Abstract
Bamboo forests, which are an integral part of the eco-system and an important source of socio-economic life for rural communities in the vast savannah lowlands of Ethiopia, are experiencing significant changes. Therefore, examining bamboo forest cover changes and identifying responsible drivers for the changes are of the greatest importance for sustainable management of these useful resources. This study was intended to examine the spatio-temporal bamboo forest dynamics in the Lower Beles River Basin, north-western Ethiopia. A combination of pixel-based hybrid classification techniques and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was employed to analyze bamboo forest cover changes from 1985 to 2019. Focus group discussions, questionnaire, key informant interview and observation were used to identify the drivers for bamboo forest cover change. The study findings indicate that bamboo has experienced significant spatio-temporal change over the study period (1985–2019) in the study District. In the base year (1985), bamboo covered 5.1% (5277.1 ha) of the study area. Significant decline in bamboo forest had occurred in 2001 when the bamboo forests suffered the greatest devastation and shirked to 1.6%. In 2019, the bamboo has been rehabilitated from degradation and increased significantly. However, the net change over the study periods was negative where the bamboo forests declined by 0.8% (831.14 ha). The observed changes in bamboo forest cover were driven by an interplay of multiple factors. Agricultural land expansion, wildfire, free grazing, lack of regulatory mechanisms and improper harvesting and expansion of settlement areas were the top five drivers respectively while conflict, mass flowering and tenure contributed for the change. Therefore, the bamboo forests deserve great attention, and the results from this study imply the need for the concerted efforts of stakeholders for sustainable management, utilization and conservation of the bamboo resources.
Highlights
Bamboo forests, which are an integral part of the eco-system and an important source of socio-economic life for rural communities in the vast savannah lowlands of Ethiopia, are experiencing significant changes
Questionnaire, key informant interview and observation were used to identify the drivers for bamboo forest cover change
The study findings indicate that bamboo has experienced significant spatio-temporal change over the study period (1985 - 2019) in the study District
Summary
Bamboo forests, which are an integral part of the eco-system and an important source of socio-economic life for rural communities in the vast savannah lowlands of Ethiopia, are experiencing significant changes. Bamboos are crucial vegetation resources mostly distributed in tropical and sub-tropical areas of Asia, Africa and Latin America (Ben-zhi et al 2005; Zhang et al 2014; Zhuang et al 2015), covering 33 million ha area and accounting for about 1.0% of the forest area in the world (Zhou et al 2011; Du et al 2018) They are unique in their capacity to meet a wide range of socio-economic, sustainability, and conservation focused objectives (Sohel et al 2015; Ling et al 2016; Li et al 2020), owing to their rapid growth, ease of propagation, and the range of ecosystem services they provide (Zhou et al 2011; Nath et al 2015; Li et al 2016). The focus of the present study is on O. abyssinica, which grows in the vast western savannah lowlands along major river valleys bordering Sudan (Kelbessa et al 2000), and constitutes about 85% of the total bamboo forest in the country (Sertse et al 2011; Endalamaw et al 2013; Desalegn and Tadesse 2015; Boissière et al 2019)
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