Africa needs a new approach that combines indigenous knowledge and self-reliance to step up efforts to conserve the continent's natural resources and environment, agricultural researcher Dr. Tsedeke Abate told Sputnik Africa on the occasion of International Day for Biological Diversity, observed annually on May 22.
"More needs to be done than what we are witnessing at present as regards conserving our natural resources and the whole environment. There needs to be a new thinking," noted the researcher, who is an ex-director general of the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research.
The expert also emphasized the importance of international cooperation in the area of resource and nature conservation.
"There is lots to be gained by bringing together as many initiatives as possible […] coordination is key," he said.
As BRICS leads global tree-planting efforts, Ethiopia has a growing role in climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation, Tsedeke added.
"There are lots of lessons that Ethiopian and African agriculture has learned from Russia over the last 5+ decades of doing agricultural development," he also pointed out.