Ethiopian Church Forests: A Hybrid Model of Protection

Klepeis, Peter; Orlowska, Izabela; Kent, Eliza F.; Cardelús, Catherine L.; Scull, Peter; Eshete, Alemayehu Wassie; Woods, Carrie L.

doi:10.1007/s10745-016-9868-z

Cited by 45 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…In a different context, Klepeis et al (2016) argue that the societies in northern Ethiopia protect church forests through hybrid models of protection, both as locally embedded spiritual and cultural values and as externally imposed practices for modern conservation purposes. For the Gedeo, trees also are used for spiritual purposes.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, although some northern Ethiopian communities consider church forests as sacred spaces, the sacredness emanates not from the people's representation of the environment as a conjointly constituted entity with humans. Rather, by enclosing the church and its buildings, which are perceived as sacred, the forests get values of sacredness, and as a result, people are sanctioned not to cut trees from such spaces (Klepeis et al, 2016).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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“Tree Is Life”: The Rising of Dualism and the Declining of Mutualism among the Gedeo of Southern Ethiopia

et al. 2017

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This study investigates ecocultural discourses and practices among the Gedeo in southern Ethiopia within the contexts of globalizing commodification of nature, successive governmental extractivist and conservationist discourses, and increasingly influential colonial present religious systems. Our analysis illustrates ways in which indigenous Gedeo understandings of reciprocal ecological coexistence are rooted in cultural knowledge, values, and customs. However, competing forms of knowledge introduced in the form of governance, commerce, conservation, and religion have resulted in an in-process shift from traditionally, spiritually maintained mutualist human-environment relations to dualist commodified relations, particularly among youth, and dualist expert-reliant conservationist relations emanating from governmental bodies. By examining a traditional meaning system during an explicit process of erasure, the study points to ways local meanings of, and narratives about, ecocultural interactions are produced and communicated within wider contexts of power, and illustrates tensions among traditional, governmental, capitalist, conservationist, and religious environmental ontologies in everyday and institutional practice.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Tree Is Life”: The Rising of Dualism and the Declining of Mutualism among the Gedeo of Southern Ethiopia

et al. 2017

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“…Larger landholdings -another indicator of resource access and wealth -were also associated with less individual willingness to enforce church forest rules. In interviews several priests and church followers noted that increased incomes have been associated with construction of elaborate burial tombs and expanded church buildings in many communities (see also Klepeis et al 2016). Together these findings suggest that church forest governance institutions may be vulnerable to positive shifts in economic conditions, as has been observed in other sacred natural sites systems (Castro et al 1990;Daye and Healey 2015).…”

Section: Changes In Dominant Perceptions Of Church Forest Roles and Rmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…Followers believe that to harm the church forest is to deny the presence of God, and that people who dishonor the forest will suffer serious consequences (Tilahun et al 2015). But church forests also provide a variety of material benefits to local communities in the form of fresh water, food and medicinal plants, and in some cases firewood and construction timber Klepeis et al 2016;Liang et al 2016). Wood from church forests is traditionally used for construction and repair of church buildings, and deadwood, seedlings, fodder, or honey are often sold to church followers to generate income for the church (Bongers et al 2006).…”

Section: Rules and Rulemaking In Ethiopian Orthodox Church Forestsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rather, they are complex social-ecological systems that have provided a variety of cultural, ecological, and economic benefits for churches and surrounding communities for centuries (Wassie et al 2010;Reynolds et al 2017). In other words, the church forests of Ethiopia are not only valuable cultural and ecological resources, but they also represent a unique and longstanding conservation institution in the midst of a dynamic agrarian landscape (Berhane et al 2013;Cardelús et al 2013;Aerts et al 2016;Klepeis et al 2016;Scull et al 2016). Many studies in other sacred natural sites in Sub Saharan Africa have indicated that such dispersed religion-based resource governance institutions can be more effective for ensuring the long-term viability of natural forests than more centralized state institutions (see Strauch et al (2016) for a review).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Changes in community perspectives on the roles and rules of church forests in northern Ethiopia: evidence from a panel survey of four Ethiopian Orthodox communities

et al. 2017

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Consumed from within? Social and ecological drivers of internal clearings in Ethiopian Orthodox church forests

Zebrowski,

Reynolds

2023

Land Degrad Dev

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In a largely deforested landscape, thousands of small pockets of indigenous forest remain in Ethiopia's northern highlands. These “church forests” are maintained by Ethiopian Orthodox church communities, and they provide valuable reserves of indigenous species diversity and ecosystem services. However, there are important trade‐offs between the different ecosystem services church forests provide: the size of community‐made clearings within church forests used for prayer and other church services have to be balanced with services derived from intact forest cover and dense vegetation. This research uses a spatial, social–ecological model to examine patterns in church forest size and vegetation density across 2743 church forests in the Amhara Region. Results suggest that larger internal clearings correlate with larger forest area, and clearings also scale with population size. We also find that greater elevation and distance to population centers are associated with higher church forest density, while greater community wealth is associated with reduced forest density and area. These trends initially suggest that internal clearings can support conservation efforts, but they are nuanced by prevalent non‐native Eucalyptus planting and increasing internal deforestation for graveyard space for wealthier communities. Additionally, we find that internal clearings are an important source of omitted variable bias in estimating the relationship between density and area in church forests. As a consequence, incorporating church clearings into social–ecological models leads to meaningful differences in church forest density and area estimates. Ultimately, this study suggests that church forests in Ethiopia may be sustained rather than consumed from within.

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Ethiopian Church Forests: A Hybrid Model of Protection

Cited by 45 publications

References 54 publications

“Tree Is Life”: The Rising of Dualism and the Declining of Mutualism among the Gedeo of Southern Ethiopia

“Tree Is Life”: The Rising of Dualism and the Declining of Mutualism among the Gedeo of Southern Ethiopia

Changes in community perspectives on the roles and rules of church forests in northern Ethiopia: evidence from a panel survey of four Ethiopian Orthodox communities

Consumed from within? Social and ecological drivers of internal clearings in Ethiopian Orthodox church forests

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