Ethiopia’s only botanical garden is working hard to conserve and promote indigenous plant species, with help from the Provision of Adequate Tree Seed Portfolio project and World Agroforestry.

Gullele Botanical Garden expanded its nursery and raised over 60,000 seedlings of various indigenous plant species as part of a 1-year project, 2020–2021, supported by World Agroforestry (ICRAF) and the Provision of Adequate Tree Seed Portfolio (PATSPO) project, which is funded by the Norwegian Government.

Established on 705 hectares in 2009, Gullele Botanical Garden is one of a kind in Ethiopia. A joint venture of Addis Ababa University and Addis Ababa City Administration, the Garden was established with four major objectives: conservation, research, education and ecotourism. Currently, it holds 1200 samples of Ethiopia’s estimated 6500 plant species.

The Botanical Garden presented a proposal to ICRAF Ethiopia to implement a project in two parts. During the first part of the PATSPO-supported project, the Garden raised seedlings of 26 indigenous plant species and expanded its nursery while in the second part it collected 18 endemic plant species from different parts of Ethiopia that are in the ‘threatened’ category of the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and planted them in the Garden. Both parts of the project were implemented in parallel.

Speaking about how he came up with the idea, Sebsebe Demissew, who initially proposed the project and was coordinator on ICRAF-PATSPO’s side, said, ‘Most of the plants planted in Addis Ababa are exotic species. We have indigenous as well as endemic species that can replace them and can be planted as hedges or living fences as well as for ornamental purposes. We also wanted to introduce native plants to our people, especially to children who have never seen most of these before. We wanted to promote such species because we wanted the people to appreciate them and to plant them in the future once they know them.’

An important part of the project was the establishment of a new nursery next to an existing one that was only 0.8 hectare. It was not large enough to propagate sufficient seedlings to provide for Addis Ababa City Administration’s planting needs. PATSPO’s support enabled the Garden to expand its nursery to nearly 3 hectares.

Seedlings of 26 selected indigenous plant species, the seeds of which are in high demand, were raised as part of the project to produce more seed to help meet that demand. They include trees, shrubs and herbs, which are economically and ecologically important or critically endangered, as well as endemic plant species.

‘A few of the selected plant species couldn’t germinate,’ noted Demissew. ‘Why didn’t these species germinate? The Garden needs to carry out research on this. But during the implementation of the project, we replaced these species with other species and fulfilled the target of raising seedlings of 26 native species.’

According to Birhanu Belay, director of the Research Programs Directorate at the Garden, propagating some of the selected species was a challenge.

‘Most of the selected plant species are different from the species that are mostly raised in Ethiopia and they were difficult to propagate,’ said Belay. ‘Some of them were propagated by cutting using vegetative propagation. Such efforts also involved the use of the existing greenhouse at Gullele Botanical Garden. You cannot find the seedlings of some of these species anywhere else in the country. The project gave us the opportunity to raise seedlings of these species by providing the money we needed.’

The collection of specimens and expansion of the nursery have opened a new era for the Garden.

‘We see the implementation of this project as a new chapter for Gullele Botanical Garden,’ said Belay. ‘Now there is no turning back. Whether we get some other organizations’ support or not, we will continue raising such seedlings as we have already established a new nursery.’

Over 60,000 seedlings were raised in the year. Forty-one thousand were provided to Addis Ababa City Administration for planting in various parts of the city and to replace some exotic plant species.

In parallel with this first part of the project, Gullele Botanical Garden also implemented the second part and established in-situ and ex-situ conservation stands of 14 endemic plant species in the nature reserve forest of the Garden.

According to Talemos Seta, who is a lead researcher at the Garden and who was in charge of the second part, 18 endemic plant species were selected for collection and planting. They were selected based on their endemicity, their Red List conservation status and taking into consideration the similarity of the agroecology, climate and altitudinal range in which the plants grow.

‘Based on the GPS coordinates prepared by the National Herbarium, we identified the locations where these endemic species were registered,’ said Seta. ‘And we travelled to six different parts of the country. We were able to collect 14 of the 18 endemic species proposed by the project to be planted in the Garden. Whenever we found many of the selected plant species, we uprooted some and brought them back. In total, 592 individuals of these 14 species were planted on half a hectare of cleared land in the Garden. And 90% percent of them have survived.’

As Seta explained, it was not easy to collect the plants.

‘We learnt a lot from this project,’ he said. ‘There were many challenges during the arduous field trips. At times, we had to stop our vehicle and walk long distances, sometimes for over three hours and in the rain.’

Over 10 percent of the floristic composition of the Garden is endemic to Ethiopia. Most of the plant species conserved are locally and internationally threatened, based on the Red List.

According to Sebsebe Demissew, the Garden’s plan is not only to plant and conserve but also to raise their seedlings and distribute them so that they are planted by the people and in this way will be less endangered.

Demissew further said, ‘Rather than just planting them in the Botanical Garden, planting such species in schools and in different parts of the city can serve for educational purposes,’ he said. ‘If we let the people know that they are threatened species, Government officials, students and researchers could get to know them. That is very important to conserve them.’