Vegetation Composition and Deforestation Impact in Gambella National Park, Ethiopia

Abstract

Abstract:The vegetation of Gambella national park varies in terms of composition and structure due to the occurrence of rivers bisect the park. Data of the vegetation was collected by different techniques such as field observation, GIS and remote sensing, GPS and compass, and topographic map. The scientific name, local name and their uses was identify by indigenous knowledge of the community, experts knowledge and field guide line book for each tree species. Stratification was used of homogeneity/heterogeneity of the land use of the park and make easy ways for study. There were also 80 sample plots with 10m x10m rectangular plot size was taken to carry out counting and identifying the species using transect line in the study area. A total of 39 species were recorded and the most dominance species was Grewia mollis. The analysis indicated that the riverine forest was dense (more stems) than terrestrials forest. The highest stem grown in the Riverine forest was Grewia mollis A. Juss whereas terrestrial species was Bridelias cleroneura and also more tree species were available in terrestrial wood land forest than riverine forest. As move to the reverine forest, there was more vegetation, abundance, distribution and greenness. Land use land cover change indicated that terrestrial wood land forest is decreasing from time to time due to anthropogenic factors. Therefore, in order to keep the sustainability of the national park from deforestation there must be integration of stack holder organization, awareness creation of the community, participatory approach in the park is required.

Assessing land use and land cover changes and agricultural farmland expansions in Gambella Region, Ethiopia, using Landsat 5 and Sentinel 2a multispectral data

“…According to [39] the changes are not only driven by natural processes, but mainly due to human interferences, such as unsustainable utilization of natural resources such as deforestation, commercial farm expansion, and settlement/encroachment, and wild fires. Since the 1990s, the government's land allocations to external agribusiness investors in and around the GNP has threatened the livelihoods of local communities [50] , and currently the pristine areas of the park are shrinking and suffering widespread damage to plant species and wild animals [51] . The clearing of land and large-scale deforestation has increased competition for land between investors and local farmers.…”

Why Urban Ecology Matters in Ethiopia

“…Today, that number is over 50% (reviewed in Perry et al, 2020). Strikingly, the number of urban dwellers increased from 220 million in 1900 to 2.84 billion in 2000 and is estimated to be over 6 billion by 2045 (Aneseyee, 2016;Perry et al, 2020). The median country passed the 50% mark in the past few years, and even the poorest countries are urbanizing at high rates (Perry et al, 2020).…”

“…Properly developing cities (especially secondary cities) can offer alternatives to rural dwellers and reduce climate shocks, but attention is needed to the growing impacts of the human population on the rest of the country. National parks such as Bale Mountains, Awash, Gambella, and Simien Mountains have already endured high loss of biodiversity because extensive areas of land were given for mechanized farming, settlement, and infrastructure development (Pieterse and Parnell, 2014;Gashaw, 2015;UNESCO, 2015;Zerga, 2015;Aneseyee, 2016). Recent unrest has further impacted their integrity.…”

Wild life/wild animals in Ethiopia: Types, challenges and conservation

“…That is to say, before and after they are established, local populations should be aware of the environmental, social and economic significance of these regions (Kebede et al, 2014) [23] . However, the National Parks in Ethiopia are experiencing difficulties as a result of low awareness (Tesfaye, 2017) [37] of the role of these conservation areas for environmental (soil erosion control and getting reliable rain fall in the case of Bale Mountain national park (Asmamaw and Verma, 2013) [5] , biodiversity (Berihun, 2016) [7] , economic (ecoturism) in the case of Awash national park (Alemayehu, 2011) [1] and c (Aneseyee, 2016) [3] . Low community knowledge of the importance of national parks is another issue that impacts Ethiopia's protected regions in the east (Wale et al, 2017) [42] .…”