Management of Mountain Environments and Genetic Erosion in Tropical Mountain Systems: The Ethiopian Example

Egziabher, Tewolde Berhan Gebre

doi:10.2307/3673616

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Ecological studies of the Bale Mountain's focused on documenting the biodiversity, fauna, and flora of the area (e.g., Bonnefille 1983;Gebregziabher 1988Gebregziabher , 1991Woldu et al 1989;Messerli et al 1990;Uhlig 1990;Uhlig and Uhlig 1991;Friis 1992;Miehe and Miehe 1994;Mohamed-Saleem and Woldu 2002;Darbyshire et al 2003;Umer et al 2007). Some studies focused on issues of exploitation, degradation, and management (e.g., Getahun 1984;Messerli et al 1990;Grepperud 1996;Taddese 2001;Amente 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Almost all parts of the country are accessed by humans. Areas of low human impact are confined to the steep escarpments of the Rift Valley, river gorges, cold afroalpine plateaus, and some sacred areas (Gebregziabher 1991). Yet evidence suggests that despite this long history of human impacts, LULCC has accelerated dramatically in recent years, progressively depleting the vegetation (NBSAP 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Vegetation dynamics, and land use and land cover change in the Bale Mountains, Ethiopia

Kidane

Stahlmann

Beierkuhnlein

2012

Environ Monit Assess

138

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Shifts in biological communities are occurring at rapid rates as human activities induced global climate change increases. Understanding the effects of the change on biodiversity is important to reduce loss of biodiversity and mass extinction, and to insure the long-term persistence of natural resources and natures' services. Especially in remote landscapes of developing countries, precise knowledge about on-going processes is scarce. Here we apply satellite imagery to assess spatio-temporal land use and land cover change (LULCC) in the Bale Mountains for a period of four decades. This study aims to identify the main drivers of change in vegetation patterns and to discuss the implications of LULCC on spatial arrangements and trajectories of floral communities. Remote sensing data acquired from Landsat MSS, Landsat ETM + and SPOT for four time steps (1973, 1987, 2000, and 2008) were analyzed using 11 LULC units defined based on the dominant plant taxa and cover types of the habitat. Change detection matrices revealed that over the last 40 years, the area has changed from a quite natural to a more cultural landscape. Within a representative subset of the study area (7,957.5 km(-2)), agricultural fields have increased from 1.71% to 9.34% of the total study area since 1973. Natural habitats such as upper montane forest, afroalpine grasslands, afromontane dwarf shrubs and herbaceous formations, and water bodies also increased. Conversely, afromontane grasslands have decreased in size by more than half (going from 19.3% to 8.77%). Closed Erica forest also shrank from 15.0% to 12.37%, and isolated Erica shrubs have decreased from 6.86% to 5.55%, and afroalpine dwarf shrubs and herbaceous formations reduced from 5.2% to 1.56%. Despite fluctuations the afromontane rainforest (Harenna forest), located south of the Bale Mountains, has remained relatively stable. In conclusion this study documents a rapid and ecosystem-specific change of this biodiversity hotspot due to intensified human activities (e.g., deforestation, agriculture, infrastructure expansion). Specifically, the ecotone between the afromontane and the afroalpine area represent a "hotspot of biodiversity loss" today. Taking into consideration the projections of regional climate warming and modified precipitation regimes, LULCC can be expected to become even more intensive in the near future. This is likely to impose unprecedented pressures on the largely endemic biota of the area.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vegetation dynamics, and land use and land cover change in the Bale Mountains, Ethiopia

Kidane

Stahlmann

Beierkuhnlein

2012

Environ Monit Assess

138

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“…water quality, slope stability and provision of medicinal plants) and local upland communities. Furthermore, erosion has been linked with severe socio-economic and political disturbance in downstream low-land communities (Egziabher, 1991;Lal, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The extent and value of carbon stored in mountain grasslands and shrublands globally, and the prospects for using climate finance to address natural resource management issues

Ward¹

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The mitigation of climate change is a global priority. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Paris Agreement sets an ambitious goal of limiting global warming well below two degrees Celsius, and ideally at 1.5 degrees Celsius, by the end of the 21st Century. While recent publications have highlighted the important role that terrestrial forests, wetland forests, marine ecosystems (such as mangroves and seagrass meadows) and lowland grasslands play in global climate mitigation efforts, there has been few studies quantifying how mountain grasslands and shrublands might contribute in this regard. These fragile high-altitude (mostly above treeline) ecosystems cover around 6% (9.38 million km 2 ) of Earth's landmass, provide habitat for rare flora and fauna species while supplying water, food, fibre and economic opportunities to billions of people, many of whom are very poor. Like forests and marine ecosystems, mountain grasslands and shrublands are under threat from multiple anthropogenic stressors. Without a global assessment and understanding of the extent and value of carbon stocks in mountain grasslands and shrublands these ecosystems cannot be effectively integrated into international carbon budgets and climate policy. This thesis therefore helps address this issue by providing both an estimate of C stored in mountain grasslands and shrublands areas, and its relative economic value in climate regulation terms. This thesis also makes several recommendations for how this C pool might be factored into international climate policy frameworks and budgets, and how climate finance might be used to address the various drivers of degradation in mountains grassland and shrubland ecosystems around the world.Using spatial analysis, this thesis commences by estimating there to be between 60.5 Pg C and 82.8 Any improvement in this respect will also improve the reliability of the science, aiding progress towards the targets set by the Paris Agreement. Second, from an accounting perspective, this thesis could potentially provide input data into other global studies which have excluded estimates for C in alpine areas which until now has not been available. Third, when combined, the estimates for C stocks, CO2 sequestration and economic value provided herein justify further investigation of how carbon markets and climate finance might be used specifically to address the factors influencing degradation in mountain grasslands and shrublands around the world.4

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A global estimate of carbon stored in the world's mountain grasslands and shrublands, and the implications for climate policy

Ward

Dargusch

Schierl

et al. 2014

Global Environmental Change

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Management of Mountain Environments and Genetic Erosion in Tropical Mountain Systems: The Ethiopian Example

Cited by 3 publications

References 3 publications

Vegetation dynamics, and land use and land cover change in the Bale Mountains, Ethiopia

Vegetation dynamics, and land use and land cover change in the Bale Mountains, Ethiopia

The extent and value of carbon stored in mountain grasslands and shrublands globally, and the prospects for using climate finance to address natural resource management issues

A global estimate of carbon stored in the world's mountain grasslands and shrublands, and the implications for climate policy

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