Community Resource Uses and Ethiopian Wolf Conservation in Mount Abune Yosef

Abstract

People who perceive economic benefits and enjoy unrestricted access to natural resources tend to support ecosystem conservation efforts. Our study explores whether this remains true in remnant patches of Afroalpine ecosystem in North Ethiopia, where communal land provides valuable natural resources for the local communities and also sustain small populations of the endangered Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis). Questionnaires were designed to assess ecological and socio-economic characteristics of the livelihoods of the Amhara people living in Mount Abune Yosef and their attitudes toward Afroalpine and Ethiopian wolf conservation. Of the 120 households interviewed, selected randomly from across eight villages, 80 % benefited from natural resources by grazing their livestock and harvesting firewood and grasses. The majority (90 %) also suffered from livestock predation by Ethiopian wolves and common jackals (Canis aureus) and crop raiding by geladas (Theropithecus gelada), birds, and rodents, yet more than half reported a positive attitudes toward Ethiopian wolves (66 %). People with positive attitudes tended to live close to the communal land, to own more livestock, and to be unaffected by conflict. Many also recognized the need to protect the Afroalpine habitats of Abune Yosef (71 %), and this attitude predominated among the literate, households that owned land, had smaller herds and were further away. We discussed how people’s attitudes were modulated by human-wildlife conflicts and by the benefits derived from the access to natural resources in communal land, and the implications for the conservation of Afroalpine ecosystem and the flagship Ethiopian wolf.

Ethiopian wolves conflict with pastoralists in small Afroalpine relicts

“…The Aboi Gara range in northern Ethiopia is vitally important for the livelihoods of local pastoralists which graze their livestock and collect firewood and building materials in Afroalpine habitats (Eshete et al., ). We detected relatively low levels of livestock predation by wild carnivores in this Afroalpine range, but this carried an important economic cost to local households and poses a threat to Ethiopian wolves.…”

“…Aboi Gara, in North Wollo, is a small Afroalpine range (4,008 m a.s.l.) in the northern highlands of Ethiopia, loosely connected by narrow ridges with the larger Abuna Yosef massif (Figure ) (Eshete et al., ). Annual average rainfall is 2,000 mm, with a long rainy season (“ Meher ”) from June to September and a short rainy season (“ Belg ”) from February to April; mean annual temperature ranges from 7.5 to 11°C, with extreme variations between day and night (ESP, ).…”

“…Ethiopian wolves and the communities living next to them compete directly for natural resources upon which both depend. The people of the highlands engage in subsistence agriculture and livestock rearing, relying on natural Afroalpine habitats for pastures, firewood and building materials (Ashenafi & Leader‐Williams, ; Eshete et al., ; Jacob et al., ). With rapidly increasing human populations in the highlands (Taddese, ), habitat loss and degradation are impacting upon the populations of rodent prey, challenging the wolves to adapt to an anthropogenic landscape (Ashenafi et al., ; Stephens, D'Sa, Sillero‐Zubiri, & Leader‐Williams, ).…”

Foraging ecology of African wolves ( Canis lupaster ) and its implications for the conservation of Ethiopian wolves ( Canis simensis )

“…At fewer than 500 individuals, the EW is the rarest canid in the world [5]. Restricted to several enclaves of Afro-alpine habitats, small EW populations are highly vulnerable to extinction, particularly because of habitat loss as well as rabies and canine distemper virus outbreaks stemming from interactions with local domestic animals [6,7].…”

Rediscovering a forgotten canid species

“…There are no data on distribution patterns for the African wolf in recent times and African wolf is still cited as golden jackal in recent publications [50]. However, the geographic range of golden jackal in Africa given by IUCN [48] may be considered as the potential range of the African wolf (Fig.…”