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Ecological Status and Plan for Connectivity of Fragmented Forests as a Means of Degraded Land Restoration in South Gonder, Ethiopia

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Book cover State of the Art in Ethiopian Church Forests and Restoration Options

Abstract

Lack of networks of connected habitat patches affects the biodiversity of the area. Hence, this study assesses the status of fragmentation of the land use of Libokememek District and propose a plan for the ecological connectivity/corridor. Data from 2015 Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) results, Digital Elevation Model (DEM), all area closures, and church forests were used for the study. To analyze the fragmentations status of the area different metrics was calculated using fragstat4 software in ArcGIS10.3. The result reveals agricultural lands and grasslands occupied more than 80% of the land use compared to the forest land (844 hectare). This result shows that forest land use is the most fragmented land use. The planned ecological connectivity has a total of 2305 hectare of land. To reduce fragmentation focal patches such as area closure and church forest; sub patches like slope greater than 30%, degraded lands, and river stream with a buffer of 30 m are used. This will result in 29% of land is covered with vegetation/forest. Finally, soil and water conservation work that promotes the participation of the community and other stakeholders has been recommended. Likewise, the churches have to be encouraged and incentivized to keep their trees/forest land.

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Author information

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 Architecture, Adama Science and Technology University, P.O.Box 1888, Adama, Ethiopia

    Fikirte Demissie

  3. Institute of Forest Management, TUM School of Life Sciences Weihenstphan, Technische Universität München, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz-Platz 2, 85354, Freising, Germany

    Mengistie Kindu

Authors
  1. Fikirte Demissie
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  2. Kumelachew Yeshitela
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  3. Mengistie Kindu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fikirte Demissie .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Technical University of Munich, Freising, Bayern, Germany

    Mengistie Kindu

  2. Technical University of Munich, Freising, Bayern, Germany

    Thomas Schneider

  3. Organization for Rehabilitation and Development, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia

    Alemayehu Wassie

  4. Unique Forestry and Land Use GmbH, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Mulugeta Lemenih

  5. Department of Range and Forest Resources, Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Gaborone, Botswana

    Demel Teketay

  6. Fachgebiet für Waldinventur und nachhaltige Nutzung, Technische Universität München, Freising, Bayern, Germany

    Thomas Knoke

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Demissie, F., Yeshitela, K., Kindu, M. (2022). Ecological Status and Plan for Connectivity of Fragmented Forests as a Means of Degraded Land Restoration in South Gonder, Ethiopia. In: Kindu, M., Schneider, T., Wassie, A., Lemenih, M., Teketay, D., Knoke, T. (eds) State of the Art in Ethiopian Church Forests and Restoration Options. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86626-6_13

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