Abstract
BackgroundTraditional management regimes and knowledge systems of forest resources have shaped forests throughout the world where materials from individual species are harvested in a sustainable manner. To comprehend this, the vegetation of Hugumburda-Gratkhassu Forest was described and related to anthropogenic factors.MethodsThree ethnobotanical research methods were used to collect indigenous knowledge of the local inhabitants related to conservation and utilization of forest resources. Direct matrix ranking was conducted to discover local attitudes on species preference for multiple use. During this work, the 46 most important tree and shrub species were selected based on recommendations of local guides and key informants to determine the range of uses obtained from each species. Through paired comparison, activities supposed to be the major cause of degradation of the forest were adopted. Pairs of activities were then established from the relation n (n-1)/2. Each respondent was then asked to select an activity that he considered being a major problem to management of the forest. Semi-structured interviews were used to obtain information from sixty local informants to address community attitudes towards forest management and utilization.ResultsThe result obtained from direct matrix ranking showed; that 20 out of 46 plant species compared had the highest scores and rank, indicating that these species are the most important and are exploited by the local communities for multiple purposes. The paired comparison exercise revealed logging for construction materials to be the major threat to the forest due to cutting of large volume of wood for construction of churches, health centers, schools and new houses. Juniperus procera, Olea europaea ssp. cuspidata, Rhus glutinosa, Ficus sur, Hagenia abyssinica, Cassipourea malosana and Acacia etbaica were the most selected and exploited plant species for these purposes.ConclusionsSurvival of protected areas depends on the support of local communities, rather than on fences, fines, or even force. The local communities in the study area have a rich indigenous ecological knowledge to suggest appropriate solutions for improvement of the forest resources. Thus the old tradition of isolating forests from the community has to be avoided and the basic needs and traditional rights of the communities over the uses of forest resources should be recognized.
Highlights
Traditional management regimes and knowledge systems of forest resources have shaped forests throughout the world where materials from individual species are harvested in a sustainable manner
We examined the following issues: (i) Which plant species are more important/exploited from the forest by the local inhabitants? What are the diverse uses obtained from each plant species? (ii) Why are there fewer trees compared to the past? Who cut them or did they die, and why? (iii) What are the activities most destructive to the forest? (iv) Are there any traditional laws preventing people from harvesting forest products? (v) What appropriate measures should be taken to conserve traditional knowledge and plant diversity of the study area?
The 46 most important tree and shrub species were selected among 102 tree/shrub species recorded from the study area [44], based on recommendations of local guides and key informants to determine the range of uses obtained from each tree and shrub species
Summary
Traditional management regimes and knowledge systems of forest resources have shaped forests throughout the world where materials from individual species are harvested in a sustainable manner. There exists a mutual feedback between cultural systems and the environment, with a shift in one often leading to a change in the other [10] It has been suggested [11] that distinctions between social and natural systems are somewhat artificial and arbitrary. Traditional societies have interacted with biological diversity through adaptive and co-evolutionary processes for thousands of generations [12, 13]. This symbiotic relationship between biological and social systems helps in the hope of achieving a sustainable future [9, 14]. Maintenance of cultural diversity into the future, and the knowledge, innovations and outlooks it contains, increases the capacity of human systems to adapt and cope with change [7, 12]
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