Tree species selection for land rehabilitation in Ethiopia: from fragmented knowledge to an integrated multi-criteria decision approach

Reubens, Bert; Moeremans, Clara; Poesen, Jean; Nyssen, Jan; Tewolde‐Berhan, Sarah; Franzel, Steve; Deckers, Jozef; Orwa, Caleb; Muys, Bart

doi:10.1007/s10457-011-9381-8

Cited by 89 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 45 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…This implies that local socio-economic needs should be taken into account when choosing rehabilitation approaches. Cases from Kenya (Mganga et al 2015), China (Dai 2010;Sjögersten et al 2013), Ethiopia (Reubens et al 2011;Yirdaw et al 2014), Jordan (Ajlouni et al 2010), Tunisia (Visser et al 2011), and Australia (Bell et al 2001;Kingwell et al 2008;Roberts and Pannell 2009) show that communities seek co-benefits in order to adapt and implement sustainable management activities or for the introduction of new technologies. Another policy-related factor that influences the success of dryland rehabilitation is well-defined land tenure and/or secure property rights for land and trees (Muys et al 2006).…”

Section: The Role Of Community Participation In Dryland Rehabilitationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rehabilitation of degraded dryland ecosystems – review

Yirdaw¹,

Tigabu²,

Monge³

2017

Silva Fenn.

114

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Highlights• The prospect of restoring degraded drylands is technically promising.• The forest landscape restoration concept can be used as the overarching rehabilitation framework.• Development of process-based models that forecast rehabilitation outcomes is needed.• Rehabilitation methodologies developed for moist areas are not necessarily suitable for drylands.• More data is needed on cost-benefit analysis of rehabilitation interventions. AbstractLand degradation is widespread and a serious threat affecting the livelihoods of 1.5 billion people worldwide of which one sixth or 250 million people reside in drylands. Globally, it is estimated that 10-20% of drylands are already degraded and about 12 million ha are degraded each year. Driven by unsustainable land use practices, adverse climatic conditions and population increase, land degradation has led to decline in provision of ecosystem services, food insecurity, social and political instability and reduction in the ecosystem's resilience to natural climate variability. Several global initiatives have been launched to combat land degradation, including rehabilitation of degraded drylands. This review aimed at collating the current state-of-knowledge about rehabilitation of degraded drylands. It was found that the prospect of restoring degraded drylands is technically promising using a suite of passive (e.g. area exclosure, assisted natural regeneration, rotational grazing) and active (e.g. mixed-species planting, framework species, maximum diversity, and use of nurse tree) rehabilitation measures. Advances in soil reclamation using biological, chemical and physical measures have been made. Despite technical advances, the scale of rehabilitation intervention is small and lacks holistic approach. Development of processbased models that forecast outcomes of the various rehabilitation activities will be useful tools for researchers and practitioners. The concept of forest landscape restoration approach, which operates at landscape-level, could also be adopted as the overarching framework for rehabilitation of degraded dryland ecosystems. The review identified a data gap in cost-benefit analysis of rehabilitation interventions. However, the cost of rehabilitation and sustainable management of drylands is opined to be lower than the losses that accrue from inaction, depending on the degree of degradation. Thus, local communities' participation, incorporation of traditional ecological knowledge, clear division of tasks and benefits, strengthening local institutions are crucial not only for cost-sharing, but also for the long-term success of rehabilitation activities.

show abstract

Section: The Role Of Community Participation In Dryland Rehabilitationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rehabilitation of degraded dryland ecosystems – review

Yirdaw¹,

Tigabu²,

Monge³

2017

Silva Fenn.

114

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…2). Reubens et al (2011) proposed such a system to select the most suitable endemic tree species for rehabilitating degraded land in northern Ethiopia. These authors examined socio-economic functions as well as socio-cultural values and environmental services.…”

Section: Criteria and Challenges In The Selection Of Alternative Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many other environmental co-benefits and costs of ecological engineering of unstable slopes exist (e.g., remediation of polluted soil; Perez-Esteban et al 2014, Miles et al (1984;Fetcher et al (1996) Velázquez and Gómez-Sal (2008) this issue). Therefore, a careful identification of biophysical processes and socially desirable services should accompany the choice of appropriate plant species and their management in any restoration program (Table 2, Reubens et al 2011). …”

Section: Diverse Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological mitigation of hillslope instability: ten key issues facing researchers and practitioners

et al. 2014

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Plants alter their environment in a number of ways. With correct management, plant communities can positively impact soil degradation processes such as surface erosion and shallow landslides. However, there are major gaps in our understanding of physical and ecological processes on hillslopes, and the application of research to restoration and engineering projects.Scope To identify the key issues of concern to researchers and practitioners involved in designing and implementing projects to mitigate hillslope instability, we organized a discussion during the From this discussion, ten key issues were identified, considered as the kernel of future studies concerning the impact of vegetation on slope stability and erosion processes. Each issue is described and a discussion at the end of this paper addresses how we can augment the use of ecological engineering techniques for mitigating slope instability. Conclusions We show that through fundamental and applied research in related fields (e.g., soil formation and biogeochemistry, hydrology and microbial ecology), reliable data can be obtained for use by practitioners seeking adapted solutions for a given site. Through fieldwork, accessible databases, modelling and collaborative projects, awareness and acceptance of the use of plant material in slope restoration projects should increase significantly, particularly in the civil and geotechnical communities.

show abstract

“…Identifying suitable species is very important for afforestation of degraded lands in arid and semiarid regions [49]. The most challenging aspect of such afforestation projects is the choice between indigenous and exotic species.…”

Section: Challenges For Afforestation In Arid and Semiarid Ecosystemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improvements in Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Capacities after Shrub Planting to Stabilize Sand Dunes in China’s Horqin Sandy Land

Chen

Wang

et al. 2017

Sustainability

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Caragana microphylla, a native perennial leguminous shrub, is widely used for desertification control in China's Horqin Sandy Land. We investigated the effects of afforestation using C. microphylla in areas with fixed and active dunes on soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) storage in the soil total and light-fraction (LF) organic matter. Compared to the values in the control areas, soil organic carbon (SOC) storage to a depth of 100 cm increased by 88%, 74%, and 145% at 9, 15, and 31 years after shrub planting, respectively; the corresponding values were 68%, 61%, and 195% for total nitrogen (TN) storage, 109%, 199%, and 202% for LF organic carbon storage, and 203%, 337%, and 342% for LF nitrogen storage. The soil light-fraction (LF) organic matter contributed significantly to total SOC and TN storage, despite the low proportion of total soil mass accounted for by the LF dry matter. Thus, afforestation using C. microphylla was an effective way to sequester C and to restore degraded soils, but the process was slow; it would take more than 100 years to fully restore SOC storage in active dunes through afforestation with C. microphylla in the Horqin Sandy Land.

show abstract

Tree species selection for land rehabilitation in Ethiopia: from fragmented knowledge to an integrated multi-criteria decision approach

Cited by 89 publications

References 45 publications

Rehabilitation of degraded dryland ecosystems – review

Rehabilitation of degraded dryland ecosystems – review

Ecological mitigation of hillslope instability: ten key issues facing researchers and practitioners

Improvements in Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Capacities after Shrub Planting to Stabilize Sand Dunes in China’s Horqin Sandy Land

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About