Ethiopia is a country with immense natural resources potential including, among others, agricultural produce, minerals, wildlife and water. Man made and nature driven challenges however made it difficult to the Ethiopian people not to enjoy this national wealth. There is an miproved awareness of the multi faceted challenges facing the country. It is good to note that political, social and economic initivatives that will positively influence changes have started to emerge. One of these positive moves is the increased public and individual awareness on the issue of environment.

Ethiopia is an ancient country practicing crop cultivation for centuries. As a consequence and because of polulation growth coupled with changing climatic conditions over the past several decades, environmental degradation has drastically affected the nautral resources and socio-economic infrastructure of the country, It is worth while to consider the environmental challenges of Ehtiopia in the rural and urban stetting.

In the rural setting, massive deforestation and de-vegetation takes place for want of cultivable land to accommodate the increasing rural population. This has exposed the soil for wind and running water erosions thus depleting the soil nutrients. Timber, lumber and other forest product demands of the urban centers are also a major cause for deforestation in Ethiopia.