2012-12-20
Tropical studies in Forest Facts from SLU:
Forest response to drought in the Amazon, and forest user strategies in Ethiopia
Valley in the Bale mountains in southern Ethiopia. Photo: Yemiru Tesfaye
Read about the possible effects of drought in the Amazon on forest ecosystem function, and the success of various economic strategies for sustainable livelihood of local forest users in Ethiopia!
Two issues of SLU:s popular science publication Fakta Skog have been translated in 2012 and are now available:
The Amazon rainforest stores up to 120 billion tonnes of carbon (C) in vegetation, but the stability of this stored C is potentially threatened as global climate change brings more frequent and severe drought events to the region. To better predict Amazon drought responses, a large-scale drought experiment was installed in eastern Amazonia in 2000. The forest proved to be remarkably resilient, showing little clear change in mortality to the first few years of drought. By the third year, however, trees began to die with the largest individuals the worst affected. This research provides key evidence for the likely patterns and mechanisms of forest responses to drought across a globally important ecosystem facing dramatic climatic shifts over this century.
In a co-management project in Adaba-Dodola, Ethiopia local forest user groups are responsible to protect and manage the forest. In return they have the right to use the forest. Forest products contributed about one third of total per capita income in the form of firewood, timber, edible plants and medicinal plants. Forest income helped 20 % of the households over the poverty line. The most successful user groups were situated closer to the town and depended less on forest income. Their forests were more degraded at the outset. Households are in general positive towards the collective activity – planting – but they are concerned with the low success rate of the plantations.
More issues of Forest Facts and the main version in Swedish, Fakta Skog, may be downloaded from the SLU website for free following this link:
http://www.slu.se/forskning/faktaskog
Written by:
olof.bergvall@slu.se