Biosphere Reserves in the Southwest of Ethiopia

Semegnew Tadese,Teshome Soromessa,Tesefaye Bekele,Brhane Meles,Gábor Kocsy

doi:10.1155/2021/1585149

Semegnew Tadese, Teshome Soromessa + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/1585149

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Abstract

Forests that have a wide ecological gradient, diversity, and significant cover are confined in the southwestern part vis-à-vis other parts of Ethiopia, while the country is fronting biodiversity losses. The intention of this paper is comparative assessment of Majang, Kafa, Sheka, and Yayo biosphere reserves, located in the southwest of Ethiopia, regarding their status of plant diversity, challenges, and efforts of conservation. To this end, an extensive review of different journals, articles, and proceedings was made. Relevance to the objectives of the review was a selection criterion for sources inclusion. Consequently, the review indicates that all the biosphere reserves contained myriad plant biodiversity, specifically the “hotspot” of Afromontane rainforest biodiversity, with some degree of dissimilarities among them. For instance, the values of Shannon index illustrated a decreasing order in plant diversity as Sheka followed by Kafa, Yayo, and Majang biosphere reserve. Besides, out of the top ten documented plant families, the species richest families are Rubiaceae (15) in Yayo, Asteraceae (12) in Kafa, Euphorbiaceae (11) in Majang, and Asteraceae (11) in Sheka biosphere reserve, while the least species found in the families are as follows: Aspleniaceae and Sapindaceae in Majang; Poaceae, Solanaceae, and Araceae in Sheka; Celastraceae and Piperaceae in Kafa; and Fabacae and Solanaceae in Yayo. However, many challenges were encountered in all the biosphere reserves. The driving force behind is commercial coffee-tea plantation, agriculture expansion, overgrazing, firewood, charcoal, and other factors. Hence, to reduce forest conversion and biodiversity loss, the government of Ethiopia is creating conservation mechanism like the establishment of the protected area and biosphere reserve which is controlled and managed by the community and the government.

Highlights

Ethiopia is a center for abundant biodiversity attributable to its wide ranges of topographical diversity [1, 2]. is diverse physiographic feature has contributed to various ecosystems’ formation which put Ethiopia in the top 25 biodiversity-rich countries of the world [3]
Four biosphere reserves called Majang, Kafa, Sheka, and Yayo were established in the area from 2010 to 2017. e central objectives of these biosphere reserves are biodiversity conservation, research, and development function to meet the local people’s needs and improve their quality of life [21, 22]. erefore, this paper addresses comparative appraisal of these biosphere reserves on their status of plant biodiversity, challenges, and conservation efforts
Activities like farming, fishing, tourism, beekeeping, settlements, urban and villages, industry, and enterprise are permitted in this zone [25, 31]. e transitional zone comprises the largest cover as compared to the total area of the biosphere reserves in Southwestern Ethiopia (Figure 3)

Summary

Introduction

Ethiopia is a center for abundant biodiversity attributable to its wide ranges of topographical diversity [1, 2]. is diverse physiographic feature has contributed to various ecosystems’ formation which put Ethiopia in the top 25 biodiversity-rich countries of the world [3]. Forest in the southwest of Ethiopia has relatively high forest cover as compared to other parts of the country, about 56 percent of the country’s forest cover [5,6,7]. Ese forests are playing roles in water regulation of the rivers and biodiversity conservation. In other words, they are biodiversity hotspot of global interest forests [10]; for instance, according to [11], Coffea arabica is a flagship species in the Kafa biosphere reserve. Erefore, this paper addresses comparative appraisal of these biosphere reserves on their status of plant biodiversity, challenges, and conservation efforts Four biosphere reserves called Majang, Kafa, Sheka, and Yayo were established in the area from 2010 to 2017. e central objectives of these biosphere reserves are biodiversity conservation, research, and development function to meet the local people’s needs and improve their quality of life [21, 22]. erefore, this paper addresses comparative appraisal of these biosphere reserves on their status of plant biodiversity, challenges, and conservation efforts

History and Definition of Biosphere Reserve

Status of Biodiversity’s in the Biosphere Reserves

Challenges of Biosphere Reserves Conservation in the Southwest of Ethiopia

Findings

Conclusion