Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries 2015; 4(3): 123-137 Published online June 4, 2015 (http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/aff) doi: 10.11648/j.aff.20150403.18 ISSN:2328-563X (Print); ISSN:2328-5648 (Online) The Contribution of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church in Forest Management and Its Best Practices to be Scaled up in North Shewa Zone of Amhara Region, Ethiopia Abiyou Tilahun 1, *, Hailu Terefe 1, Teshome Soromessa 2 1Department of Biology, College of Natural Science, Debre Berhan University, Debre Berhan, Ethiopia 2Department of Environmental Science, Science faculty, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Email address:
[email protected] (A. Tilahun) To cite this article: Abiyou Tilahun, Hailu Terefe, Teshome Soromessa. The Contribution of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church in Forest Management and Its Best Practices to be Scaled up in North Shewa Zone of Amhara Region, Ethiopia. Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries . Vol. 4, No. 3, 2015, pp. 123-137. doi: 10.11648/j.aff.20150403.18 Abstract: This research was conducted in selected moasteries of Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOTC) in North Shewa zone. The main objective of the study is to identify main constraints which hinder the society to learn from religious instituions and apply the best practices and habit of experiences on forest conservation. Accordingly six monasteries were selected at different altitudes and sites purposively. Once the study forest areas were identified, 10 X 10 m quadrats were laid systematically in the forests for vegetation sampling. For the socioeconomic survey, 112 individuals were selected. Moreover, focus group discussion and key informant interviews were employed. Church forests enveloped in this study have an area ranging from 1.6 ha to 100 ha.