Application of scaling frameworks to grazing exclosures in Ethiopia

Grazing exclosures are a cost-effective means of restoring or enhancing the productivity of communal lands in Ethiopia. An extension of the traditional practice of excluding grazing from communal areas to enable regeneration of vegetation, exclosures provide much needed livelihood and environmental benefits. The success of the exclosure approach faces several challenges to their scaling by government and civil society, including inequity and competition within and among communities, rates of economic return, and individualisation of the commons. First, success factors in exclosure management are identified for exclosures in general, as well as along gradients in social (e.g., strength of community institutions, market access, and cultural precedents), ecological (e.g., climate and soils), and socio-ecological conditions (e.g., watershed and agricultural development stages). The status of grazing exclosures is then conceptualised within documented scaling processes in drylands in Ethiopia and elsewhere. Next, to identify possible pivots in the scaling process, two scaling frameworks are applied to address constraints and opportunities for sustainable management of grazing exclosures for inclusive and economically sustainable benefits. These frameworks include consideration of up-scaling (vertical or hierarchical) versus out-scaling (horizontal) approaches to expansion of exclosures. The past, current, and potential roles of the state (district, regional, and federal government), civil society (local and international organisations), and farming communities are analysed to explore the contributions of various stakeholders to effective scaling. Knowledge gaps and learning opportunities in exclosure management and policy solutions are identified to draw attention to possible ‘blind-spots' and ‘win-win' solutions that may affect the widespread success of exclosures in Ethiopia and elsewhere. Finally, the roles of scientists and researchers and incentives for their involvement are assessed to illustrate how scientists can help effectively facilitate the scaling of exclosures and other sustainable land management practices

Adjustment and Sensitivity Analyses of a Beta Global Rangeland Model

G-Range is a global model that simulates generalized changes in rangelands through time, created with support from the International Livestock Research Institute. Spatial data and a set of parameters that control plant growth and other ecological attributes in landscape units combine with computer code to represent ecological process such as soil nutrient and water dynamics, vegetation growth, fire, and wild and domestic animal offtake. The model is spatial, with areas of the world divided into square cells

Multiple ecosystem services in smallholder agriculture

Recent research into the ecological origins and social implications of ecosystem services, the benefits ecosystems provide to society, is predicated on the downward trends observed for many services. Current work increasingly emphasizes how interactions among ecosystem services (synergies and trade-offs) affect the delivery of multiple services, from soil fertility at field scales to watershed-scale hydrological function, to global climate regulation. Meanwhile, research on the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning has identified substantive linkages between the biodiversity of ecosystems and the services they provide, provoking interest in aligning biodiversity conservation with the sustained delivery of ecosystem services. To better understand the delivery of multiple ecosystem services relevant to smallholder farmer livelihoods in the tropics, the production of wood and livestock forage and the structure and fertility of soils were examined in grazed and improved fallows in western Kenya. The objectives were to investigate fine-scale interactions among ecosystem services, and the potential of fallow plant diversity to enhance levels of multiple services simultaneously, i.e., ecosystem service multi-functionality. To examine influences of fallow vegetation and management on soil structure and fertility, the biomass and functional traits (green tissue N, lignins, polyphenols, lignins+polyphenols) of fallow plants and the condition of soils were quantified. Positive associations of tissue content of lignins+polyphenols with soil organic carbon (SOC) and steady infiltration rates indicated a role of recalcitrant carbon compounds in slowing SOC turnover and supporting soil structural development, while grazed fallows had lower infiltration than improved fallows, likely a result of livestock trampling and soil compaction. To investigate whether woody overstory plants and fallow management generate interactions between the production of wood and livestock forage, the relationships of overstory biomass, overstory diversity as a proxy for niche complementarity, grazing intensity, and soil conditions with the biomass and quality (crude protein:lignin) of forage species were studied. Overstory competition in densely planted improved fallows resulted in an apparent trade-off with forage biomass, however in grazed fallows overstory and forage biomass were positively associated, likely due to negative effects of grazing on both; in addition, reduced forage quality and biomass of quality forage species were attributable to selective grazing. Finally, to assess whether plant diversity enhances joint levels of multiple ecosystem services, two indices of ecosystem multi-functionality were designed for four ecosystem functions: wood biomass, forage biomass, soil base cations, and infiltration. Evidence for positive effects of diversity on multi-functionality was clearer in grazed fallows, while in improved fallows environmental favorability appeared more influential. The difference in the diversity-multi-functionality relationship among fallow types appeared related to contrasting management, disturbance, species composition, and the productivity of vegetation and soils. The results suggest that plant diversity and site productivity can enhance multiple ecosystem services in smallholder fallows, yet diversity effects may vary with management, species composition, and site conditions