Working Guide for Integrated Management of Invasive Species in the Arid and Semi-Arid Zones of Ethiopia
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Working Guide for Integrated Management of Invasive Species in the Arid and Semi-Arid Zones of Ethiopia Photo by: J.Duraisamy @ www.ecoport.org Compiled by: Faith Ryan, USDA Forest Service June, 2011 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 1 Section 1: People and Capacity Building .............................................................................................. 2 1.1 Community Participation ........................................................................................................... 2 1.2 Invasive Species Inventory Tools ................................................................................................ 4 1.3 Information and Coordination Tools ........................................................................................... 5 1.4 Value of Monitoring and Evaluation ........................................................................................... 7 Section 2: Practices and Potential Actions ........................................................................................... 8 2.1 Prevention ................................................................................................................................. 8 2.2 Early Detection / Rapid Response ............................................................................................... 9 2.3 Contain and Control ................................................................................................................ 10 2.4 Utilization of Prosopis juliflora ................................................................................................. 16 2-5 Rangeland Restoration ............................................................................................................. 24 Section 3: Policy and Other Expected Future Needs ........................................................................... 25 3.1 Role of Policy ........................................................................................................................... 25 3.2 Contributing to Policy Development ......................................................................................... 26 3.3 Supporting Policy for Land Tenure in Pastoral Areas ................................................................. 26 3.4 Policy Specific to Aspects of Invasive Species Management – ................................................... 27 3.5 Future Opportunities ............................................................................................................... 27 Terms Used .......................................................................................................................................... i Key References .................................................................................................................................... ii Annex 1 Further Reading .................................................................................................................... iv Annex 2 – Further Reading................................................................................................................... v Introduction Mismanagement coupled with disregard of indigenous knowledge makes woody species (‘bush’) encroachment one of the major problems in many pastoral areas of Ethiopia. Introduction of invasive species without a sound knowledge of the plant and the recipient environment has created great rangeland problems in many lowlands of the country. In the dry southern savannahs, where for centuries episodic climatic events and the use of fire regulated vegetation dynamics, the natural balance between grasses and trees has shifted and bush cover has become a major threat to pastoral grazing management. Acacia drepanolobium, A. brevispica and other Acacia spp. are the dominant encroachers of southern Ethiopia, but the introduced Prosopis juliflora is the most frequent plant mentioned as an invader in eastern rangelands (Mengistu 2006). The native Acacia were previously in balance with other shrub and grass species on the savannah and shrublands of southern Ethiopia (Coppock 1994). On 40 percent of the grazing lands of southern Ethiopia, bush cover exceeded an estimated 40 percent (Coppock, 1994). The resulting Acacia cover is high enough that previous grazing lands are no longer productive for the pastoralist, in a setting which is exacerbated by the Increased drought frequency and intensity, and higher demand for livestock forage. In the case of Prosopis juliflora, a species introduced to Africa, it is generally accepted that it was the ‘wrong species’. While this species does have beneficial properties it forms dense impenetrable thickets by coppices freely including at a very early stage, causing a number of problems such as: loss of access to riverine areas, roads and access routes with thick thorns, loss of pasture and land which could be cultivated, loss of biodiversity notably indigenous trees, and increased health problems for both livestock and people. This Guide seeks to serve the way forward to integrated management of invasive species, particularly Prosopis juliflora, in the semi-arid and arid zones of Ethiopia. Work already accomplished and its results are summarized and resources available to address challenges are identified. Related tools are provided for building community and development agents’ capacity and for informing policy. This document is to guide integrated management of invasive species from a community to Regional scale. It is also meant to support developing Regional policy and definitive steps towards a National Strategy for Prosopis. The main sections of this Guide are: People (social and economic considerations, building capacity for success), Practices (four elements of an invasive management strategy plus utilization of Prosopis), and Policy (productive relationships between people, practices and regulation). It should be noted that many references in this Guide are to Prosopis juliflora1. Still, the tools and ideas can be applied to other invasive species on Ethiopia’s rangelands with one clear exception: the utilization of Prosopis-for community and national benefit in Section 3.4 is strictly for Prosopis only. With all invasive species, the biology, the setting of infestations and at-risk areas, and vectors of spread should be identified before developing management actions. 1 Hereafter referred to as ‘Prosopis’. 1 It is expected that one - two years after the initial version of this Guide an update will be necessary. The update would include approved Regional policies and a National Prosopis Plan which are currently in draft format. Section 1: People and Capacity Building 1.1 Community Participation Developing an integrated management strategy for invasive species must come from the community on pastoral lands. Participatory Resource Management (PRM) (Flintan and Cullis 2010) and an inventory of invasive species are the recommended starting tools. The outcome of these two tools is to: • identify actions that are realistic for the community to implement and adapt over time; and • prioritize actions that are biologically appropriate to the infestations. There are other practices similar to PRM, such as forming a Community Development Committee who lay out the way each issue will be tackled and the responsibilities for each party in a Community Action Plan. Successful methods root all work in the communities on the land. Key actions in developing community participation are to: • understand how the community defines itself and how it operates • understand how the community may or may not view the need for change • understand local context and external (outside of the community)barriers to change • diversify the forms of participation • incorporate flexible approaches to outcomes • identify skills and knowledge needed to address the issues • insist on planning for the future • orient the project towards multiple sectors that can build sustainability What the leaders of community participation are striving for are a well-rooted sense of community ownership and control. A timely question then, is: can invasive species management proceed without a PRM plan or a CAP, and without an inventory? This Guide promotes that one should proceed only with community participation, though quite possibly without a plan that follows ‘the book’. Same is true for an inventory; the inventory may be rudimentary at first; having a precise inventory is not necessary but a systematic inventory is needed at the beginning and future improvements to it should be addressed by the community. To proceed without an inventory may result in actions that are not appropriate within the larger picture. After identifying community stakeholders and leaders and describing the problem with an inventory, a simple strategy which recognizes the value of various potential actions on the infested land should CASE EXAMPLE summarizes the TWO BASIC TOOLS: Before investing in management actions the area to be managed and its stakeholders must still be clearly identified. The next essential step is to map the infested lands and define the intensity of invasion to provide the stakeholders a shared picture of the problem. (Gebru 2008) be developed. This Guide recommends organizing a strategy of potential actions by three possible desired outcomes: • lands without any infestation because of the value these lands provide to the community, e.g. farmlands; •