COS 99-5 - Ecological status of sacred church forests in Ethiopia

Background/Question/Methods

Sacred forests, protected due to their religious importance, form a vast network of informal and often accidental (shadow) conservation sites worldwide. In the South Gondar Administrative Zone (SGAZ, 14,607 km²) of northern Ethiopia, there is a mosaic of 1022 small (5.2 ha ± 0.44) sacred forests that surround churches of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church (EOTC) amidst a matrix of agriculture and pasture. Although small, these forests are biodiversity hotspots of endangered and endemic taxa and provide essential ecosystem and cultural services to the community. We sought to examine the ecological status of church forests across the SGAZ and across Woredas (districts). In 46 forests across four Woredas, we measured ecological variables that would indicate the health of the forests including plant species richness, diversity, species composition, and seedling richness and abundance. We measured percent human disturbance as the area occupied by clearings, buildings, trails and graves. We examined variation in our ecological measurements along with their interactions with human disturbance across Woredas.

Results/Conclusions

Humans are a dominant component of these forests; they create trails, structures, graves, and plantations, which make up on average 56% of the forest area. The degree of human presence negatively impacts plant species richness, forest biomass, and forest regeneration but has variable effects on diversity. Human disturbance acts as an environmental filter that selects for weedy, exotic, and wind-dispersed species regardless of forest size. Despite the negative effect of human presence on these forests, EOTC sacred church forests exist because of the humans that use the forests as both religious and social spaces. Their cultural and religious importance has resulted in the forests persisting on the landscape for at least 90 years. Across Woredas there were differences in ecological variables, which may relate to the variation in governance and leadership as well as perceptions of the value of the church forest. Further understanding of perceptions of the value of forests and motivations to protect and manage the forest by local stakeholders across Woredas is needed in order to implement forest management practices that maintain ecological integrity and ensure the persistence of these essential forests into the future.