In the northern highlands of Ethiopia, patchy remnants of old-aged Afromontane forests can be found around the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Churches (EOTC). These forests are sanctuaries for different plants and animals that have disappeared in most parts of northern Ethiopia. Studies and documented information on their bio-physical features and socio-economic setting are either scanty or totally lacking. Vegetation and socio-economic surveys were carried out in eight of the church forests in the North Gonder Administrative Zone, Northern Ethiopia to record * the size, * standing stock and plant diversity of the forests, * regeneration status of woody plants, * the role of the EOTC in the conservation of the forests, * the benefits to churches from the forests, * histories of the church forests, * attitudes of local communities and stakeholders towards the church forests and * strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats from EOTC in the conservation of the forest resources. Recommendations that could enhance the role of EOTC in the conservation of forest resources and their associated biodiversity are suggested.

This paper considers how to achieve equitable water governance and the flow-on effects it has in terms of supporting sustainable development, drawing on case studies from the international climate change adaptation and governance project (CADWAGO). Water governance, like many other global issues, is becoming increasingly intractable (wicked) with climate change and is, by the international community, being linked to instances of threats to human security, the war in the Sudanese Darfur and more recently the acts of terrorism perpetuated by ISIS. In this paper, we ask the question: how can situations characterized by water controversy (exacerbated by the uncertainties posed by climate change) be reconciled? The main argument is based on a critique of the way the water security discourse appropriates expert (normal) claims about human-biophysical relationships. When water challenges become increasingly securitized by the climate change discourse it becomes permissible to enact processes that legitimately transgress normative positions through post-normal actions. In contrast, the water equity discourse offers an alternative reading of wicked and post-normal water governance situations. We contend that by infusing norm critical considerations into the process of securitization, new sub-national constellations of agents will be empowered to enact changes; thereby bypassing vicious cycles of power brokering that characterize contemporary processes intended to address controversies.

This paper considers how learning for transformation of water governance in the context of climate change adaptation can be designed for and supported, drawing examples from the international climate change adaptation and water governance project (CADWAGO). The project explicitly set out to design for governance learning in the sense of developing elements of social infrastructure such as workshops, performances and online media to bring stakeholders together and to facilitate co-learning of relevance to governance. CADWAGO drew on a variety of international cases from past and ongoing work of the project partners. It created a forum for dialogue among actors from different contexts working at different levels and scales. The range of opportunities and constraints encountered are discussed, including the principles and practicalities of working with distributed processes of design and leadership of events. A range of concepts, tools and techniques were used to consider and facilitate individual and collective learning processes and outcomes associated with water governance in the context of climate adaptation. Questions were addressed about how elements of past, present and future water governance thinking and practice are connected and how multi-level systemic change in governance can take place. Some reflections on the effectiveness of the design for learning process are included. The nature of the contribution that projects such as CADWAGO can make in learning for transformation of water governance practices is also critically considered.