EARTH ART STUDIO
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WHAT'S NEXT 2024
MAINTAINING AND BUILDING LIVING ARTWORKS now and into the future, increasing community and nature care benefits

For 2024 Geleta Aman, youth and digital trainer, is continuing to work with ROBA to promote the adoption and implementation of future living artworks within Kofele and the local regional area. With Geleta's support there is increased conversations about habitat restoration and the possibility of renewed ecologies as well as social-cultural activities that can stem from this work.

In this video clip hear Geleta speak and reflect on what has been achieved to date and how maintenance of the current projects can assist in enabling the living artworks to flourish and remain of benefit to local communities. 

A proposal to increase Nature Care and Community Benefit
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 Geleta Aman with ROBA are in discussions to possibly increase the conservation efforts in Bale Mountain National Park through the planting of set of living artworks featuring the Ethiopian Black Lion and the endangered simien fox. Of note, the Ethiopian simien fox or wolf, is the rarest canid on earth and is also Africa's most endangered carnivore. The Bale Mountain National park is  a vital habitat for the Ethiopian Black Lion and  simien foxes.

Given that the park itself is critically a destination for many local, national and international visitors to observe Ethiopian highland wildlife and flora, there is an aspiration that the living artworks can be a site to encourage all to learn more about the diverse ecologies found throughout the park and beyond its borders. By combining art and conservation and raising awareness of resources this proposal is attempting to further habitat restoration, whilst balancing economic and environmental sustainability legacies between local and visitor use and to that of Nature care.

The 
Bale Mountain National Park's resources and geology also plays a key role in supporting other communities outside of the park including agropastoralists. The parks may rivers, lakes and underground water resources offer vital hydrology that gives life to crops, offers drinking water to communities and helps sustain a wide range of ecosystems many kilometres away.

Current discussions at the park include addressing how communities may be possibly involved in the organization of tree planting activities around the living art installations, symbolizing the importance of reforestation and habitat preservation for the lion and the wild fox. It is truly hoped that by providing  locals with direct opportunities to participate with reforestation, a wider sense of engagement, ownership and pride in supporting one's own natural heritage can be even further fostered with communities. Co-ownership and co-stewardship of the land between the park and wider Oromia communities is very much at the heart of this endeavour, since locals and agropastoralists have often in the past been left out of the park's conservation efforts to date.
 

More news about this project proposal will continue over the next months. ​Please reach out if you feel you can help with funding or other resources here to help increase opportunities to increase living artworks in Ethiopia.
RESOURCES 

Bale Mountain National Park, Ethiopia
https://balemountains.org/​
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/111/​
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More about the Simen fox / Ethiopian Wolf 

https://www.awf.org/wildlife-conservation/ethiopian-wolf
https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Canis_simensis/​
https://theconversation.com/battling-to-save-the-ethiopian-wolf-africas-rarest-carnivore-76328
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​About Rural Organization for the Betterment of Agropastoralists (ROBA) | Ethiopia

​ROBA was established as a non-profit in 1999 by Kofele elders and community stakeholders. The organization's mandate is to respond to the challenges and root causes of poverty, and expand services to rural communities in order to reduce inequalities and improve the lives of women, children and youth, particularly in the Oromia region of Ethiopia. Key organizational areas of specialised delivery include (1) poverty reduction through economic empowerment in agricultural and natural resource management, (2) creation of education and literacy programs (3) promotion of climate adaptation learning to (4) gender/women's rights, and (5) development of emergency response programs to natural and/or health disasters.  

ROBA's successes since its establishment have included building 24 education centres,  2 medical health clinics, creating a network of over 60 km of road systems to connect remote communities together, establishing 85 trade co-operatives, and supporting the establishment and operation of a network of specialized independent credit unions to serve the banking needs of agropastoralists.
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Rural Association for Betterment of Agropastoralists
http://robaethiopia.org
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Who’s behind the project?
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​Trees for Life project has been supported by the British Council’s Creative Commissions 2021 programme.
This was a series of creative commissions exploring climate change through art, science and digital technology for presentation at COP26.

Trees for Life continues (2021 - to present, now under the name 'Living Artworks') as an active artists-community collaboration and illustrates that land rehabilitation doesn’t need to be expensive. We understand the benefit of trees to the land and that people can assist in creating better soils and future-proofing sites from climate issues by planting trees.

Living Artworks and Tree Circles also highlights that sustainability is dependent on the motivation and generosity of citizens, communities, artists, and scientists working together to redefine the challenges of climate change and to foster the next generation with the idea that we can make an impact through climate art and other creative approaches.

Living Artworks and Tree Circles project are co-led by climate design and media artists, Sylvia Grace Borda (Canada) and J.Keith Donnelly (UK) together with partners Ethiopia (ROBA – Rural Organisation for the Betterment of Agro-Pastoralists ) in the UK (Dundee UNESCO City of Design, Dundee City Council, Scotland),  and Canada (Institute for Sustainable Horticulture, Kwantlen Polytechnic University) to creatively respond to global issues of climate change.  ​
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How to cite this project

Borda, S., Donnelly, JK, Watta, H, Aman, G  Bashir, N.   2020.  Living artworks.   Educational Resource [web and print].  Funded by the British Council Creative Climate Commission for COP26.   These materials are under creative commons licence CC By SA. 

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  • Home
  • Trees for Life
    • The Project
    • Creating Living Artworks
    • Satellite Images
    • Tree Nursery
    • Field Notes from ROBA
    • Youth reflections
    • Climate reflections
    • Elder Knowledge
    • Acknowledging Indigenous Rights
    • Oromo tree circle
    • The Lion
    • Adopt a Tree
    • Celebrations
    • What's Next 2023
    • What's Next 2024
    • Symposium
  • TREE CIRCLES
    • Plant Graffiti
    • TREE CIRCLES
    • Contributors
    • Gullele National Botanic Garden
    • Venice Biennale
  • Internet of Nature
    • Internet of Nature
    • COP26
    • City of Dundee
  • Exhibition kits
    • Exhibition kits
    • Resources
    • Tree stories making the news
  • About Us