Abstract

The arid highlands of Ethiopia have been converted to farmland during the last 100 years and an estimated 35,000 Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church forests comprise the last remnants of Afromontane forest in the country. Locally known as debr or geddam, the churches and forests surrounding them are considered holy and act as powerful religious and social institutions. These forest fragments serve as seed banks for native plants, deposits of ecological memory in the agricultural landscape. We identify 464 church forests via Google Earth in South Gondar, northern Ethiopia; the aerial view of church domes in patches of green forest contrasts with the surrounding brown agricultural landscape. We assess the ecosystem service of pollination provided by church forests on a landscape scale by creating an animal pollination distance layer in ArcGIS. We employ South Gondar crops data (2010-12), FAO Pollination Information Management System data, and crop suitability maps derived from bioclimatic factors to determine pollination services of church forests. Here we show that church forests enable crop diversification, necessitated by bioclimatic (e.g. climate change, pests and disease) or social (e.g. market trends, seed access) factors, adding adaptive capacity to the social-ecological system and enabling adaptation to future conditions. Culturally protected forests can contribute to the CBD's 2020 Aichi Targets, which aim to conserve areas particularly important for ecosystem services.
Photo: Debresna church forest (visible silver church dome in center), Google Earth
Photo: Debresna church forest (visible silver church dome in center), Google Earth

For more information about Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo church forests (and how you can help conserve them) see Dr. Meg Lowman's website.