Tekalign, Meron (2010) The Role of Area Exclosures for Biodiversity Conservation and its Contribution to Local Livelihoods: The case of Biyo-Kelala Area Exclosures in Ada`a wereda. Masters thesis, Addis Ababa University.
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Abstract
The continuous deterioration of the natural resource base has become a serious threat to both the ecological systems and economic development in Ethiopia. These problems have been attributed directly or indirectly to the rapid declining of the country's forest cover which is associated with unsustainable forest use and management. Exclosing community woodlands from human and livestock intervention to promote natural regeneration of forests has been one of the environmental restoration strategies practiced in the degraded hilly areas of East Shewa Zone of Oromia Region, Ethiopia where this study was conducted. In order to assess the role of area exclosures to biodiversity conservation and its contributions to household livelihoods, data were collected from two Area exclosures (Old-Biyo and Young-Kelala) and Kelala open grazing land which is adjacent to young-Kelala exclosure. Old-Biyo is more than 20 years since exclosure whereas Young-Kelala is 7 years and the open grazing land was used as control. Systematic and random samplings were used to collect vegetation data and households were randomly selected from the villages where area exclosures were practiced. The analysis of vegetation data was made for the area exclosures and adjacent open grazing land. The result revealed that the stand densities of all woody plants in the old and young area exclosures were 1022ha-1 and 587 ha-1 respectively. However in the open area the density was 180 ha-1. Sorensen’s similarity coefficient indicated considerable dissimilarity in the species compositions of vegetations among the exclosures and open area varying between 0.19-0.26.Restoration of woody plants increases while herbaceous plants decreases as the exclosure is aged in terms of species richness and diversity. A total of 133 species representing 107 genera and 45 families and were recorded from the study areas where twenty species were recorded common to the exclosures and open grazing land. The proportion of trees, shrubs and herbs accounted for 24.06%, 30.83%and 45.17% respectively from all the recorded species. The most dominant families recorded in the exclosure areas were Poaceae, Fabaceae, Asteraceae, Lamiacese, Euphorbiaceae and Malvaceae. However, in the respective open grazing land Poaceae, Asteraceae, and Fabaceae were the dominant families. Commonly in both areas, Poaceae, Asteraceae and Fabaceae were the dominant families occurred. The Shannon’s diversity index was higher (3.66) for Old –Biyo exclosure and lowest (2.03) for Kelala open grazing land. In general, the result revealed that management influenced the vegetation density richness and diversity. The contribution of different livelihood strategies mainly crop production and animal husbandry accounts for 96.93% however income from the exclosure products accounts only for 3.07% of the annual household income. On the other hand, income generated from the area exclosures product contribute higher amount to the poor households but lower to the rich ones. The study showed that area exclosures not only play potential role in enhancing the recovery of vegetation diversity of degraded areas but also contributes to household income. However there is a need to harmonize the economic goals of local people and the ecological recovery of degraded areas in designing area exclosures.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Masters) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Area Exclosure, Free grazing, Livelihood, Vegetation diversity |
| Subjects: | G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GF Human ecology. Anthropogeography Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology Q Science > QK Botany S Agriculture > SD Forestry |
| Divisions: | Africana |
| Depositing User: | Selom Ghislain |
| Date Deposited: | 25 May 2018 13:05 |
| Last Modified: | 25 May 2018 13:05 |
| URI: | http://thesisbank.jhia.ac.ke/id/eprint/4115 |
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