Abstract & Overview
Mekelle is the economic, cultural and social centre of northern Ethiopia.Its area and population, following a period of slow growth, both expanded rapidly in the 1980s to the 2010s.Consequent on a series of droughts and famines in the early 1970s efforts were made to prevent the degradation of the local environment by terracing steep hillsides and planting trees as anti-erosion measures.In the long term these tentatives were less than completely successful.Vegetation in church compounds at that time wasand still is --an important green area and was partially representative of the historic vegetation of the area.Areas of food crops cultivation close to the town make a considerable contribution to the city's green environment.Home gardens and trees planted by individuals and households are the principal (and largely unconscious) sources of amelioration of the Urban Heat Island effect.Areas nominally designated as green spaces by the city administration remain unconnected and largely undeveloped.Several problems relating to finance, competence, implementation and choice of green species need to be overcome before Mekelle becomes a "green" city.