Effects of long-term deforestation and remnant forests on rainfall and temperature in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia

Muluneh, Alemayehu; Loon, E. Emiel van; Bewket, Woldeamlak; Keesstra, Saskia; Stroosnijder, L.; Burka, Ashenafi

doi:10.1186/s40663-017-0109-8

Cited by 17 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 66 publications

(73 reference statements)

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“…Similarly, [28] indicated low pH values in the untreated fields due to the low base saturation percentage and low sediment organic matter (SOM) content and high pH value in the sediment accumulation zone behind the SWCPs of the treated fields in the Anjeni watershed, central highlands of Ethiopia. In general, as per the ratings of [50], the soil pH in the Lole watershed was slightly acidic (5.9-6.65), which is suitable for crop production, as most nutrients for field crops are available at pH values between 5.5-7.0 [33]. The variations in soil pH were also statistically significant (p ≤ 0.05) in different slope positions.…”

Section: Effects Of Soil Bund and Stone-faced Soil Bund On Soil Chemimentioning

confidence: 85%

Effects of Soil Bund and Stone-Faced Soil Bund on Soil Physicochemical Properties and Crop Yield Under Rain-Fed Conditions of Northwest Ethiopia

Guadie¹,

Molla

Mekonnen

et al. 2020

Land

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Research-based evidence on the effects of soil and water conservation practices (SWCPs) on soil physicochemical properties and crop yield is vital either to adopt the practices or design alternative land management strategies. Thus, this study was conducted to evaluate the effects of about 10-year-old soil bund (SB) and stone-faced soil bund (SFSB) structures on selected soil physicochemical properties, slope gradient, barley grain yield, and yield components in the Lole watershed, in the northwest highlands of Ethiopia. The experiment consisted of three treatments: (i) fields treated with SB, (ii) fields treated with SFSB, and (iii) fields without conservation practices (control) with three replications at three slope classes. A total of 27 composite soil samples from 0 to 20 cm depth and barley grain yield samples from 27 locations were collected. The soil samples were analyzed for bulk density, soil texture, porosity, soil reaction, cation exchange capacity, organic carbon, total nitrogen, available phosphorous, and potassium. Barley grain yield was analyzed using different agronomic parameters. The result indicated that SB and SFSB positively influenced the physicochemical properties of soils and barley grain yield. The interslope gradient between the successive SBs and SFSBs was reducing. Moreover, the untreated fields showed significantly lower barley grain yield, plant height, and straw biomass. Hence, SB and SFSB practices were found to be effective in changing slope gradient, improving soil fertility, and increasing crop yield. Therefore, this finding is vital to create awareness and convince farmers to construct SWCPs on their farmlands for sustainable land management.

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Section: Effects Of Soil Bund and Stone-faced Soil Bund On Soil Chemimentioning

confidence: 85%

Effects of Soil Bund and Stone-Faced Soil Bund on Soil Physicochemical Properties and Crop Yield Under Rain-Fed Conditions of Northwest Ethiopia

Guadie¹,

Molla

Mekonnen

et al. 2020

Land

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“…This is especially important given the heterogeneous agro-ecological systems under which maize is produced in many countries. In Ethiopia for example, there is a growing realization that trees are important and linked to many biophysical processes including for regulating temperature and rainfall regimes (Muluneh et al, 2017b) and for crop buffering (Kassie, 2018;Sida et al, 2018). This is even more important with increasing risks of climate change on crop production (Araya et al, 2017;Bedeke et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying Agroforestry Yield Buffering Potential Under Climate Change in the Smallholder Maize Farming Systems of Ethiopia

2021

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Agroforestry is a promising adaptation measure for climate change, especially for low external inputs smallholder maize farming systems. However, due to its long-term nature and heterogeneity across farms and landscapes, it is difficult to quantitatively evaluate its contribution in building the resilience of farming systems to climate change over large areas. In this study, we developed an approach to simulate and emulate the shading, micro-climate regulation and biomass effects of multi-purpose trees agroforestry system on maize yields using APSIM, taking Ethiopia as a case study. Applying the model to simulate climate change impacts showed that at national level, maize yield will increase by 7.5 and 3.1 % by 2050 under RCP2.6 and RCP8.5, respectively. This projected increase in national-level maize yield is driven by maize yield increases in six administrative zones whereas yield losses are expected in other five zones (mean of −6.8% for RCP2.6 and −11.7% for RCP8.5), with yields in the other four zones remaining stable overtime. Applying the emulated agroforestry leads to increase in maize yield under current and future climatic conditions compared to maize monocultures, particularly in regions for which yield losses under climate change are expected. A 10% agroforestry shade will reduce maize yield losses by 6.9% (RCP2.6) and 4.2 % (RCP8.5) while 20% shade will reduce maize yield losses by 11.5% (RCP2.6) and 11% (RCP8.5) for projected loss zones. Overall, our results show quantitatively that agroforestry buffers yield losses for areas projected to have yield losses under climate change in Ethiopia, and therefore should be part of building climate-resilient agricultural systems.

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“…The work by Mengesha et al (2014) uncovered the impacts of land use, land cover and climate change on the bird community in and around Lake Zeway. Another research by Muluneh et al (2017), investigated the effects of long-term deforestation and remnant forests on rainfall and temperature in the CRV.…”

Section: Climate and The Hydro-ecosystemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review: Groundwater research in the Ethiopian Rift Valley Lakes region

et al. 2023

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Despite its proximity to many research institutions in the country and prevailing environmental and water security challenges, water resources research in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia has few decades of history. Research undertaken so far, mainly focus on the lakes' environment and anthropogenic activities in their proximities. Worsening deterioration of the water resources and environmental conditions; and the need to address overlooked but determinant natural and anthropogenic processes spurred a critical review of what has been done so far. This work provides an overview of the history of water research in the central rift valley and tries to reveal research gaps related to surface water-groundwater interaction, water quality, and changing trends in the hydro ecosystem and possible causes. Apart from this, articles dealing with the geological and structural setup of the central rift valley were systematically reviewed to show their control over the hydrologic system. The review work has revealed that although the current state of the central rift valley is a product of anthropogenic and geogenic processes; which are happening within the sub-basin and its adjacent basins that need to be addressed at a higher thematic, spatial, and temporal scopes, there is gap in reviewed research, to address the issue at this level. The forefront environmental challenges and the need for quick fixes, lack of data, and funding are found to be some of the reasons to limit the scope of research activities, mainly to shallow groundwater zones and surface hydrological processes around the lakes. This approach has hindered seeing the bigger picture and resulted in ineffective environmental and natural resources restoration measures and policy decisions.

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Effects of long-term deforestation and remnant forests on rainfall and temperature in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia

Cited by 17 publications

References 66 publications

Effects of Soil Bund and Stone-Faced Soil Bund on Soil Physicochemical Properties and Crop Yield Under Rain-Fed Conditions of Northwest Ethiopia

Effects of Soil Bund and Stone-Faced Soil Bund on Soil Physicochemical Properties and Crop Yield Under Rain-Fed Conditions of Northwest Ethiopia

Quantifying Agroforestry Yield Buffering Potential Under Climate Change in the Smallholder Maize Farming Systems of Ethiopia

Review: Groundwater research in the Ethiopian Rift Valley Lakes region

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