Ethiopia harbours more than 30 species and subspecies of antelopes, many of them endemic or near endemic (i.e. with 70% or more of their range in the country). Antelopes inhabit a wide range of ecosystems in Ethiopia, including the Afromontane highlands, Danakil desert, Somali arid bush, Sudanian savannah and Gambella wetlands (part of the Sudd ecosystem). Ethiopia thus has one of the highest diversities of antelopes in Africa. To develop a conservation framework for these species, a stakeholder planning workshop was held in Addis Ababa during 23–25 September 2025. The workshop was co-organized by the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority and the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) Antelope Specialist Group, and funded by the St Louis Zoo Wildcare Institute, USA.

There were 60 participants, representing the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority, national parks, Addis Ababa and Hawassa universities, Ethiopian Conservation Thinktank, African Parks, Cheetah Conservation Fund, international donors (the German agency for international cooperation, GIZ, and the German state development bank, KfW), tourism and hunting sectors, and the SSC Antelope Specialist Group. The aims of the workshop were to update the status of antelopes in Ethiopia, assess threats, develop a roadmap for all species, and identify the species in most urgent need of conservation attention. The first part of the workshop comprised presentations on the current conservation status of several key species, followed by an update of the status of all species, a review of the principal threats along with their scope and severity, and development of a roadmap (including a long-term vision, goal and strategic objectives). The second part comprised a prioritization exercise to rank the importance of each taxon in terms of global threat status, endemism, national population share and other factors, and then to draft action plans for a first set of species. The Director General of the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority, Kumara Wajira, opened and closed the workshop. The five antelopes that were ranked most highly in terms of conservation priority, and for which action plans were drafted, were the mountain nyala Tragelaphus buxtoni, dibatag Ammodorcas clarkei, Swayne’s hartebeest Alcelaphus buselaphus swaynei, beisa oryx Oryx beisa and Nile lechwe Kobus megaceros. Action plans for the second set of priority species will be drafted in the next stage of the process.