Data from: Carbon sequestration and soil restoration potential of grazing lands under exclosure management in a semi-arid environment of northern Ethiopia

Exclosures are used to regenerate native vegetation as a way to reduce soil erosion, increase rain water infiltration and provide fodder and woody biomass in degraded grazing lands. Therefore, this study assessed the impact of grazing exclosure on vegetation biomass, carbon sequestration and soil nutrients under five and ten years of grazing exclosures and freely grazed areas in Tigray, northern Ethiopia. Vegetation biomass, carbon stocks and soil nutrients increased with increasing grazing exclusion. However, open grazing lands and five years of grazing exclosure did not differ in aboveground biomass, above-and-belowground carbon stocks. Moreover, ten years of grazing exclosure had a higher (P<0.01) grass, herb and litter carbon stocks compared to five years exclosure and open grazing lands. The total carbon stock was higher for ten years exclosure (75.65 t C ha-1) than the five years exclosure (55.06 t C ha-1) and in open grazing areas (51.98 t C ha-1). Grazing lands closed for ten years had a higher SOC, organic matter, total N, available P, and exchangeable K+ and Na+ compared to five year’s exclosure and open grazing lands. Therefore, establishment of grazing exclosures had a positive effect in restoring degraded grazing lands, thus improving vegetation biomass, carbon sequestration potentials and soil nutrients

Competitive forests – making forests sustainable in south-west Ethiopia

The forests of south-west Ethiopia are declining and degrading largely because of the demand for agricultural land. This loss has significant global, national and local implications. This paper presents data on the economic revenues from various land uses and endeavours in the Cloud Forest and Coffee Forest, which facilitates understanding of the rationale behind the livelihood and land use choices made by individuals and communities. These choices are driven by the need to maximise economic benefits from the options available. In the Cloud Forest, the focus is on forest clearance so that smallholder agriculture production can expand. In the Coffee Forest, the increasing economic returns from small-scale coffee harvesting have meant that forest clearance has been halted, but the remaining forest is altered as a result of coffee cultivation. This paper identifies interventions that could increase the value of forest-based activities and products so that livelihood choices are more supportive of forest maintenance. It concludes that there is a need to maximise non-timber forest product revenue, alongside the development of other forest products, including wood and carbon, to make the forests competitive compared to agricultural land use. This exploitation of forest resources will not preserve these forests in pristine condition, but is a pragmatic response which could ensure that they continue to provide the majority of the economic, social and environmental services currently provided. However, to achieve this, major institutional and policy changes are required, as well as a significant investment in forest enterprise development and training and carbon funding through REDD+