Who we areWho we are
Lem, the Environment & Development Society of Ethiopia (Lem Ethiopia) is a citizenís movement on environment & sustainable development established in March 1992 and officially launched in June 1992 on the occasion of the celebration of the World Environment Day at UNECA conference hall where the then President and now Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and other national and international officials delivered keynote address and messages (the message is available in the publications part). The event was initiated by Lem Ethiopia which was the first time to celebrate World Environment Day at higher level in Ethiopia
Mission statement
Lem Ethiopiaís mission is to promote sustainable development and the improvement of the livelihood of the people through the promotion of conscious and deliberate actions by Ethiopian citizens.
Objectives
LEM Ethiopia inspired by the overall concepts of sustainable development, which zeros in achieving economic and social goals, has the following fundamental objectives. To enhance rational participation of the people in management & sustainable use of natural resources, Play leading role to encourage those individuals, groups & organizations that support for the conservation of natural resources & appropriate utilization of the resources to integrate their efforts.
Organizational principles and values
Promoting sustainable development: the organization is committed to and engaged in the promotion of sustainable development practices among its target groups.Popular participation: Lem believes in equality of commitment and involvement of people at all stages of the development process and considers participation as the corner stone to success. Empowerment: Lem up-holds the concept of people's empowerment as an integral part of development process that is based on self-reliance.
Strategic Objectives
Sustainable development should be peopleís day to day concern and action to come out of poverty and to attain sustainable livelihood. To do this the creation of aware, voluntary, & action oriented grass root movement is very essential. Thus, based on the existing situation it has become evident that action oriented environmental awareness development, promoting grass-roots sustainable livelihood and education in general and specifically environmental/natural resources management education/ awareness creation play a paramount role in the course of addressing problems of environment and development by enhancing rational community participation. However, Ethiopia has done little in this respect for different reasons. Some of the major factors leading to such under accomplishment include:
