Indigenous resource management practices in the Gamo Highland of Ethiopia: challenges and prospects for sustainable resource management

Assefa, Engdawork; Hans-Rudolf, Bork

doi:10.1007/s11625-017-0468-7

Cited by 22 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…The role of pastoralists' 'indigenous knowledge' on predicting weather conditions, especially extreme weather events and coping strategies, has been reported elsewhere (Kwanya 2014;Assefa and Hans-Rudolf 2017).…”

Section: Variable Sources Of Climate Change Information and Early Warmentioning

confidence: 98%

Climate change perception and impacts on cattle production in pastoral communities of northern Tanzania

2018

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This study examines pastoralists' perception on climate change and impacts on cattle production from ten study villages of Monduli District in Tanzania. This study drew empirical data from 130 cattle owners and 81 participants from focus group discussions in the study villages. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were used to analyze the data respectively. Findings from this study indicate that pastoralists are well aware of the general climate trends in their location, its variability and the impacts of extreme weather events on cattle production. The main climate changes perceived by pastoralists include more erratic and reduced amounts of rainfall, rise in temperature and prolonged and frequent periods of drought. Pastoralists mainly view population pressure and tree cutting as the major causes of climate change. Further, this study found that there are no existing climate risk programmes and early warning systems across the district. Importantly, pastoralists reported the negative impacts of climate change on cattle production. The severe recurrent drought periods result in shortage of forage and water, leading to cattle starvation and malnutrition. Pastoralists reported massive cattle deaths and outbreaks of diseases such as contagious bovine pleuropneumonia and tick-borne diseases. Further, reduction in milk production and poor livestock market prices were also reported as negative impacts on cattle production. Given the range of negative impacts of current climate change and extreme weather events on cattle production, the implications of climate change must be taken into account to ensure longer-term survival and sustainability of pastoralist communities through strengthening of climate risk awareness programs and early warning systems across the district. Further, this study recommends that government and non-governmental organizations should improve institutional support to pastoralists in order to help them deal with the negative impacts of climate change on livestock production.

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Section: Variable Sources Of Climate Change Information and Early Warmentioning

confidence: 98%

Climate change perception and impacts on cattle production in pastoral communities of northern Tanzania

2018

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“…The study was carried out in the Chencha catchment of the Gamo Highlands in Southern Nations, Nationalities and People's regional state of Ethiopia. It was located between 6°05′ N-6°35′ N and 37°30′ E-37°45′ E. The area rises up from the base of Lake Abaya at 1,100-3,250 masl over a distance of 20 km (Assefa and Hans-Rudolf, 2017;Coltorti et al, 2019). Located in the western part of the southern Ethiopian rift valley escarpment, the landscape of the Chencha highlands is characterized by flat plateaus bordered by steep slopes and dissected by concave valleys and gullies due to erosion of the volcanic sequence (Coltorti et al, 2019).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the Gamo Highlands, the local climate is strongly influenced by the complex terrain (Jury, 2014) and mainly associated with altitudinal gradients (Assefa and Hans-Rudolf, 2017;Berhanu et al, 2013). The mean annual temperature ranges between 23 °C and 14 °C and the mean annual rainfall between 750 mm https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-2019-78 Preprint.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…application of animal manure and household refuse; Elias et al, 1998;Tamire and Argaw, 2015;Tsgaye and Struik, 2002). However, supply of organic inputs is limited and mainly acquired from free-ranging cattle, which puts an additional strain of overgrazing on the already degraded grazing lands and fields (Amede and Taboge, 2007;Assefa and Hans-Rudolf, 2017;Garedew and Ayiza, 2018). Hence, the optimal use of scarce nutrient resources is vital, yet there are no recommendations on optimal nutrient management for enset gardens available to farmers (Amede and Taboge, 2007;Elias et al, 1998;Uloro and Mengel, 1994).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The soil fertility and leaf nutrient status in enset gardens in different altitude zones of the Gamo highlands, Ethiopia and inferences for Xanthomonas wilt prevalence

Shara

Swennen

Deckers

et al. 2019

Preprint

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Abstract. Enset (Ensete ventricosum) is a productive, drought-tolerant and multipurpose food security crop grown in the densely populated Ethiopian highlands. Its production suffers from poor soil fertility management and a bacterial wilt disease caused by the pathogen Xanthomonas campestris pv. musacearum. The aim of this study was to assess soil-plant-nutrient variation within enset home gardens over three different altitudes (ranging from 2000–3000 masl) in the Chencha catchment of the Gamo highlands and investigate whether this variation affects disease prevalence. Plant available P, Ca and Mg significantly increase with decreasing elevation but significantly decline with distance from the house. In addition, soil pH, conductivity, total organic carbon (TOC), total N, available K, Mn and Fe levels significantly decline with distance from the house. This indicates that soil fertility factors are influenced by both agro-ecology and farmers' management practices. Moreover, most nutrients reach very high levels in the garden whereas the more distant outfields are severely nutrient deprived. Plant nutrient levels are not correlated to soil nutrient levels except for N. Twenty two percent of the studied farms are symptomatic for bacterial wilt and its prevalence increases with decreasing elevation. Symptomatic gardens have a higher soil pH and available P, K and Ca levels. We conclude that soil fertility management in enset gardens should be optimized in relation to agro-ecological conditions and that both elevation and soil nutrient status need to be considered when developing strategies to curb the current Xanthomonas wilt epidemic.

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“…Results suggest the variable food security outcomes between industrial crop growers (intervention group) and non-industrial crop growers (control groups). Assefa and Bork (2017) highlight different ILK practices adopted in the Gamo Highland of Ethiopia to manage agricultural land, forests, woodland, grazing land and soil resources. They identify how these ILK practices are embedded in the local culture and have allowed local communities to survive under adverse environmental conditions for centuries.…”

Section: Aims and Structure Of The Special Featurementioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability science for meeting Africa’s challenges: setting the stage

et al. 2017

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Indigenous resource management practices in the Gamo Highland of Ethiopia: challenges and prospects for sustainable resource management

Cited by 22 publications

References 32 publications

Climate change perception and impacts on cattle production in pastoral communities of northern Tanzania

Climate change perception and impacts on cattle production in pastoral communities of northern Tanzania

The soil fertility and leaf nutrient status in enset gardens in different altitude zones of the Gamo highlands, Ethiopia and inferences for Xanthomonas wilt prevalence

Sustainability science for meeting Africa’s challenges: setting the stage

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