ARTÍCULOS DE REVISIÓN

Soil Erosion, fertility and socio-economic role of exclosure land

Erosión del suelo, fertilidad y papel socioeconómico de las tierras excluidas

Asmare, Melkamu Terefe

Asmare, Melkamu Terefe

melkamu1122@gmail.com

Ethiopian Environment and Forest Research Institute Etiopía

Journal of the Selva Andina Biosphere

Selva Andina Research Society, Bolivia

ISSN: 2308-3867

Periodicity: Bianual

vol. 9, no. 2, 2021

directoreditorbiosphere@gmail.com

Received: 01 August 2021

Accepted: 01 October 2021

Published: 01 November 2021

URL: http://portal.amelica.org/ameli/journal/71/712918712918006/

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36610/j.jsab.2021.090200092

Selva Andina Research Society

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Abstract: Improper use of land could result in loss of biodiversity, soil fertility, and poverty to the people. Population growth, agricultural expansion, urbanization, the absence of alternative assets, and other biophysical factors aggravate forest land degradation. Previously, in most parts of the world different forest land reclamation approaches had been implemented. Many authors argue that the establishment of exclosure land use through providing equivalent benefit to participated local community sustainably reclamation degraded lands. Therefore, this review paper was aimed to assess the role of previously established exclosure land use for socio-economic as well as soil fertility improvement. Secondary data were used and summarized. Due to the conversion of communal grazing land to exclosure land soil fertility aspects were enhanced. The socioeconomic benefits of exclosure land to the local communities were shown inconsistence improvement across Agroecology. Therefore, further studies on how to sustainably, and equally share all benefits of exclosure land use to local communities should be studied for obtaining win-win results on the previously exclosure land uses.

Keywords: Culture, income, job opportunity, land reclamation, leadership skill, soil nutrient.

Resumen: El uso inadecuado de la tierra podría resultar en la pérdida de biodiversidad, fertilidad del suelo y pobreza para la gente. El crecimiento de la población, la expansión agrícola, la urbanización, la ausencia de activos alternativos y otros factores biofísicos agravan la degradación de las tierras forestales. Anteriormente, en la mayor parte del mundo se habían aplicado diferentes enfoques de recuperación de tierras forestales. Muchos autores argumentan que el establecimiento del uso de la tierra excluida al proporcionar un beneficio equivalente a la comunidad local participada en la recuperación sostenible de tierras degradadas. Por lo tanto, este documento de revisión tuvo como objetivo evaluar el papel del uso de la tierra de exclusión previamente establecido para la mejora socioeconómica y de la fertilidad del suelo. Se utilizaron y resumieron datos secundarios. Debido a la conversión de tierras de pastoreo comunales a tierras de exclusión, se mejoraron los aspectos de fertilidad del suelo. Los beneficios socioeconómicos de las tierras excluidas para las comunidades locales mostraron una mejora inconsistente en toda la agroecología. Por lo tanto, se deben estudiar más estudios sobre cómo compartir de manera sostenible y equitativa todos los beneficios del uso de la tierra excluida a las comunidades locales para obtener resultados beneficiosos para todos en los usos de la tierra anteriormente excluidos.

Palabras clave: Cultura, ingresos, oportunidad laboral, recuperación de tierras, capacidad de liderazgo, nutrientes del suelo.

Introduction

For millions of people around the world, forests are the vital basis of life for national economic development as well as a carbon sink that will later contribute to climate protection. In all respects the peoples of the world are dependent on either wood or other forest products. Obtaining individuals who are free from addiction to forest products is equivalent to obtaining electrons for free. The viability of restoration choices can be affected by the differences in ecological and socio-economic conditions, political and authentic settings, and level of management ¹ . By excluding invasive species (negative factors in land restoration), land exclusion plays an important role in balancing the ecological and human foundations of life. Before establishing the exclusion, the surface/land should be scanned for pre-existing invasive alien species. Enrichment plantings should also be carried out after the introduced species have been checked for invasiveness. The establishment of restricted livestock areas or species protection support agricultural growth because they protect water catchment areas, stabilizes the local climate and the hydrological system. Community cooperation could be an essential ingredient for land restoration ventures to enhance the level of residential fulfilment and to progress its victory rate ² . Nevertheless, there are socioeconomic and demographic components, which decide the level of interest in such projects. The absence of advantage from the preserved zone, level of education, and sexual orientation are among the basic variables of community interest in land reclamation. Therefore, this review paper is aimed to create awareness through providing information and documenting files on the socio-economic and soil nutrient improvement role of previously established exclosure land uses.

Development

Exclosure on soil erosion reduction and fertility improvement. In Ethiopia, inadequate agricultural practices such as cultivation on steep slopes, clearing of vegetation and overgrazing are the main factors leading to soil erosion and nutrient loss 3-5 . For instance, cultivation on the steep slopes in northern Ethiopia resulted in a loss of 35 tons of soil per hectare of land annually ⁶ . But today such a devastating loss of soil is being reduced by exclosures. For this reason, it was established as a form of land management with a spatial focus to improve environmental conditions and control soil erosion 5, ⁷ .

The role of exclosure on soil fertility is measured through considering the availability of essential nutrient (micro and macro nutrient) for plant growth. Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), Potassium (K), Sulfer (S), Calcium (Ca), Magnesum (Mg), Iron (Fe), Zinc (Zn), Manganese (Mn), Cuppor (Cu), Borun (B), Molybdenum (Mo), and Chlorine (Cl) are among the essential nutrient for plant growth ⁸ . Mekuria et al ⁹ . and Conant et al. 10 reported that variation in soil type, land-use history, land cover, climate, topography and vegetation cover creates difference in the content of soil organic carbon stock of a converted grazing lands (exclosure land). Due to such variability the contributions of exclosure for soil physical and chemical properties were studied in different way by different authors.

For instance, Abay et al. 11 reported that converting open grazing land into an exclosure improved most soil properties except soil pH, avP and EC. They reported that exclosure had a significantly (p <0.05) higher SOC which shows an improvement of 46.5 or 61.3 % compared to grazing land. Besides, they said that, it increases CEC, TN and avK levels significantly (p <0.05) by 16.8, 45.5 and 34 %, respectively.

Mekuria and Aynekulu 12 reported that the availability of N, P and CEC is varying with the age of exclosure and soil depth. They said that prevention of grass harvesting leads to raise the available soil P and N. Damene et al. 13 also recently reported that management of degraded land by converting open grazing land to exclosure land with chomo grass sowing practice significantly enhances the total available N and SOC than open grazing lands (Table 1).

Table 1

Summery of Soil fertility role of Exclosure land use

Macro and micro nutrients | Its availability in the exclosure land relative to adjacent open grazing land | Suggested reason | Reference
TN | Insignificant change ( but 0.45 times better than AOG land) | High SOC and legumes plant availability might enhance TN in the exclosure. | 7,11
avP | Insignificant change (but 0.15 times higher than AOG land) |  | 11
avK | increase(0.34 times better than AOG land) |  | 11
SOC | Increase(>0.5 times of open grazing land) | High litter fall from tree/shrub | 7,11,16
PH | No significant change is observed | Different temperature and rain fall varies SOM decomposition rate | 1,11
CEC | Insignificant change(but 0.16 times higher than AOG land) | Different temperature and rain fall varies SOM decomposition rate | 11
EC | Decrease (0.14 times lower than AOG land) | Might be due to high vegetation cover that optimize evaporation and infiltration | 11

CEC= Cat ion exchange capacity, EC=electric conductivity, TN= total Nitrogen, avP=available phosphorus, avK= available Potassium, SOC=soil organic Carbon.

The presence of improved soil structure (high level of leaf litter and vegetation cover) in the exclosure land reduces the soil erosion better than open grazing land ¹¹ ,13 .

Study done in the upper Blue Nile basin of Ethiopia shown that the use of area exclosure with trenches is a best option for soil erosion and runoff reduction ¹⁴ . While for soil loss reduction issue alone, use of area exclosure is suitable land management practices 14 . The improvement in canopy and ground cover in area exclosure with increasing age of exclosure reduces sediment associated nutrient loss through lowering raindrops and soil erosion 4,12,15 .

Socio-economic impact of exclosure land. In this review paper, the socio-economic role of exclosure land focus on family size, gender, income, occupations, culture, perception and attitude of the society, educational status of the society. The contribution of forests to total household income in the northern highlands and southern Ethiopia was 27 % and 34 %, respectively 17, ¹⁸ . Although such benefits are obtained, deforestation due to population pressures in Ethiopia is severe and has a long history, particularly in the central and northern highlands ¹⁹ .

To avoid such problems, the rehabilitation of degraded forests and woodlands by ecological and environmental viable (area exclosure and enclosure) land management practise is currently seen as a critical issues 19,20 . In addition to its role in regulating ecosystem services, the exclosure has socio-economic benefits for the livelihood of the community 18,21- ²⁵ . For example, the preservation of tree species in the vicinity of the church boundary is considered a heritage and offers spiritual benefits to society. Their role in demarcating the affected country and expressing the culture of a society is great as the facility requires less manpower 26,27 . The establishment of the exclusion had negative 23, ²⁵ and positive 4,28 , attitudes towards the local community. Accordingly, the positive attitude of the local community is crucial for the sustainability of the exclosure and future rehabilitation measures.

The economic role of exclosure can be direct or indirect. Its direct role for the local community is expressed through the provision of animal feed, bee fodder, fuel and other non-wood forest products 17,21 (Table 2). A study conducted in Biyo-Kelala Area Enclosures, Ada`a District, Eastern Shewa Zone, Oromoia Region, showed that income from exclosures was approximately 3.07 % of total annual household income ²⁹ . The indirect benefits of excluser have also been achieved through improving land productivity and regulating environmental services ³⁰ . Studies done in the semi-arid lowlands of northern Ethiopia showed that converting communal grazing land into exclosure land over 30 years was achieved the US $ 3.071 per hectare 30 . The conversion of the aboveground carbon stock into the monetary value of a relatively older excuser also creates a lot of economic benefit to a community and natural environment improvement. Conservation includes the preservation, maintenance, sustainable use, restoration and improvement of the natural environment. In this regard, Exclosure helps support the sustainable use of natural resources there by generating environmental, economic and social benefits for the rural communities 31 . This allows the local community to alleviate poverty by extending the vegetation cover on the degraded land.

Table 2

Summery of socio economic role of exclosure

Reviewed Socio economic parameters | Reference
Protect cultural heritage. | 32
Shelter to several wild animal. | 32
Act as esthetical value. | 32
Spiritual significance. | 32
Provision of fruit and medicine. | 33
Provides fodder for livestock. | 34
Improve hh (household) income. | 17,34
Create Job opportunity to hh (wild fruit collection, fodder sell, bee keeping, mushroom collection, guard, grass cut and carry). | 33
Improve the communal resource management skill of community. | 35

hh=household

hh=household

Conclusion

Extensive dependence of rural household on the natural resource leads to resource degradation. Equitable resource distribution among end-users is important to sustainable forest land reclamation. Medicine, fuel wood, fruit, honey, aesthetic value, cultural value and spiritual uses were some of the socioeconomic uses of exclosure land to the rural households. Participation of local community on integrated soil erosion control practice in the exclosure land use enhances soil fertility when it is governed by local bylaws. Generally, the household who got benefit form land reclamation practice more motivated to protect other similar featured lands. In doing so, communities’ attitude towards exclosure land use improves with improved ecological systems. Further studies of the use of exclosure land use on gender, education level and age group should be done and documented for end-users. In addition to this studies on the equal distribution of resource to the community should be done to reduce conflict among exclosure land user households and get benefits sustainably. Studies on enhancing the advantage of local communities, their preferred tree/shrub, grass and spice species that should be planted in the exclosure land uses is also needed.

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Notes

Funding source: The Author ensured that this study didn’t get any financial support from any funding agencies.

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Conflicts of interest: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

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Acknowledgements: The author thanks the reviewers, board of editors for their constructive comments and suggestions.

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Ethical considerations: The author declared that this manuscript is not submitted for possible publication to other journal publishers. In addition to this, I confirmed that this result is free of research misconduct.

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Editor's Note: Journal of the Selva Andina Biosphere (JSAB) remains neutral with respect to jurisdictional claims published on maps and institutional affiliations.

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ID of article: 110/JSAB/2021

Author notes

* Contact Address: Ethiopian Environment and Forest Research Institute. Jimma centre, P.O.BOX 1187. Ethiopia. Tel: +251 116 46 46 06. Terefe Asmare Melkamu E-mail address: melkamu1122@gmail.com

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