As Ethiopia’s war rages, a 400-year-old conservation site is scarred by battle

[UngulateNerd92]

• A major fire has burned more than 1,000 hectares (nearly 2,500 acres) of grassland in the Guassa Community Conservation Area in Ethiopia’s central highlands.
• The area is among the oldest examples of community-managed conservation in Africa, centered on preserving the Festuca grass that is used for thatching roofs.
• The grasslands are also home to endangered Ethiopian wolves and gelada baboons, and more recently have become a favored ecotourism site.
• It’s still unclear what triggered the blaze, but the area was the site of a battle in Ethiopia’s ongoing civil war in late November.

A major fire has burned more than 1,000 hectares, or nearly 2,500 acres, of grassland in the Guassa Community Conservation Area of Ethiopia. While any long-term impacts are yet to be assessed, the fire — which coincided with a local battle in Ethiopia’s ongoing civil war — is the most severe damage in 40 years to this unique conservation area that sits 260 kilometers (160 miles) north-northeast of the capital, Addis Ababa.

Satellite imagery from NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) shows a cluster of fires burning across Guassa from Nov. 18-22.

https://news-mongabay-com.cdn.amppr...d-conservation-site-is-scarred-by-battle/amp/