Carbon Stock and Change Rate under Different Grazing Management Practices in Semiarid Pastoral Ecosystem of Eastern Ethiopia

Haftay Hailu Gebremedhn, Tessema Zewdu Kelkay, Yayanshet Tesfay, Samuel Tuffa, Sintayehu Workeneh Dejene, Sylvanus Mensah, Adam John Mears Devenish and Anthony Egeru
Additional contact information
Haftay Hailu Gebremedhn: African Center of Excellence for Climate-Smart Agriculture and Biodiversity Conservation, Haramaya University, Dire Dawa P.O. Box 138, Ethiopia
Tessema Zewdu Kelkay: College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Debark University, Debark P.O. Box 90, Ethiopia
Yayanshet Tesfay: College of Dryland Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mekele University, Mekelle P.O. Box 23, Ethiopia
Samuel Tuffa: Oromia Agricultural Research Institute, Addis Ababa P.O. Box 81265, Ethiopia
Sintayehu Workeneh Dejene: African Center of Excellence for Climate-Smart Agriculture and Biodiversity Conservation, Haramaya University, Dire Dawa P.O. Box 138, Ethiopia
Sylvanus Mensah: Laboratoire de Biomathématiques et d’Estimations Forestières, Université d’Abomey Calavi, Cotonou 04 BP 1525, Benin
Adam John Mears Devenish: Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK
Anthony Egeru: Training and Community Development, Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), Kampala P.O. Box 16811, Uganda

Land, 2022, vol. 11, issue 5, 1-13

Abstract: Grazing management strategies tend to have different effects on rangeland plant production. Changes in grazing management can, therefore, affect the carbon stock potential of rangelands. Despite rangeland ecosystems being important global sinks for carbon, we know relatively little about the effect of traditional grazing management practices on their potential to store carbon. In this study, we evaluated the carbon stock and change rate of rangelands using three traditional grazing management practices in the semiarid pastoral ecosystem of eastern Ethiopia. By comparing data on vegetation and soil carbon stocks, we found that there was a strong significant difference ( p < 0.001) between these different management practices. In particular, the establishment of enclosures was associated with an annual increase in carbon stocks of soil (3%) and woody (11.9%) and herbaceous (57.6%) biomass, when compared to communal open lands. Both enclosure and browsing management practices were found to have the highest levels of soil organic carbon stocks, differing only in terms of the amount of woody and herbaceous biomass. Thus, modest changes in traditional grazing management practices can play an important role in carbon storage and sequestration. Further research is required on a wider range of traditional pastoral management practices across space and time, as understanding these processes is key to combating global climate change.

Keywords: open grazing; enclosure; browsing area; climate change mitigation; rangeland ecosystem services; carbon stock (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:5:p:639-:d:802444

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