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Socio-economic importance of forest resources and their conservation measures in Ethiopia: the case of area closure in South Gonder of Ethiopia

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Abstract

Area closures that set aside to degraded lands for rehabilitation purposes are a popular forest conservation measure in various parts of the world. However, their use can be controversial because, if poorly designed, they can accelerate the degradation of neighboring unprotected lands and deny local residents’ access to important ecosystem services. This paper reports the results of a study on the area closure approach used in south Gonder within the Lake Tana watershed of Ethiopia to stem the rapid decline of vegetation cover that has occurred there over the last four decades. We used a mixed-methods approach that combined data from a household survey, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and official documents. We found that support for the area closures was high. We also found that area closures have had a mixed effect on access to key ecosystem services while a number of important concerns about the negative impacts to surrounding unprotected forests were also expressed. We conclude that area closures have garnered broad public support within our study region but this support appears to be mostly contingent on management successes within protected forests and does not necessarily capture the unintended negative consequences to surrounding unprotected forests.

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Funding

This research was supported by the International Foundation for Science (IFS), Stockholm, Sweden through a grant (D/5693-1) to the first author. We also received financial support from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Addis Ababa University, and Bahir Dar University to the first author.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development (EiABC), Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box 518, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Fikirte Demissie & Kumelachew Yeshitela

  2. Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Bahir Dar University, P.O.Box 79, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia

    Fikirte Demissie

  3. Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, 49931, USA

    Mark Rouleau & David Flaspohler

  4. Institute of Forest Management, Department of Ecology and Ecosystem Management, TUM School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technische Universität München, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz-Platz 2, 85354, Freising, Germany

    Mengistie Kindu

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  1. Fikirte Demissie
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Demissie, F., Yeshitela, K., Rouleau, M. et al. Socio-economic importance of forest resources and their conservation measures in Ethiopia: the case of area closure in South Gonder of Ethiopia. Environ Monit Assess 191, 437 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-019-7569-y

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