Ethiopia

Ethiopia’s terrain is a high plateau with central mountains divided by the Great Rift Valley. Lake Tana in the northwest is the source of the Blue Nile, which is the Nile River’s chief headstream by volume. Most of the country is used for human activities, in its majority by rangeland. Ethiopia has high biodiversity rarity of terrestrial land vertebrates at a global scale. When analysed as single taxons, the rarity of amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles is also high. Challenges to biodiversity include deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification; water insecurity; and air, water, and soil pollution.