Abstract:
Ethiopia faces forest degradation and loss of biodiversity due to anthropogenic activities like agricultural land expansion, construction materials, fuel wood, free grazing, and charcoal production. The government has implemented area exclosure as a strategy to reversing biodiversity losses, improve ecosystem services and goods. However, the effectiveness of area exclosure on woody plant species and its contribution to local livelihoods has not been well investigated. This study aims to assess the role of area exclosure in biodiversity conservation and its contribution to the livelihoods of local households. Data was collected from the Agamsa exclosure area and adjacent open grazing land. Systematic samplings and Simple random sampling techniques were used to collect vegetation data and to select local households. A total of 40 plots with a size of 20m × 20 m (400 m2) were laid out for the woody species data collection, whereas to collect household data a total of 145 households were systematically selected. In each sample plot, all woody species shrubs and mature tree were counted and recorded. And their diameter at breast height (DBH) was measured at 1.5 from the ground with DBH ≥ 2.5 cm. The analysis of vegetation data was made for the area exclosures and adjacent open grazing land. A total of 91 woody species representing 73 genera and 45 families were recorded from the study area all inside the sampled plots. The proportion of trees and shrubs is in exclosure 44.48% and 55.52% respectively, whereas in open grazing land the proportion of tree and shrubs is 19.86% and 80.14% respectivly. The overall density of woody vegetation in area exclosure was 3842.3 ha, -1 whereas the corresponding open grazing lands had a total density of 585.8 ha-1 s. The most dominant families recorded in the exclosure area were Fabaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Rhamnaceae, Rutaceae, Tiliaceae, Apocynaceae, Malvaceae, Anacardiaceae and Myrtaceae. However, in the respective open grazing land Fabaceae, Rutaceae, Celastraceae, Tiliaceae, Apocynaceae and Euphorbiaceae were the dominant families. Also, area exclosure contributes to the local community in different sectors like crop productivity, animal production, off-farming activity, soil productivity, and water productivity. The results of the study demonstrated that area exclosure increases household income in addition to having the potential to improve the recovery of vegetation diversity in degraded areas. So to enhance the diversity of woody plant species and enhance the incomes and livelihoods of the communities, applying these types of exclosures is better suited to adjacent open grazing land
