The nature of African savannas: future changes in precipitation may considerably affect their distribution and dynamics

 

Determinants of woody cover in African savannas

by

Mahesh Sankaran1, Niall P. Hanan1, Robert J. Scholes2, Jayashree Ratnam1, David J. Augustine3, Brian S. Cade4,Jacques Gignoux5, Steven I. Higgins6, Xavier Le Roux7, Fulco Ludwig8, Jonas Ardo9, Feetham Banyikwa10,Andries Bronn11, Gabriela Bucini

, Kelly K. Caylor12, Michael B. Coughenour1, Alioune Diouf13,Wellington Ekaya14, Christie J. Feral15, Edmund C. February16, Peter G. H. Frost17, Pierre Hiernaux18,

Halszka Hrabar19, Kristine L. Metzger20, Herbert H. T. Prins21, Susan Ringrose

22, William Sea1, Jörg Tews23, Jeff Worden1 & Nick Zambatis2

Savannas are globally important ecosystems of great significance to human economies. In these biomes, which are characterized by the co-dominance of trees and grasses, woody cover is a chief determinant of ecosystem properties.

The availability of resources (water, nutrients) and disturbance regimes (fire, herbivory) are thought to be important in regulating woody cover, but perceptions differ on which of these are the primary drivers of savanna structure.

Here we show, using data from 854 sites across Africa, that maximum woody cover in savannas receiving a mean annual precipitation (MAP) of less than 650 mm is constrained by, and increases linearly with, MAP.

These arid and semi-arid savannas may be considered ‘stable’ systems in which water constrains woody cover and permits grasses to coexist, while fire, herbivory and soil properties interact to reduce woody cover below the MAP-controlled upper bound.

Above a MAP of 650 mm, savannas are ‘unstable’ systems in which MAP is sufficient for woody canopy closure, and disturbances (fire, herbivory) are required for the coexistence of trees and grass.

These results provide insights into the nature of African savannas and suggest that future changes in precipitation may considerably affect their distribution and dynamics.

Determinants of woody cover in African savannas. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/7428894_Determinants_of_woody_cover_in_African_savannas?focusFeedback=1 [accessed Jan 21, 2017].

Helping smallholders restore degraded forests

 

Photo credit: SciDevNet

Copyright: Ochieng’ Ogodo

African initiative calls for focus on land restoration

Ochieng’ Ogodo

Speed read

• A meeting has called for a need to create evidence to restore Africa’s forests
• Collaborations among universities could help generate more evidence
• Governments should be committed to helping smallholders restore degraded forests

Generating sufficient scientific knowledge to restore degraded land is critical in Africa because the continent largely depends on land and other natural resources for socioeconomic development, experts say.

Most populations, it was noted at the 1st African Forest Landscape Restoration (AFR100) Regional Conference this month (11-12 October) in Ethiopia, depend on land for livelihoods, but there has been massive degradation and this calls for, among others, adequate knowledge for restoration, particularly by small-scale farmers.

“Rivers are drying, Lake Chad is gone, Lake Turkana in Kenya is receding and [thus] people have to take restoration very seriously.”

Alice Akinyi Kaudia, Kenya’s Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources.

“This requires inter-universities collaborations because not all African universities are well endowed with enough resources to generate needed knowledge and tools,” says Alice Akinyi Kaudia, environmentsecretary in Kenya’s Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources. “It will [also] be useful to develop centres of excellence within them to address this urgently.”

The AFR100 conference was organised by the New Economic Partnership for Africa’s Development, Federal German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the World Bank, and the World Resources Institute.

Read the full article: SciDevNet

Who owns the seeds produced in nature ?

 

Photo credit: Bioversity International

Women’s shifting rights to precious tree resources in Burkina Faso

By Barbara Vinceti, Scientist

Néré (Parkia biglobosa)—the African locust bean—is a very important tree species not only in Burkina Faso but across West Africa. It plays a significant role in the diet of rural and urban populations in Burkina Faso’s Sudano-Sahelian zone. The fruit provides seeds, which women process into a highly nutritious sauce (soumbala) that is eaten with grain-based dishes. Although women are the ones to harvest néré seeds for income and direct consumption, they have no secure access to tree resources. Moreover, the density of néré is declining because of threats hindering its regeneration, including population growth and the expansion of cultivated crops in an extensive agrarian system. In a condition of resource scarcity and increasing demand, changes in women’s use and access rights are taking place.

Catherine Pehou, a young researcher from Burkina Faso, shared her findings on shifting access rights to néré in a session on ‘Adoption, innovation and gender perspectives’ at the annual Tropentag conference held in Vienna from 19-21 September, 2016. Pehou analyzed the dynamic nature of women’s access rights and control over néré in three villages in Central-West Burkina Faso, inhabited by autochthonous (Nouni) and migrant ethnic groups (Mossi and Fulani). Through a mix of methods including participant observation, Catherine mapped the access rights of 180 women to 400 néné trees.

Read the full article: Bioversity International

Sustainable water bird management for food security

 

Photo credit: UN News Centre

A flock of Ruffs in central Sudan. Birds are crucial for food security for the local populations. Photo: FAO/ONCFS

Sahel: UN and French conservation group partner on sustainable water bird management for food security

The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) today announced a new partnership with the French Facility for Global Environment (FFEM), aiming at adopting sustainable water bird hunting management to protect wetland resources in Africa’s Sahel region which are crucial for food security and economic development.

“Our goal is to adapt water bird hunting by promoting sustainable hunting management and bird conservation policies which will benefit those local communities who rely on birds for their livelihoods,” Eva Muller, Director of FAO’s Forestry Policy and Resources Division, said in a new release.

The newly-signed agreement between FAO and FFEM will co-fund one third of the five million euros project, specifically targeting the following main wetlands in the Sahel region: Chad, Egypt, Mali, Senegal and Sudan.

The ‘Strengthening expertise in Sub -Saharan Africa on birds and their rational use for communities and their environment’ (RESSOURCE) project will focus on wetlands situated in the Senegal River Valley, Inner Niger Delta, Lake Chad and the lower and middle reaches of the Nile.

These are ecosystem sites of critical importance where the food security and livelihoods of nearly a billion people depend on agriculture, livestock and natural resource use, including fishing and bird hunting, said FAO.

Read the full article: UN News Centre

How to save Hawaii’s nature and culture

 

 

Conservation and tradition to save Hawaiian ecosystem (SLIDESHOW)

The islands of Hawaii form a unique and fragile ecosystem thousands of miles away from the nearest landmass. The legends and rituals of the nation’s indigenous people, ancestors of the first Polynesian settlers, are closely connected with the island’s plants, animals and landscape.

Tourism, industrial activity and modern recreation have since depleted Hawaii’s natural ecosystem and introduced invasive species that have caused severe damage. And along with indigenous plants and animals, the country risks losing local knowledge and customs.

Now, conservationists are teaming up with spiritual leaders to save Hawaii’s nature and culture. In many places where such work has taken place, rare species are thriving and fragile ecosystems, such as ancient cloud forests, are stabilising.

Read the full story: SciDevNet

Protected areas are not permanent, but vulnerable to government policy

 

Photo credit: SciDevNet

Copyright: Eduardo Martino / Panos

Growth boom puts nature reserves at risk

Speed read

• 10 per cent of Brazil’s protected habitat is affected by downgrading, downsizing or decommissioning
• Hydropower and infrastructure development are to blame for the trend, also seen in India
• A database aims to show that protected areas worldwide need constant attention

Brazil’s nature reserves are rapidly being downsized, downgraded or entirely decommissioned as the country develops, researchers have shown.

The number of so-called PADDD events — Protected Area Downgrade, Downsize or Degazetting — in Brazil is booming, and 10 per cent of nature reserves are now affected, according to a team of scientists speaking at the World Conservation Congress in Hawaii on 3 September. Their conclusions are based on data collected via PADDDTracker.org, a website run by the wildlife charity WWF.

“We want to show that protected areas are not permanent.In fact they are vulnerable to government policy, for example [when] putting commercial tourism into protected areas.”

Mike Mascia, WWF

The data shows that, since 1979, 67 nature reserves in Brazil have been downgraded, reduced in size or cancelled entirely to make way for infrastructure projects and industry, resulting in 112,400 square kilometres of habitat loss. Nearly half of this is down to degazetting — when the protection on a certain habitat is lifted officially.

Another 60 PADDD events are in the pipeline, covering an additional 180,000 square kilometres, says Rodrigo Medeiros, vice president of the NGO Conservation International in Brazil.

Read the full story: SciDevNet

To restore the grasslands of the Great Plains, a Nebraska ecologist says, bring back high intensity fires

This is a UAS prototype for fire ignitions, from figure 4 of Twidwell D et al (2016) Front Ecol Environ 14(6): 333-339. Credit: ESA – https://images.sciencedaily.com/2016/08/160801165014_1_540x360.jpg

Restoring prairie and fighting wildfire with (drone launched) fire(balls)

Source: Ecological Society of America

Summary:

One ecologist wants to change the way we think about prescribed burns. The professor says he can harness extreme fire to restore grasslands on the Great Plains — and he has created a small drone that launches ping-pong balls of fire to help him do it safely and cheaply.

Read the full article: Science Daily

 

 

Forest restoration projects and biodiversity

Photo credit: Google

The International Day for Biological Diversity 2011: Forest Biodiversity

 

Tree genetic diversity is key to success for forest restoration projects

The importance of forests to climatic stability and biodiversity is widely understood, and reflected in the surge of interest in recent decades in large-scale forest restoration projects. The latest such plans are extremely ambitious, requiring significant levels of investment: the Bonn Challenge, for example, brings together international commitments to restore 150 million hectares of lost forests and degraded lands worldwide by 2020; Initiative 20×20 aims to restore 20 million hectares by 2020 in Latin America and India’s Green Mission aims to restore 5 million hectares.

While the potential gains from reforesting landscapes are substantial, there is a need to confront the often disappointing reality: to date, many restoration projects have achieved only limited success, or have failed completely. The reasons for this are complex and not fully understood; there has been little by way of rigorous evaluation of the success factors for restoration projects. However a review of the studies that have been conducted has revealed important insights into the effect of tree genetics on the chances of success, and offers valuable pointers for future tree planting projects.

Projects designed to return degraded land to natural forest, with associated improvements in ecological function and biodiversity, rightly focus on native tree species. The review suggests that a deeper level of ecological awareness and a more nuanced approach to tree selection than have been previously deployed could help to attain the desired outcome of resilient, self-sustaining forest ecosystems.

Writing in a special edition of the Forest Ecology & Management journal, as part of the Forest Genetic Resources series, scientists report that inadequate attention to genetic considerations in choosing planting material can have an adverse impact on outcomes.

Even native tree species can be genetically ill-matched to the environmental conditions at the restoration site if the planting material is not well chosen. This can result in a deleterious effect on the trees’ growth, potential for survival and reproductive success.

Read the full story: Bioversity International

Indigenous peoples conserving the forests

Photo credit: SciDevNet

Copyright: Flickr/Dede Rohadi /CIFOR

 

Indigenous people keep carbon locked in forests

“The world has never had such strong evidence of the role of indigenous peoples in conserving the forests that represent the one existing solution to climate change.”

Abdon Nababan, Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago

 

Speed read

• Local land claims must be protected to stop greenhouse gas emissions from tree felling, forum hears.

Indigenous people prevent carbon emissions through their stewardship of forests and pristine environments, a side event at the COP 21 summit heard.

A study presented at COP 21’s Global landscapes forum showed thatindigenous people oversee around a fifth of the world’s carbon stock, in the form of tropical forests. Altogether, 168 billion tonnes of carbon are stored on indigenous lands — around three times the world’s annual emissions — and this is in danger of being released if the societies looking after these lands are not strengthened, the study found.

“We know that the respect and recognition of indigenous people’s rights, land tenure and traditional knowledge have contributed to more sustainable use and management of various ecosystems and landscapes,” said Grace Balawag, the deputy coordinator of the Indigenous Peoples’ Partnership on Climate Change, Forests and Sustainable Development.

The study was presented at the 5 December event in Paris, France, by an alliance of indigenous peoples’ groups from Africa, Asia and Latin America. It was discussed alongside several research papers and initiatives highlighting the role that indigenous people play in preventing the destruction of forests and the release of large carbon stocks.

Read the full article: SciDevNet

Seeds without Borders

Photo credit: Biodiversity International

 

Seeds without borders: Using and sharing plant genetic diversity to adapt to climate change in Africa

11 African countries gathered last week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to implement seed sharing and use to adapt to climate change, ensure food security and alleviate poverty.

“These days, we are all faced with new environmental challenges, such as increased flooding, heat and drought – and that is why everyone needs crop diversity: to be able to maintain food security for everyone.”

No single country has all the genetic resources it needs to adapt to global challenges of climate change, food security and poverty alleviation – the reason that 11 African country teams  met last week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. They were finding ways to work together to implement two international agreements to conserve and exchange plant genetic resources with each other and with the rest of the world, and share related benefits.

Interdisciplinary teams from Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Malawi, Senegal and Uganda spent the week working together to set their country roadmaps for embedding the sustainable use of plant genetic resources into the heart of national development plans.

This is a critical and timely issue in the lead-up to the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties, which will be held in Paris, France at the beginning of December – The International Panel on Climate Change predicts that agricultural production is set to decline, with yields of major crops in Africa declining by up to 8% . This means that alternative varieties or replacement crops that can grow in the changing climatic conditions are urgently need to be available to farmers.

Two international agreements govern how countries exchange seeds beyond their borders – the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (Plant Treaty) and the Nagoya Protocol. But to implement these agreements at the country level is not always straightforward as Michael Halewood, Bioversity International, explains:

Read the full article: Biodiversity International

African elephants and the environment

Photo credit: Nature World News

African elephants are significantly reducing Kruger National Park’s tree density. (Photo : Flickr: alecdphotography)

Elephants Are Knocking Down Too Many Trees In Kruger National Park, Researchers Say

By Samantha Mathewson

African elephants are knocking down trees left and right in Kruger National Park, the largest protected area in South Africa, and a new study revealed that tree-fall rates in the park are all about elephant density there, which is growing. These large animals are the leading cause behind the area’s changing ecology and shifting landscapes, because elephants routinely eat plants, tree bark, and other parts of trees.

“National parks and nature preserves will serve as biodiversity arks as we move into the future,” Greg Asner, of Carnegie’s Institution for Science, said in a news release. “But to manage them properly, conservationists will need to maintain the functionality of the ecosystem as a whole, which will require an understanding of system-wide responses to changing animal populations.”

Read the full article: Nature World News 

 

 

Sustainable Development – Summit 2015

 

Goal 15: Sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss

Forests cover 30 per cent of the Earth’s surface and in addition to providing food security and shelter, forests are key to combating climate change, protecting biodiversity and the homes of the indigenous population.  Thirteen million hectares of forests are being lost every year while the persistent degradation of drylands has led to the desertification of 3.6 billion hectares.

Deforestation and desertification – caused by human activities and climate change – pose major challenges to sustainable development and have affected the lives and livelihoods of millions of people in the fight against poverty. Efforts are being made to manage forests and combat desertification.

Read the full story: UN.org