, 2002b). These governmental declarations sought to unite governments, international agencies, NGOs, tourism enterprises, representatives of local and indigenous communities, academic institutions, and individuals with an interest in ecotourism (World Tourism Organization & United Nations Environment Programme, 2002b). Bringing these major actors together allowed them to share information and identify some agreed-upon principles and priorities for the future development and management of ecotourism (World Tourism Organization & United Nations Environment Programme, 2002b).
Amongst the many principles and priorities, four of the major principles from the declarations have strongly influenced ecotourism development in Ethiopia to date. Together, the principles can be useful tools for informing future implementation of ecotourism development.
3.1. Principle 1: Ecotourism as a Source of Income for Many People
The first principle that members of the U.N emphasize is that ecotourism has the potential to contribute to poverty alleviation by involving local and indigenous communities. To help make itself more attractive for international tourism, the Ethiopian government has passed into law a set of policies to protect the natural resources that helped draw in approximately 523,000 tourists in 2011 (Mundi Index, 2013). Edwards provides an estimate of $77 million USD in 2008 and claims that the ecotourism industry in 2008 accounted for 20% of Ethiopia’s tourism industry (Edwards, 2010a). The Mundi Index values overall tourism revenues at about $1.2 billion USD in 2008 and nearly $2 billion USD in 2011, signifying the growth of the tourism industry. Though there are discrepancies in the data, ecotourism is able to provide economic growth for Ethiopia and aims to reduce the economic burden of rural people.
Currently, the majority of ecotourism enterprises in Ethiopia are located in the Rift Valley. As seen in Figure 1, the ecotourism destinations cluster around national parks (shaded in green) or towns that offer opportunities for trekking expeditions (hiking symbol); handcraft markets that feature local products (yellow shopping bag); cultural dance performances to share and promote Ethiopian’s culture (yellow mask); a tree planting that allows tourists to help reforest Ethiopia’s landscape (tree symbol); and other ecotourism destinations (green circle with a black dot). It is important to note that Gambella National Park, light green shading in the western part of Gambella, is rich in natural resources and offers many cultural experiences, yet does not have any developed ecotourism destinations.
An economic advantage to the Gambella region is that there is a large land base with a small population (Young, 2013a); Gambella has fewer than 300,000 inhabitants (Central Statistical Agency, 2007). With fertile soils and plentiful rainfall, subsistence and commercial agricultural production could be increased substantially. However, there are already conflicts between large-scale agricultural investments and the local population over productive land (Purdie, 2010). The non-profit Horn of Africa Regional Environment Centre and Network (HoA-REC&N) has partnered with the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority (EWCA) to create a task force to assess the wildlife present in the park and the impact of humans in the park. There is tension between development needs of the people and the conservation of natural resources. Hon. Omod Obang Olum, Gambella’s President, noted the urgency to find a balance between development and conservation: “There is a need to come up with a proposal which transforms the national park to the development activities…like tourism” (Purdie, 2010b). The capability of ecotourism to generate income for the population while preserving the habitat for wildlife may ease the tension and be a long-term solution for the park.
3.2. Principle 2: Ecotourism Contributes to the Conservation of both Natural and Cultural Heritage
Another key principle defined by the U.N. is that sustainable development through tourism includes the conservation and preservation of Earth’s ecosystems (World Tourism Organization & United Nations Environment Programme, 2002). Ethiopia’s government and private tourism sector have forged partnerships to address conservation goals through tourism, starting with the Global Impact Workshop of 2002, held in Addis Ababa. Out of this conference, a group of roughly twenty private tourism businesses in Ethiopia formed the Ecotourism Association of Ethiopia. Their mission statement calls upon Ethiopian businesses to assume leadership roles in working towards environmental rehabilitation (“Ecotourism Association of Ethiopia,” n.d.).
It should be noted that the two major funders of the Ecotourism Association of Ethiopia are organizations that focus on economic development: the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and Shell Ethiopia – an international branch of petroleum giant Royal Dutch Shell. Multiple scholars have written that economic development goals, particularly when driven by international actors, can conflict with both conservation efforts and local community welfare (Butcher, 2006b; Sandker, Ruiz-Perez, & Campbell, 2012b). Yet, the voluntary shift away from traditional tourism in favor of ecotourism exemplifies the Ethiopian tourism industry’s current willingness to simultaneously promote both conservation and economic development goals.
3.3. Principle 3: Ecotourism Represents an Economic Opportunity for Current Local Populations and for the Conservation/Sustainable Use of Nature for Future Generations
A third principle declared by the U.N. is that ecotourism must meet the needs of host countries and tourists while protecting the needs of future generations (United Nations, 1998; World Tourism Organization & UNEP, 2002b). Various scholars have hailed ecotourism development as being progressive for addressing the issue of long-term planning that meets future needs, and for addressing social issues such as poverty (Goodwin, 2000; Scheyvens, 2002; Fennel, 2003). This sustainable development planning is progressive because the modern development paradigm has been critiqued for ignoring local cultural views, or imposing western culture onto communities that would not choose it for themselves (McMichael, 2000). Many advocates present ecotourism as a counter to this “cultural arrogance” as being more responsive to local cultures, and as rooted in the desires of the people (Scheyvens, 2002; Butcher, 2006).
Further, the Quebec Declaration on Ecotourism asserts that ecotourism is able to strengthen, nurture, and encourage the community’s ability to maintain and use traditional skills, particularly in a sustainable manner UNEP, 2002a). Various partnerships have formed between international, national, and local actors to provide the resources necessary to meet ecotourism’s current and long-term goals. Ethiopia Community Tourism (ECT) is an umbrella group that markets community-based tourism destinations and enterprises in Ethiopia, and is a collaboration between various national and international NGOs, the private sector, the Ethiopian government, and the local population to promote ecotourism in Ethiopia (Table 1).
Starting with a five year USAID collaboration with Ethiopian Sustainable Tourism Alliance (ESTA); the German Frankfurt Zoological Society that preserves ecosystems; and the Tesfa organization receiving funding from the Irish, German, and British embassies to continue supporting local families and communities by supporting financial aid for development projects (“Ethiopia Community Tourism Partners,” n.d.-b), Ethiopia Community Tourism Partners is now the umbrella organization for international tourism funding. There has historically been a lack of funding for long term ecotourism investments (Bruner, Gullison, & Balmford, 2004). To address this issue, these various actors help provide financial resources to implement projects for long-term social and environmental sustainability.
3.4. Principle 4: Ecotourism Must Provide Comprehensive Information at All Stages
To coordinate long-term planning, Ethiopia Community Tourism Partners also strengthens the ecotourism industry by sharing information. Successful ecotourism development requires not only increasing the resources available, but also ensuring information-sharing to provide accountability and identify collaboration opportunities. The U.N. recognizes the importance of information sharing, which is why the final principle of ecotourism states that members must engage in a variety of activities – including partnering with the World Tourism Organization – to generate and release pertinent information for local and international stakeholders. The World Tourism Organization strengthens the industry by releasing reports that outline best practices, provide relevant statistics, and policy recommendations (World Tourism Organization, 2010). Within Ethiopia, the EAE represents the private sector coming together to strengthen their position and holding meetings to share information for members (“Ecotourism Association of Ethiopia,” n.d.). The workshops held for public-private partnerships offer an opportunity to share information and coordinate long-term development planning (Adimassu, Kessler, & Stroosnijder, 2013; World Tourism Organization, 2010).
Taken together, the U.N. principles of sustainable ecotourism and a review of existing literature on tourism in Ethiopia and Gambella suggest that ecotourism development must be carefully thought out and planned to meet economic and sustainability criteria. The international community already has partners within Ethiopia in support of sustainable development that can provide a source of income for the local population and conservation. If properly implemented, ecotourism might conceivably help protect and preserve the rich biodiversity of Gambella for current and future generations.
Methods
This paper explores opportunities to develop ecotourism in Gambella National Park, with a focus on key land features, ecosystems, and communities. Our methods included a comprehensive literature review and web searches to compile existing spatial data on ecotourism, land cover, and infrastructure in Gambella Region, followed by spatial analyses of the Gambella region. Further, we used aerial photographs, Bing maps, and land survey maps to identify locations of important and attractive landmarks, wildlife populations and migration routes, and current settlements to inform ongoing debates on appropriate locations for roads and other development. Land survey maps were scanned, digitized, and then compiled to identify potential opportunities for ecotourism development in Gambella.
We contribute to filling gaps in publicly available data by digitizing historic survey maps and compiling other resources on terrain, land cover, and population distributions critical to consider when developing ecotourism.
4.1. Digitizing Soviet-Era Elevation Maps
In order to have available land use information for development planning, land survey maps created during Ethiopia’s Soviet era were compiled and digitized to understand the region’s topography and existing environmental features. We georeferenced 27 individual survey maps using the open-source Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software QGIS-Lisboa. We then cropped and merged together the individual survey maps to create a single comprehensive map of the Gambella region. We then manually digitized over 3,000 elevation points, focused on the Gambella National Park region, to create a more detailed elevation layer and to estimate contour lines for the park. Identifying land elevation serves to clarify whether specific areas in Gambella National Park are accessible to tourists via motorized vehicle. Knowing the land features further allows insights into road planning to avoid areas likely to flood or areas where disturbance might be detrimental to hydrological cycles or the broader environmental integrity of the Park.
4.2. Systematic Settlement Identification
Next, we systematically identified current human settlements within the Gambella National Park and surrounding areas using Google Earth and Bing Maps high-resolution satellite imagery. We identified 156 villages and recorded the coordinates, area, and number of dwellings at each site. We traced the approximate perimeter of each settled area, and produced a series of settlement profiles, each consisting of two images at different resolutions: one broad image to place each settlement in the context of the surrounding land, and the other more focused to show details of local settlement patterns and available infrastructure (Figure 2).
Knowledge of the park’s human inhabitants gives valuable insight into how an increase in infrastructure will affect both humans and the environment. To facilitate sustainable economic growth for Gambella’s rural inhabitants, the placement of roads needs to meet environmental criteria while maximizing social and economic goals.

Figure 2. Broad (top) and detailed view (bottom) of a settlement in the Gambella Region.
4.3. Identifying Potential Ecotourism Areas of Interest
Finally, recent aerial photographs collected by the Horn of Africa Regional Environmental Collaborative & Network were analyzed in order to discover potential ecotourism sites. Images provide valuable information on locations attractive to park visitors, details of animal populations, migratory paths, and can preview current development around roads. Prioritizing these potential ecotourism sites to see which fit the criteria of sustainable development will be of utmost importance for future research.
5. Results
5.1. Summary of Existing Data
There is a variety of information that is freely available from open-source software that this paper collected and compiled on the Gambella Region. Information from OpenStreetMap (a free Wiki compiling user-generated data) is shown in Figure 3, and offers a number of layers – including current infrastructure, known towns or administrative areas, rough land cover – that might support ecotourism development.
One major drawback of this information is that there are gaps in data or it can be outdated. The lack of detailed information hinders the major actors’ abilities to fully consider and incorporate the environmental, economic, and social implications of ecotourism development. This creates an important demand for continual data collection and analysis.
5.2. Digital Terrain Mapping
The identification of land features, local populations, and potential ecotourism destinations in the park using land survey maps, aerial photography, and publicly available map layers enabled us to fill in gaps of data for future development planning for Gambella National Park and the nearby region.
5.2.1. Adding Elevation Information for Gambella National Park
Elevation points were identified using the digitized land survey map of Gambella National Park. After digitizing this information, contour lines were projected for the park. These contour lines show limited, gradual elevation gain across the entire area, with altitudes ranging from 394m to 430m. This relatively flat landscape features small scattered hills and is also segmented by various rivers that flow across the entire park.

Figure 3. Relevant ecotourism development information from open-source software (OpenStreetMap.org).

Figure 4. Contour lines (0.5m) depicting the elevation of Gambella National Park

Figure 5. Detailed view showing elevation points, contour lines, rivers, and land classification for Gambella
5.3. Evidence of Settlement Activity
Systematic village searches using Bing maps yielded 44 villages and 35 other settlements with no dwellings, which are displayed by red dots in Figure 6. As a whole, these identified settlements are located in proximity to Gambella National Park’s boundary, or are found within the park. There are several distinct clusters of settlements that were identified by this process. The first cluster of 21 villages along with 1 settlement devoid of dwellings was identified along the northern border of Gambella National Park, along the Baro River and its tributaries The second cluster is 12 villages identified at the park’s central border while the third is nine villages located in the southwestern region along the Sudanese border and Akobo River. Another large cluster of 20 villages and 4 non-residential settlements is outside the park’s central border along the Gilo River and highways. Finally, three additional villages lie along Ethiopia’s southern border.
Settlements identified cover a total area of approximately 2,750,000 square meters. The park contains 130 individual dwellings, 21 of which are located within park boundaries. This information is valuable because it fills in gaps of data for the Gambella region.
Bing detailed imagery is important to show the location, approximate population and size of settlements across Gambella. The data suggests that the settlements could be categorized by two broad types: densely compacted and widely dispersed. As seen in Figure 8, this densely populated settlement has 90 huts covering a concentrated area of 290,000 sq ft. Figure 9 demonstrated the latter type with approximately 100 total huts in small patchy groups across the larger region of 410,000 sq ft. This is crucial for infrastructure placement that will have to consider the ease of access to populations, while considering environmental impacts.
The identification and monitoring of settlements and other human activities such as farming and grazing is important to consider for planning development interventions with both ecological consequences and environmental impacts. To determine the gaps in data, this paper compared the identified settlements using Bing Maps and settlements located by open-source software OpenStreetMaps (Figure 6). The two layers would overlap each other if there were no gaps in data, since each would identify the same settlements. There are areas where the two layers both identify clustered settlements. Bing Maps identifies many settlements within Gambella National Park and along the park’s northern border that are not recognized in the OpenStreetMaps dataset.

Figure 6. Comparison of identified settlements using Bing and publicly recognized settlements by OpenStreetMap.

Figure 7. Detailed settlement view of a dense settlement using Bing imagery.

Figure 8: Detailed settlement view of a dispersed settlement using Bing imagery.
5.4. Proposed Ecotourism Sites
A systematic review of aerial photographs of the Gambella Region revealed 41 sites that might be suitable for ecotourism based on beauty of the land and ecosystem, presence of wildlife, and otherwise noteworthy features (Figure 7). Locations are spread throughout the Park – including natural features like rivers or watering holes – but also outside the park, including several large waterfalls, lakes and mountain ridges offering breathtaking views to tourists. Away from waterways, savannah grasslands are home to large mammals as well as migrating herds, such as the white-eared kob. With the locations and migration routes of such flagship species in mind, positions of roads and access points can be located to minimize harm to some of the park’s most recognizable and attractive wildlife.
6. Discussion
Ecotourism has a minimum amount of necessary infrastructure to reach destinations and settlements, while this infrastructure placement is associated with negative ecological effects to the environment. But through careful analysis a balance between development and conservation goals may be achieved.
Elevation data is critical for planning roads and other infrastructure. The data compiled for Western Gambella shows that this area of the region is extremely flat, with only 30 meters of elevation gain, which may impact development since flooding may be more widespread. The development of infrastructure in support of expanded tourism in Gambella National Park will also inevitably impact natural ecosystems. Irresponsible placement could also block migratory routes of herd animals, notably the white-eared kob, which is especially abundant in the region. Inadvertent interference with some of Gambella’s most vibrant ecological features through poor planning will negatively affect the region’s ecotourism potential.
Natural resources including timber and other forest products that many local communities rely upon for their livelihoods are additional important considerations in ecotourism and infrastructure planning. Because most of those living in and around Gambella National Park are largely isolated from outside resources, the ecological health in the region is paramount to protecting Gambella’s human population from detrimental economic and social consequences. In the longer term, new developments and increasing access to the region’s resources via roads designed for ecotourism also has the potential to drive increases in population, putting further strain on resources. As shown in this research, numerous settlements already place strains on the rich natural resources of the Region.
Infrastructure planning will have to consider the environmental, social, and economic factors associated with reaching these settlements. There are two main types of settlements identified: dense and dispersed. Dense settlements have huts concentrated over one main area and this may make infrastructure placement easier since a large population can be reached with one main road. Dispersed settlements have clusters of huts spread across a large area and the infrastructure necessary to reach the population will be higher than a dense settlement. Ecotourism should strive to reach the maximum amount of people with the lowest environmental cost, while also providing incentives for pro-environmental behaviors – such as denser settlements in already settled areas rather than more dispersed settlements in undisturbed and ecologically sensitive areas.
7. Policy Recommendations
The degradation of Ethiopia’s rich natural resources, the economic burden worsened by a continually growing population, and the impacts development has on indigenous and local peoples will continue to affect Ethiopia in the future. This creates the need for development that is innovative, integrative, and that can be sustained by locals and their partners. Based on the literature review and data presented, there is evidence to suggest ecotourism development may offer an opportunity to provide positive economic benefits, while minimizing the environmental and social impacts often associated with development in Ethiopia.
Following the U.N.’s principles of sustainable ecotourism, successful ecotourism development requires that major stakeholders consider environmental, sociocultural, and economic impacts of development. To incorporate these three factors into development plans, stakeholders should use publicly available information in addition to the information this paper synthesized. There are elevation points for the entire Gambella region that could be digitized and added to the elevation layer. Furthermore, this paper recommends that research institutions continue the application of GIS to areas of specific interest to better understand wildlife and human impacts. In addition, there needs to be continued data collection to monitor local population growth and settlement patterns.
There is already an established and growing institutional infrastructure in Ethiopia in which sustainable ecotourism development might occur. The partners under the umbrella organization Ecotourism Community Tourism represent a range of actors from international organizations to the Ethiopian private sector. These partners should collaborate to enhance the financial resources available for sustainable development and coordinate development plans to maximize the potential outcome. Local populations are important to a successful ecotourism industry and must be included in all levels of development planning.
Ethiopia has declared itself as a front-runner for a green economy that meets the challenges faced by global climate change (Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, 2011). In this context, ecotourism might reasonably be considered a key part of this national priority to balance development and conservation, and achieve sustainability goals.

Figure 9. Potential wildlife ecotourism sites for Gambella National Park based on aerial photography.

Figure 10. Potential geological ecotourism sites for Gambella National Park based on aerial photography.
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