Empirical assessments of small-scale ecosystem service flows in rural mosaic landscapes in the Ethiopian highlands

Human activities have rapidly altered natural ecosystems worldwide, resulting in fragmented ecosystems that are either culturally or formally protected. These ecosystem patches can be critical for ecosystem services (ES) that support human well-being. In the Ethiopian highlands, the remaining church forests and wetlands have a unique conservation status and are part of the global priority areas for biodiversity conservation. ES flows from these ecosystems to surrounding benefiting areas lack local-scale field evidence data and are not well-understood. Here, we empirically quantify the distance-dependent flows for four ES: grass biomass, microclimate regulation, crop pollination, and soil erosion retention since they exhibit considerable variation in spatial scales and processes of ES flows. The effect of spatial distance on each ES benefit flow was analysed using spatially explicit empirical models. The key findings are as follows: (1) The benefit of ES varies significantly with distance to the source ecosystems. (2) ES supply is determined by the extent (fragmentation) and condition of ecosystems, together with ecosystem type. (3) The quantity and number of ES provided decreases with distance from the source, and beneficiaries up to 3 km of the source only receive one type of ES (grass biomass). Approximately 80 % of the benefiting areas are within a radius of 200 m from forests and wetlands. Bundles of multiple ES types are received at the frontiers of service-providing ecosystems, where number of benefits are compared at particular locations from the source point. The investigated ecosystems (440 km2) provided benefits to 8,770 km2 for the four types of ES. Our findings imply that non-linear effects of key ecosystem variables need to be considered when mapping the distance-dependent ES flows. This study helps to understand the spatial connectivity between ecosystems and beneficiaries in the human-nature interdependency, which is useful for developing different strategies for ES conservation

Evaluating Biophysical Attributes of Environmentally Degraded Landscapes in Northern Ethiopia using LANDSAT ETM data and GIS

Biophysical attributes of environmentally degraded landscapes in Adwa district, northern Ethiopia, were evaluated using LANDSAT ETM data and GIS. Satellite remote sensing (RS) has captured the spatial distribution and variability of Adwa land covers (75% classification accuracy, 73% Kappa statistic). GIS-based analysis of degraded land’s biophysical attributes has revealed associations between land-cover types, landform elements and major soils groups in the district. Agricultural farms were located closer to human settlements, while woodlands furthest away from settlements. Moreover, wooded croplands were found between arable and woodlands, indicating encroaching human activities through agricultural expansion. Forests and woodlands were dominant on high mountains, steep slopes and depressions, while degraded shrublands and scrublands were prominent on Leptosols and on dissected uplands and hills. On the other hand, agriculture was prominent on rolling hills and uplands, concave-shaped foot-slopes, and on the soils of the district characterized as Fluvisols and Vertisols. This study provides base-line information and add to land cover knowledge for this and similar regions. Additionally, it has identified associations among biophysical attributes in degraded Ethiopian highlands have important management implications for both under-developed and over-utilized areas.Keywords: Land cover, land degradation, soil erosion, land rehabilitation, deforestation, Ethiopian highland

Impacts of land-use change on sacred forests at the landscape scale

AbstractSacred forests often exist as isolated patches of natural forest even after conversion of the surrounding matrix to different forms of land-use. This study set out to: (1) evaluate land-cover changes and patch fragmentation in a landscape containing sacred and non-sacred forest patches over 15 years and (2) compare the effects at an individual patch level between sacred and non-sacred forests. Past changes in area and patch fragmentation of land cover classes and individual forest patches in the Gamo Highlands, Ethiopia, were assessed using maximum-likelihood classification of LANDSAT images. Large changes in land-cover occurred during 1995–2010, with 109.4% increase in area of farm and settlement and 36.6% decrease of forest area, with a decrease in number of forest patches by 16.1%, mean size by 26.8%, edge density by 29.1% and shape index by 13.3%. While all four individually studied non-sacred forests decreased in size over this period only four of the six individual sacred forests patches showed reduction in area. Forest patches with sacred status had greater protection by local communities than non-sacred forests in the Gamo Highlands. However, their small size and increasing edge density indicate high vulnerability, especially if an erosion of traditional cultural values reduces their protection

Similarity analysis for the Blue Nile Basin in the Ethiopian Highlands

Up until today, rainwater management practices have been promoted regardless of site-specific biophysical characteristics and regardless of the socio-economic and institutional environment. Therefore, low adoption rates and high disadoption rates of rainwater management practices are observed. In order to promote rainwater management more successfully, a paradigm change towards promotion of location-specific interventions is needed. Beyond biophysical suitability, successful implementation crucially depends on farmers willingness to adopt a practice. Therefore, the socio-economic and institutional environment must be taken into account in a spatially explicit way. A first step towards the promotion of site-specific rainwater management requires an understanding of which sites present similar biophysical, socio-economic and institutional characteristics within a basin. The objective of this report is twofold. Firstly, it aims at presenting the available spatial data for the Blue Nile Basin in the Ethiopian highlands. Secondly, it develops a methodology that allows identifying locations within a landscape that have similar biophysical, infrastructure, socio-economics, and governance characteristics relevant to rainwater management

Similarity analysis for the Blue Nile Basin in the Ethiopian highlands

Up until today, rainwater management practices have been promoted regardless of site-specific biophysical characteristics and regardless of the socio-economic and institutional environment. Therefore, low adoption rates and high disadoption rates of rainwater management practices are observed. In order to promote rainwater management more successfully, a paradigm change towards promotion of location-specific interventions is needed. Beyond biophysical suitability, successful implementation crucially depends on farmers’ willingness to adopt a practice. Therefore, the socio-economic and institutional environment must be taken into account in a spatially explicit way. A first step towards the promotion of site-specific rainwater management requires an understanding of which sites present similar biophysical, socio-economic and institutional characteristics within a basin. The objective of this report is twofold. Firstly, it aims at presenting the available spatial data for the Blue Nile Basin in the Ethiopian highlands. Secondly, it develops a methodology that allows identifying locations within a landscape that have similar biophysical, infrastructure, socio-economics, and governance characteristics relevant to rainwater management

Hydrological response of dry Afromontane forest to changes in land use and land cover in northern Ethiopia

This study analyzes the impact of land use/land cover (LULC) changes on the hydrology of the dry Afromontane forest landscape in northern Ethiopia. Landsat satellite images of thematic mapper (TM) (1986), TM (2001), and Operational Land Imager (OLI) (2018) were employed to assess LULC. All of the images were classified while using the maximum likelihood image classification technique, and the changes were assessed by post-classification comparison. Seven LULC classes were defined with an overall accuracy 83-90% and a Kappa coefficient of 0.82-0.92. The classification result for 1986 revealed dominance of shrublands (48.5%), followed by cultivated land (42%). Between 1986 and 2018, cultivated land became the dominant (39.6%) LULC type, accompanied by a decrease in shrubland to 32.2%, as well as increases in forestland (from 4.8% to 21.4%) and bare land (from 0% to 0.96%). The soil conservation systems curve number model (SCS-CN) was consequently employed to simulate forest hydrological response to climatic variations and land-cover changes during three selected years. The observed changes in direct surface runoff, the runoff coefficient, and storage capacity of the soil were partially linked to the changes in LULC that were associated with expanding bare land and built-up areas. This change in land use aggravates the runoff potential of the study area by 31.6 mm per year on average. Runoff coefficients ranged from 25.3% to 47.2% with varied storm rainfall intensities of 26.1-45.4 mm/ha. The temporal variability of climate change and potential evapotranspiration increased by 1% during 1981-2018. The observed rainfall and modelled runoff showed a strong positive correlation (R-2 = 0.78; p < 0.001). Regression analysis between runoff and rainfall intensity indicates their high and significant correlation (R-2 = 0.89; p < 0.0001). Changes were also common along the slope gradient and agro-ecological zones at varying proportions. The observed changes in land degradation and surface runoff are highly linked to the change in LULC. Further study is suggested on climate scenario-based modeling of hydrological processes that are related to land use changes to understand the hydrological variability of the dry Afromontane forest ecosystems