2.2.3 Environmental Policy

The Environmental Policy of Ethiopia (EPE), issued in 1997, goes beyond the statement of high-level policy to include implementation and regulatory aspects. Its overall goal (FDRE, 1997) is:

• to improve and enhance the health and quality of life of all Ethiopians and to promote sustainable social and economic development through the sound management and use of natural, human-made and cultural resources and the environment as a whole so as to meet the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

To support this goal, the EPE sets out 19 key principles, which include the following:

• Every person has the right to live in a healthy environment.
• The development, use and management of renewable resources shall be based on sustainability.
• The use of non-renewable resources shall be minimised and where possible their availability extended (e.g. through recycling).
• Appropriate and affordable technologies which use renewable and non-renewable resources efficiently shall be adopted, adapted, developed and disseminated.

The EPE also defines policies for ten separate environmental sectors covering soil and agriculture, forest and woodland, biodiversity, water, energy, minerals, human settlement, industrial waste, climate change and cultural heritage.