Tola Gemechu Ango

Bio: Tola Gemechu Ango is an academic researcher from Stockholm University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Deforestation & Forest management. The author has an hindex of 7, co-authored 10 publications receiving 308 citations. Previous affiliations of Tola Gemechu Ango include Norwegian University of Life Sciences & Hawassa University.

Balancing Ecosystem Services and Disservices : Smallholder Farmers' Use and Management of Forest and Trees in an Agricultural Landscape in Southwestern Ethiopia

Abstract: Farmers' practices in the management of agricultural landscapes influence biodiversity with implications for livelihoods, ecosystem service provision, and biodiversity conservation. In this study, ...

Research, part of a Special Feature on Sustaining Ecosystem Services in Cultural Landscapes: Analysis and Management Options Balancing Ecosystem Services and Disservices: Smallholder Farmers' Use and Management of Forest and Trees in an Agricultural Landscape in Southwestern Ethiopia

Abstract: Farmers' practices in the management of agricultural landscapes influence biodiversity with implications for livelihoods, ecosystem service provision, and biodiversity conservation. In this study, we examined how smallholding farmers in an agriculture- forest mosaic landscape in southwestern Ethiopia manage trees and forests with regard to a few selected ecosystem services and disservices that they highlighted as "beneficial" or "problematic." Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from six villages, located both near and far from forest, using participatory field mapping and semistructured interviews, tree species inventory, focus group discussions, and observation. The study showed that farmers' management practices, i.e., the planting of trees on field boundaries amid their removal from inside arable fields, preservation of trees in semimanaged forest coffee, maintenance of patches of shade coffee fields in the agricultural landscape, and establishment of woodlots with exotic trees result in a restructuring of the forest-agriculture mosaic. In addition, the strategies farmers employed to mitigate crop damage by wild mammals such as baboons and bush pigs, e.g., migration and allocation of migrants on lands along forests, have contributed to a reduction in forest and tree cover in the agricultural landscape. Because farmers' management practices were overall geared toward mitigating the negative impact of disservices and to augment positive services, we conclude that it is important to operationalize ecosystem processes as both services and disservices in studies related to agricultural landscapes.

Crop raiding by wild mammals in Ethiopia: impacts on the livelihoods of smallholders in an agriculture–forest mosaic landscape

Abstract: We assessed the impacts of crop raiding by wild mammals on the livelihoods of smallholding farmers in south-western Ethiopia. Data were generated through participatory field mapping, interviews and focus groups. The results indicated that wild mammals, mainly olive baboons Papio anubis and bush pigs Potamochoerus larvatus, were raiding most crops cultivated in villages close to forests. In addition to the loss of crops, farmers incurred indirect costs in having to guard and cultivate plots far from their residences, sometimes at the expense of their children's schooling. Raiding also undermined farmers’ willingness to invest in modern agricultural technologies. Various coping strategies, including guarding crops and adapting existing local institutions, were insufficient to reduce raiding and its indirect impacts on household economies to tolerable levels, and were undermined by existing policies and government institutions. It is essential to recognize wild mammal pests as a critical ecosystem disservice to farmers, and to identify ways to mitigate their direct and indirect costs, to facilitate local agricultural development and livelihood security, and integrate wildlife conservation and local development more fully in agriculture–forest mosaic landscapes.

Processes of Forest Cover Change since 1958 in the Coffee-Producing Areas of Southwest Ethiopia

Abstract: We investigated the spatial relations of ecological and social processes to point at how state policies, population density, migration dynamics, topography, and socio-economic values of ‘forest coffee’ together shaped forest cover changes since 1958 in southwest Ethiopia. We used data from aerial photos, Landsat images, digital elevation models, participatory field mapping, interviews, and population censuses. We analyzed population, land cover, and topographic roughness (slope) data at the ‘sub-district’ level, based on a classification of the 30 lowest administrative units of one district into the coffee forest area (n = 17), and highland forest area (n = 13). For state forest sites (n = 6) of the district, we evaluated land cover and slope data. Forest cover declined by 25% between 1973 and 2010, but the changes varied spatially and temporally. Losses of forest cover were significantly higher in highland areas (74%) as compared to coffee areas (14%) and state forest sites (2%), and lower in areas with steeper slopes both in coffee and highland areas. Both in coffee and highland areas, forest cover also declined during 1958–1973. People moved to and converted forests in relatively low population density areas. Altitudinal migration from coffee areas to highland areas contributed to deforestation displacement due to forest maintenance for shade coffee production in coffee areas and forest conversions for annual crop production in highland areas. The most rapid loss of forest cover occurred during 1973–1985, followed by 2001–2010, which overlapped with the implementations of major land and forest policies that created conditions for more deforestation. Our findings highlight how crop ecology and migration have shaped spatial variations of forest cover change across different altitudinal zones whilst development, land, and forest policies and programs have driven the temporal variations of deforestation. Understanding the mechanisms of deforestation and forest maintenance simultaneously and their linkages is necessary for better biodiversity conservation and forest landscape management.

Medium-Scale Forestland Grabbing in the Southwestern Highlands of Ethiopia : Impacts on Local Livelihoods and Forest Conservation

Abstract: Tropical forest provides a crucial portion of sustenance in many rural communities, although it is increasingly under pressure from appropriations of various scales. This study investigated the impacts of medium-scale forestland grabbing on local livelihoods and forest conservation in the southwestern highlands of Ethiopia. Data were generated through interviews, discussions and document review. The results indicate that state transfer of part of the forestland since the late 1990s to investors for coffee production created in situ displacement- a situation where farmers remained in place but had fully or partially lost access to forest- that disrupted farmers’ livelihoods and caused conflicts between them and the investors. Court cases about the appropriated land and related imprisonment, inflicted financial and opportunity costs on farmers. Farmers considered the livelihood opportunities created by the companies insufficient to compensate for loss of forest access. Companies’ technology transfers to farmers and contributions to foreign currency earnings from coffee exports have not yet materialized. Forest conservation efforts have been negatively affected by deforestation caused by conversion to coffee plantations and by farmers’ efforts to secure rights to forestland by more intensive use. The medium-scale forestland grabbing has been detrimental to farmers’ livelihoods and forest conservation in a way that recalls criticism of large- and mega-scale land grabbing since 2007–2008. The overall failure to achieve the objectives of transferring forestland to investors highlights a critical need to shift institutional supports to smallholders’ informal forest access and management practices for better development and conservation outcomes.

Collaborative environmental governance: Achieving collective action in social-ecological systems

Abstract: BACKGROUND Current and future generations are confronted with the complex task of devising sustainable solutions to environmental problems. The coming decade might determine whether humanity will be able to set a course toward a future of continued prosperity on a planet whose ecosystems will deliver the needed goods and services. A crucial piece of this puzzle is achieving effective collaboration among different public and private actors and stakeholders. Calls for solving environmental problems through collaborative governance emphasize benefits from local to global scales—from artisanal fishermen avoiding the overfishing of local fish stocks by together agreeing upon sustainable practices, to states jointly committing to implement adequate measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Although commonly advocated, achieving successful collaborations when confronted with complex environmental problems spanning geographical scales and jurisdictional boundaries is an area where substantial knowledge gaps remain. ADVANCES A growing amount of empirical evidence shows the effectiveness of actors engaged in different collaborative governance arrangements in addressing environmental problems. However, studies also show that actors sometimes collaborate only as a means of advocating their own interests, while largely lacking a willingness to contribute towards jointly negotiated solutions to common problems. Hence, collaboration is sometimes unable to deliver any tangible outcomes, or merely produces symbolic outcomes such as aggregated wish lists where conflicts of interest are left untouched. Clearly, no single blueprint exists for how to succeed by using collaborative approaches to solve environmental problems. One way of approaching this puzzle is through the lenses of the participating actors and the ways in which they engage in collaboration with each other. This approach entails directing attention to who the actors are, what their interests and motives are, who they collaborate with, and how the structures of such “collaborative networks” relate to the actors’ joint abilities to address different environmental problems. Emerging insights from recent research suggest that the effectiveness of different collaborative network structures in addressing environmental problems depends on how those problems unfold with respect to the following characteristics: (i) varying levels of risk that actors free-ride on others’ efforts; (ii) varying levels of knowledge gaps, signifying different needs for social learning and deliberation among actors with different backgrounds, experiences, and interests; and (iii) whether these problems are, for all practical purposes, permanent or just temporary. Also, long-standing research questions regarding whether governance structures that are adequately aligned with ecosystem structures and processes are more effective have recently been addressed empirically. Early results suggest several ways in which misalignments between the structure of a collaborative network and the biophysical environment reduce the ability to address environmental problems effectively. OUTLOOK A more nuanced understanding of whether collaborative governance is the most effective way of solving environmental problems is needed. The capacity of collaborative governance to deliver sustainable solutions for any given environmental problem ranges from highly effective to essentially worthless. Future efforts must establish which factors determine the exact location of any collaborative arrangement on this continuum. Emerging insights suggest that where a collaborative arrangement falls on the spectrum results from a complex interplay between several factors. The characteristics of the underlying collective action problem are one factor. Others are the characteristics of the underlying biophysical system and how these align with the ways in which collaborative governance arrangements are constructed, institutionally embedded, and managed. Finally, the patterns in which actors collaborate with each other (or do not) is a factor that potentially determines the effects that the other factors have on a collaborative arrangement’s ability to solve environmental problems.

The impact of land use/land cover change on ecosystem services in the central highlands of Ethiopia

Abstract: Ecosystems provide a wide range of services that are important for human-well being. Estimating the multiple services obtained from ecosystems is vital to support decision-making processes at different levels. This study analyzes land use/land cover (LU/LC) dynamics over four decades (i.e., 1973, 1986, 2001, 2015) to assess its impact on ecosystem services. Ecosystem Service Values (ESV) was determined using LU/LC analysis and established global data base. LU/LC analysis showed that forest cover reduced by 54.2% during study period; and settlement, bare land, shrub land and cultivated land increased considerably. The study indicates that due to forest cover change from 1973 to 2015, approximately US$ 3.69 million of ecosystem services values was lost. Among the ecosystem services reduced were: nutrient cycling, provision of raw material and erosion control. The use of LU/LC data along with established global ESV data sets reduce the costs of ground data collection, and help in tracking of past environmental changes and acquisition of quick and reliable results that can be used for decision making processes. We believe that the results obtained can be helpful in designing payment for environmental services and rural development policies.

Soil “Ecosystem” Services and Natural Capital: Critical Appraisal of Research on Uncertain Ground

Abstract: Over the last few years, considerable attention has been devoted in the scientific literature and in the media to the concept of "ecosystem" services of soils. The monetary valuation of these services, demanded by many governments and international agencies, is often depicted as a necessary condition for the preservation of the natural capital that soils represent. This focus on soil services is framed in the context of a general interest in ecosystem services that allegedly started in 1997, and took off in earnest after 2005. The careful analysis of the literature proposed in this article shows that, in fact, interest in the multifunctionality of soils emerged already in the mid-60s, at a time when hundreds of researchers worldwide were trying, and largely failing, to figure out how to put price tags meaningfully on "nature's services." Soil scientists, since, have tried to better understand various functions/services of soils, as well as their possible relation with key soil characteristics, like biodiversity. They have also tried to make progress on the challenging quantification of soil functions/services. However, researchers have shown very little interest in monetary valuation, undoubtedly in part because it is not clear what economic and financial markets might do with prices of soil functions/services, even if we could somehow come up with such numbers, and because there is no assurance at all, based on neoclassical economic theory, that markets would manage soil resources optimally. Instead of monetary valuation, focus in the literature has been put on decision-making methods, like Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) and Bayesian Belief Networks (BBN), which do not require the systematic monetization of soil functions/services and easily accommodate deliberative approaches involving a variety of stakeholders. A prerequisite to progress in such public deliberations is that participants be very cognizant of the extreme relevance of soils to many aspects of their daily life. We argue that, as long as this prerequisite is satisfied, the combination of deliberative decision-making methods and of a sound scientific approach to the quantification of soil functions/services is a very promising avenue to manage effectively and ethically the priceless heritage that soils constitute.

Integrating ecosystem services and disservices: insights from plant invasions

Abstract: There is growing interest in ecosystem disservices, i.e. the negative effects of ecosystems on humans. The focus on disservices has been controversial because of the lack of clarity on how to disentangle ecosystem services and disservices related to human wellbeing. A perspective that considers both services and disservices is needed to inform objective decision-making. We propose a comprehensive typology of ecosystem disservices, and present a framework for integrating ecosystem services and disservices for human wellbeing linked to ecosystem functioning. Our treatment is underpinned by three key assumptions: (1) ecosystem attributes and functions are value-free; (2) the perception of benefits or nuisances are however dependent on societal context, and preferences and actions by societal actors may trigger, enhance or alleviate benefits or nuisances derived from ecosystems; and (3) the notion of disservices must account for the role of human management in assessments of ecosystem values, i.e. the social and technological measures that identify, protect, promote or restore desirable levels of services, and concurrently minimise, mitigate or adapt to disservices. We illustrate our ideas with examples from plant invasions as a complex social-ecological phenomenon.

Sustaining ecosystem services in cultural landscapes

Abstract: Classical conservation approaches focus on the man-made degradation of ecosystems and tend to neglect the social- ecological values that human land uses have imprinted on many environments. Throughout the world, ingenious land-use practices have generated unique cultural landscapes, but these are under pressure from agricultural intensification, land abandonment, and urbanization. In recent years, the cultural landscapes concept has been broadly adopted in science, policy, and management. The interest in both outstanding and vernacular landscapes finds expression in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, the European Landscape Convention, and the IUCN Protected Landscape Approach. These policies promote the protection, management, planning, and governance of cultural landscapes. The ecosystem services approach is a powerful framework to guide such efforts, but has rarely been applied in landscape research and management. With this paper, we introduce a special feature that aims to enhance the theoretical, empirical and practical knowledge of how to safeguard the resilience of ecosystem services in cultural landscapes. It concludes (1) that the usefulness of the ecosystem services approach to the analysis and management of cultural landscapes should be reviewed more critically; (2) that conventional ecosystem services assessment needs to be complemented by socio-cultural valuation; (3) that cultural landscapes are inherently changing, so that a dynamic view on ecosystem services and a focus on drivers of landscape change are needed; and (4) that managing landscapes for ecosystem services provision may benefit from a social-ecological resilience perspective.