Hawassa University's Senate Executive Committee (SEC) endorsed the establishment of Forestry Knowledge Management Center (FKMC) at its Wondogenet College of Forestry and Natural Resources on May 30, 2025.

The SEC endorsement is a progressive decision following the high level official discussions and MoU signing between Hawassa University and Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in November, 2024, to collaborate on the FKMC establishment and the preparations undertaken there after.

This initiative is supported by the Ethiopian Forestry Development as part of its REDD+ Phase II Project. In addtion to suplying the center with required technical equipment, EFD engaged CIFOR to provide technical support in the establishment and operationalization of the Center.

The goal of establishing FKMC at WGCF-NR is to lay the foundation for making the college the go-to-place in Ethiopia for forestry issues by establishing a national center for knowledge management, forestry data archiving and retrieving. It is believed that this will support national efforts in making data, information and knowledge in forestry easily accessible to users, and greatly assist the college’s endeavors of becoming a Digital Campus in forestry education and training.

Moreover, the Center enhances the college’s commitment to support and work to fulfill the national Green Legacy Initiative (GLI) objectives through providing platforms to exchange good practices and experiences by renowned professionals.

With the establishment of this centre, WGCFNR aspires to be a ’third party verifier’ and establishing more carbon mitigation instruments that could help incentivize private sector involvement and investment in Voluntary Carbon Marketing (VCM) projects. It has been noted that the immense potential rewards of embracing VCMs offer a unique opportunity for Africa to contribute substantively to global climate objectives while advancing its own development, improving environmental quality and resilience agendas despite the challenges.