The integration of economic development and environmental management has become a major concern for society, businesses and governments, especially during the past century. A desk review was carried out to examine the various forest resource management systems used in Ethiopia over the past half century. Forest resources in Ethiopia have been managed with different intentions and motivations at different times; these management systems can be broadly categorized by prominent resource management paradigms, like frontiers economics, deep ecology, environmental protection, resource management, and eco-development. Three main forest development periods are identified: pre-derge environmental protection, derge regime environmental protection and frontiers economics, and postderge resource management and environmental protection. We suggest that for long-term sustainable forest management to succeed, a combination of resource management and eco-development paradigms should be promoted.

Promoting ecotourism through the protection of the environment can improve the livelihood of the local community and used as a tool for participatory biodiversity conservation. Ecotourism can help to create jobs for local community and market for local products where by contributing to sustainable conservation of natural resources. The main objective of this study is to assess the opportunities and challenges of Borena-Saynt National Park for the development of community-based ecotourism that enables to diversify the livelihood of the people and for sustainable natural resource management. Social survey research methodologies were adopted to assess essential data and analyzed qualitatively. The result showed that, a combination of wonderful scenery, diversified wildlife and plant species, amazing caves and culture of the local community makes Borena-Saynt National Park potentially rich for the development of ecotourism. Land degradation, shortage of animal forage and grazing land, low fertility of the soil, scarcity of cultivable land and absences of off-farm activities are among the critical socioeconomic problems of the local community that pose pressure on the park. Development of ecotourism program, diversifying the livelihood of the local community, introducing alternative sources of energy, launching afforestation on the buffer zone, animal forage development will help for sustainable natural resource management of the park by improving the well-being of the local community.

Descriptive survey research has been employed to assess the major factors which affect the adoption of fuel efficient stoves in the rural households around Borena-Saynt national park. Data were collected from 248 randomly selected household heads using a structured questionnaire and from 22 purposively selected key informants for FGD. The findings revealed that the prominent source of fuel is wood followed by animal dung and shrubs; the sources are own plantation and kebelle forests. Modern energy efficient stoves are not common in the study area due to financial constraint (66.7%) and lack of access (25.9%). Chi-square test and binary logistic regression model results reveal that income level of the household head (χ 2 = 64.914, N= 248, df =1, V=0.512, OR=23.7 and p < .001) and educational level of husband (χ 2 = 60.514, N=232, df =1, V=0.511,OR=11.3 and p < .001) are found to be the major variables which increases the propensity of stove adoption. The independent t-test shows statistically significant difference (t=12.063, N=248, df =246, p<0.001) in the average time spent weekly by stove users and non-users. One sample t-test result reveal that local residents do have positive attitude on the benefits of fuel efficient stoves. Both governmental and non-governmental organizations have to take their part in making stoves available to users. Concerned bodies should also see fuelwood plantation projects in degraded lands and agroforestry practices as well as biogas energy as another option.

Gender is among the determinant factors affecting students' academic achievement. This paper tried to investigate the impact of gender on academic performance of preparatory secondary school students based on 2014 EHEECE result. Ex post facto research design was used. To that end, data were collected from 3243 students from eight purposively selected schools. The analysis has been undertaken quantitatively using independent samples t-test, one sample t-test, Pearson correlation coefficient, Chi-square test, ANOVA and linear multiple regression. The findings revealed that there is statistically significant difference between male and female students favoring the former. Sample mean is statistically higher than regional and zonal mean scores. A statistically significant difference among sampled schools has been observed. Younger students have scored significantly higher result than the older ones. The proportion of male students in the upper achieving groups was significantly higher than females and the opposite was true for low achieving groups. More effort is needed by concerned bodies so as to narrow the gender disparity. Furthermore, additional studies should be conducted to investigate the performance differences among schools.