Degraded Forests in Eastern Africa Management and Restoration

About this book

Forest degradation as a result of logging, shifting cultivation, agriculture and urban development is a major issue throughout the tropics. It leads to loss in soil fertility, water resources and biodiversity, as well as contributing to climate change. Efforts are therefore required to try to minimize further degradation and restore tropical forests in a sustainable way. This is the first research-based book to examine this problem in East Africa. The specific focus is on the forests of Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda, but the lessons learned are shown to be applicable to neighbouring countries and others in the tropics.

A wide range of forest types is covered, from dry Miombo forest and afromontane forests, to forest-savanna mosaics and wet forest types. Current management practices are assessed and examples of good practice presented. The role of local people is also emphasized. The authors describe improved management and restoration through silviculture, plantation forestry and agroforestry, leading to improvements in timber production, biodiversity conservation and the livelihoods of local people.

Contents

1. Degraded Forests in Eastern Africa: Introduction
2. Forest Resources and Challenges of Sustainable Forest Management and Conservation in Ethiopia
3. Forests and Forestry in Uganda
4. Forests and Forestry in Tanzania
5. Composition, Structure and Regeneration of Miombo Forest at Kitulangalo, Tanzania
6. Church Forests - Relic of Dry Afromontane Forests of Northern Ethiopia: Opportunities and Challenges for Conservation and Restoration
7. Incense Woodlands in Ethiopia: Regeneration Problems and Restoration Possibilities
8. Vegetation Variation in Forest-woodland-savannah mosaics in Uganda and its implications for conservation
9. The Role of Plantation Forests in Fostering Ecological Restoration: Experiences from East Africa
10. Future Options for Maesopsis: Agroforestry Asset or Conservation Catastrophe?
11. Single Tree Management Models: Maesopsis eminii
12. Silvicultural Management of Community Forests Towards Multiple Uses in the Bale Mountains of Ethiopia
13. Juniperus procera (Cupressaceae) in Afromontane Forests in Ethiopia: from Tree Growth and Population Dynamics to Sustainable Forest Use
14. Degradation, Species Invasion and Management in Tanzanian Dry Forests: What do Local People Say?
15. Forest dynamics in Southwest Ethiopia: Interfaces between ecological degradation and resource enrichment
16. The Contribution of the Bale Mountain Forest Dweller Approach to Rural Household Economies - a Case Study from Ethiopia

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Biography

Frans Bongers is professor of tropical forest ecology at Wageningen University, The Netherlands, and works on succession, biodiversity, forest regeneration and forest management in various tropical countries, both in Africa and Latin America. Timm Tennigkeit is based at the Waldbau Institute, Albert-Ludwigs University of Freiburg, Germany