Diversity of Useful Plants in the Coffee Forests of Ethiopia

Plant use diversity and their forms of use and management were studied in four coffee forests of Ethiopia. A coffee forest is a segment of moist montane forest with occurrence of wild Arabica coffee populations. The present study was conducted in four forest fragments located in the southwestern and southeastern parts of the country. These forests represent three different indigenous ethnic groups that live in and around the coffee forests. On the bases of ethnobotanical and floristic studies, a total of 143 useful plant species representing 54 families were identified in all study areas. Nearly all species are native except one which is naturalized. The identified use categories include medicine, food, honey, material sources, social services, animal fodder and environmental uses. Overall, Yayu and Harenna shared a high number of useful plant species in common. Of the total, about 25 species (19%) were similarly used across three or more studied ethnic groups. The implication is that there is a difference between and among the four communities studied for general plant knowledge and uses. As observed, deforestation, over-harvesting, cultivation of marginal lands and overgrazing appear to be threatening the plant resources and their habitats in the studied areas. Ecosystem conservation will ensure in situ conservation of many useful plant species by applying sustainable harvesting methods for collecting plants for any type of use from wild habitats

Coffee, child labour, and education: Examining a triple social–ecological trade-off in an Afromontane forest landscape

In biodiversity rich agriculture–forest moasic landscapes in south-western Ethiopia, the production of coffee and food crops, including guarding them from forest-dwelling mammals, requires a high input of labour, which is supplied partly by children. Through field observations and interviews with smallholders, we studied the extent of children’s participation in coffee production and food crop guarding, its impact on school attendance and implications for sustainable development. The findings revealed that the extent of children’s participation in such work is correlated with the level of household’s income and residential location, i.e. near versus far from forests or in coffee versus non-coffee areas. Child labour and school absenteeism linked to coffee production and crop guarding are widespread problems. Some of the measures taken to mitigate the problem of school absenteeism were coercive and posed threats to poor households. The paper concludes that child work in coffee production and crop protection is at the cost of school attendance for many children, which represents a critical social justice issue and a trade-off with the economic and environmental values of the forest. Reducing poverty would likely mitigate the problem of child labour and school absenteeism and promote synergistic development in the region.publishedVersio

Urban sprawl and its impacts on land use change in Central Ethiopia

A

Plant Diversity, Vegetation Structure and Relationship between Plant Communities and Environmental Variables in the Afromontane Forest of Ethiopia

Diversity patterns of vascular plant species were studied along geographical gradients in the Afromontane regions of Ethiopia. Vegetation data were sampled from five moist evergreen Afromontane forest fragments, namely Harenna (southeast), Bonga, Maji, Berhane-Kontir and Yayu (southwest). In each forest, quadrats of 20x20 m were laid along transects to collect vegetation data. The patterns of plant diversity were evaluated on the basis of species richness as the total number of species at each site and species change between and within sites and in relation to vegetation structure. Floristic analyses of five Afromontane forests altogether revealed 118 families and 653 vascular plant species; about 5% of the species were endemic. Species richness and densities vary considerably between the forest sites. The highest beta and gamma diversities were recorded in the Berhane-Kontir forest and the lowest in Bonga. The studied Afromontane forests were floristically different but the common feature of the geographically separated forests is the occurrences of wild coffee populations. Ordination of the study quadrats of the forests forms five groups based on the species composition. Moist evergreen Afromontane forests support a high density of woody plants, which, however, differ between sites. The Ethiopian moist evergreen Afromontane forests are highly threatened due to anthropogenic factors and, thus, need immediate conservation measures. It is recommended that conservation strategies should focus on multiple-sites conservation networking in order to include a range of forests in the conservation system

Indigenous astronomical knowledge based seasonal weather forecast: evidence from Borana Oromo pastoralists of Southern Ethiopia [version 1; peer review: 2 approved, 1 approved with reservations]

Indigenous knowledge is still widely used by communities around the world to overcome social-ecological challenges. Borana Oromo pastoralists of Southern Ethiopia have been searching for future weather phenomena using their indigenous knowledge. This study examines indigenous knowledge-based seasonal weather forecasts through using observable physical and temporal patterns of astronomic objects. Data were generated through using focus group discussion, experimental knowledgeable groups and direct observation in the year 2021. The finding reveals that Borana Oromo pastoralists commonly define physical and temporal outlooks of the Moon that are changed and/ or displayed periodically within a range of varying contexts. The observation of the Moon features have been offering sufficient lapse time in a more than/within ahead of a season/ and is relatively more accurate than the other traditional forecasting objects. The study showed that both temporal and spatial dimensions of the forecasting were actually happened in Ganna (March to May rainfall), Adolessa dry season (June to September) and Hgayya rainfall (October to November) seasons of 2021. This indigenous weather forecasting practices are still regularly used in every livelihood decision making process. However, this indigenous weather knowledge of Borana Oromo pastoralists of Southern Ethiopia is not yet mainstreamed in the formal institutional structures. Curtailments of mobility, severity of drought, weakening of traditional institution, leaving of traditional life style and death of the knowledgeable elders are the major factors that are challenging the potential effects of the indigenous weather forecasting indicators of the features of moon in the study area

The role of perceptions and social norms in shaping women’s fertility preferences: a case study from Ethiopia

The population–environment–food nexus is a sustainability challenge for the Global South, and for Africa in particular, where rapid human population growth typically overlaps with high levels of food insecurity and environmental degradation. In this context, it is important to understand the reasons driving high fertility in these regions. Here, we examined possible determinants of women’s fertility preferences in rural southwestern Ethiopia. Using a survey tool (n = 120), we assessed women’s perceptions of four key environmental stressors, namely food insecurity, environmental degradation, human population growth, and land scarcity. Through statistical modelling we tested whether there was a relationship between perceptions of future trends in these stressors and women’s fertility preferences; expressed as their desired number of children and use of family planning methods. This analysis was complemented by a qualitative content analysis of the survey’s open-ended questions, to contextualize and interpret the quantitative data. Our quantitative results indicated that perceptions of future trends in key stressors had little effect on fertility preferences of respondents, with the exception of perceptions of human population growth. Our qualitative data suggested that this may be due to the influence of social-cultural norms and religion, decision-making with the husband, as well as a perceived utilitarian value of children. These findings have important implications for the development of interventions to slow down human population growth. Our findings suggest the need to look beyond improved physical access to family planning, and develop a new suite of deliberative approaches that engage with social norms, religion, and gender equity

High aboveground carbon stock of African tropical montane forests

Tropical forests store 40-50 per cent of terrestrial vegetation carbon(1). However, spatial variations in aboveground live tree biomass carbon (AGC) stocks remain poorly understood, in particular in tropical montane forests(2). Owing to climatic and soil changes with increasing elevation(3), AGC stocks are lower in tropical montane forests compared with lowland forests(2). Here we assemble and analyse a dataset of structurally intact old-growth forests (AfriMont) spanning 44 montane sites in 12 African countries. We find that montane sites in the AfriMont plot network have a mean AGC stock of 149.4 megagrams of carbon per hectare (95% confidence interval 137.1-164.2), which is comparable to lowland forests in the African Tropical Rainforest Observation Network(4) and about 70 per cent and 32 per cent higher than averages from plot networks in montane(2,5,6) and lowland(7) forests in the Neotropics, respectively. Notably, our results are two-thirds higher than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change default values for these forests in Africa(8). We find that the low stem density and high abundance of large trees of African lowland forests(4) is mirrored in the montane forests sampled. This carbon store is endangered: we estimate that 0.8 million hectares of old-growth African montane forest have been lost since 2000. We provide country-specific montane forest AGC stock estimates modelled from our plot network to help to guide forest conservation and reforestation interventions. Our findings highlight the need for conserving these biodiverse(9,10) and carbon-rich ecosystems. The aboveground carbon stock of a montane African forest network is comparable to that of a lowland African forest network and two-thirds higher than default values for these montane forests.Peer reviewe

The global abundance of tree palms

Aim Palms are an iconic, diverse and often abundant component of tropical ecosystems that provide many ecosystem services. Being monocots, tree palms are evolutionarily, morphologically and physiologically distinct from other trees, and these differences have important consequences for ecosystem services (e.g., carbon sequestration and storage) and in terms of responses to climate change. We quantified global patterns of tree palm relative abundance to help improve understanding of tropical forests and reduce uncertainty about these ecosystems under climate change. Location Tropical and subtropical moist forests. Time period Current. Major taxa studied Palms (Arecaceae). Methods We assembled a pantropical dataset of 2,548 forest plots (covering 1,191 ha) and quantified tree palm (i.e., ≥10 cm diameter at breast height) abundance relative to co‐occurring non‐palm trees. We compared the relative abundance of tree palms across biogeographical realms and tested for associations with palaeoclimate stability, current climate, edaphic conditions and metrics of forest structure. Results On average, the relative abundance of tree palms was more than five times larger between Neotropical locations and other biogeographical realms. Tree palms were absent in most locations outside the Neotropics but present in >80% of Neotropical locations. The relative abundance of tree palms was more strongly associated with local conditions (e.g., higher mean annual precipitation, lower soil fertility, shallower water table and lower plot mean wood density) than metrics of long‐term climate stability. Life‐form diversity also influenced the patterns; palm assemblages outside the Neotropics comprise many non‐tree (e.g., climbing) palms. Finally, we show that tree palms can influence estimates of above‐ground biomass, but the magnitude and direction of the effect require additional work. Conclusions Tree palms are not only quintessentially tropical, but they are also overwhelmingly Neotropical. Future work to understand the contributions of tree palms to biomass estimates and carbon cycling will be particularly crucial in Neotropical forests

Diversity, threats and conservation status of coffee forest in Ethiopia

Arabica coffee (Coffea arabica L.) has its centre of origin and diversity in southwest and southeast montane forests of Ethiopia. Moist evergreen Afromontane forests with the occurrence of wild Arabica coffee populations is commonly called ‘Coffee Forest’. Coffee forest maintains over 700 species of vascular plant and a diversity of wild coffee genotype. The genetic diversity of wild coffee populations differs within and between populations and regions. Coffee forest is part of the “Eastern Afromontane Biodiversity Hotspot” and has great international importance for biodiversity conservation. The coffee forest is, however, threatened by increasing anthropogenic factor such as agriculture and settlement expansion. Climate change and global warming is also expected to threaten the distribution of the wild coffee populations and its habitat more than ever before. To address these threats, conservation efforts have been ongoing in the last two decades- through forest coffee genetic resource conservation, biosphere reserves and participatory forest management schemes. In addition to the ongoing conservation efforts, in-depth research and trait discovery for conservation and sustainable use of Arabica coffee genetic resources and its habitat is recommended. Key words/phrases: Coffee, Conservation, Diversity, Ecosystem service, Ethiopia, Forest