Enhancing Ecosystem Resilience: Integrated Forest Rehabilitation in River Watershed Areas for Sustainable Development
Keywords:
River watershed, Forest rehabilitation, Ecosystem resilience, Sustainable development, Integrated managementAbstract
This research examines the intricacies of forest and critical land rehabilitation planning within river watershed areas. Through a multidisciplinary approach integrating ecological assessments, socio-economic analysis, and stakeholder engagement, the study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of existing rehabilitation efforts and propose strategies for enhancing ecosystem resilience, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable development. The analysis reveals significant patterns of forest degradation, critical land erosion, and habitat loss within river watershed areas, driven by socio-economic factors, unsustainable land use practices, and institutional constraints. Despite these challenges, existing rehabilitation efforts have shown promising outcomes in terms of ecosystem health improvement, water quality enhancement, and socio-economic benefits to local communities. Moving forward, addressing these challenges requires integrated approaches that prioritize ecosystem-based solutions, stakeholder collaboration, and adaptive management strategies. Policy integration and coherence between forest and watershed management sectors are essential for promoting synergies and maximizing co-benefits across different policy domains. Moreover, targeted conservation strategies, sustainable land use practices, and governance mechanisms are critical for addressing socio-economic drivers of degradation and promoting inclusive decision-making processes.
Downloads
References
AghaKouchak, A., Chiang, F., Huning, L. S., Love, C. A., Mallakpour, I., Mazdiyasni, O., Moftakhari, H., Papalexiou, S. M., Ragno, E., & Sadegh, M. (2020). Climate extremes and compound hazards in a warming world. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 48, 519–548.
Alemu, B. (2014). The role of forest and soil carbon sequestrations on climate change mitigation. Res J Agr Environ Manage, 3(10), 492–505.
Beheim, E., Rajwar, G. S., Haigh, M., & Krecek, J. (2012). Integrated watershed management: perspectives and problems.
Bunch, M. J., Morrison, K. E., Parkes, M. W., & Venema, H. D. (2011). Promoting health and well-being by managing for social–ecological resilience: the potential of integrating ecohealth and water resources management approaches. Ecology and Society, 16(1).
César, R. G., Belei, L., Badari, C. G., Viani, R. A. G., Gutierrez, V., Chazdon, R. L., Brancalion, P. H. S., & Morsello, C. (2020). Forest and landscape restoration: A review emphasizing principles, concepts, and practices. Land, 10(1), 28.
Djenontin, I. N. S., Ligmann-Zielinska, A., & Zulu, L. C. (2022). Landscape-scale effects of farmers’ restoration decision making and investments in central Malawi: an agent-based modeling approach. Journal of Land Use Science, 17(1), 281–306.
Fernandes, J. P., Guiomar, N., & Gil, A. (2019). Identifying key factors, actors and relevant scales in landscape and conservation planning, management and decision making: Promoting effective citizen involvement. Journal for Nature Conservation, 47, 12–27.
Geist, J., & Hawkins, S. J. (2016). Habitat recovery and restoration in aquatic ecosystems: current progress and future challenges. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 26(5), 942–962.
Graziano, M. P., Deguire, A. K., & Surasinghe, T. D. (2022). Riparian buffers as a critical landscape feature: Insights for riverscape conservation and policy renovations. Diversity, 14(3), 172.
Gregersen, H. M., Ffolliott, P. F., & Brooks, K. N. (2007). Integrated watershed management: Connecting people to their land and water. CABI.
Huang, S.-L., Yeh, C.-T., & Chang, L.-F. (2010). The transition to an urbanizing world and the demand for natural resources. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 2(3), 136–143.
Kim, M., Xie, Y., & Cirella, G. T. (2019). Sustainable transformative economy: Community-based ecotourism. Sustainability, 11(18), 4977.
Lal, R. (2015). Restoring soil quality to mitigate soil degradation. Sustainability, 7(5), 5875–5895.
Lane, C. R., Creed, I. F., Golden, H. E., Leibowitz, S. G., Mushet, D. M., Rains, M. C., Wu, Q., D’Amico, E., Alexander, L. C., & Ali, G. A. (2023). Vulnerable waters are essential to watershed resilience. Ecosystems, 26(1), 1–28.
Lowrance, R. (1998). Riparian forest ecosystems as filters for nonpoint-source pollution. In Successes, limitations, and frontiers in ecosystem science (pp. 113–141). Springer.
Mengistu, F., & Assefa, E. (2020). Towards sustaining watershed management practices in Ethiopia: A synthesis of local perception, community participation, adoption and livelihoods. Environmental Science & Policy, 112, 414–430.
Meshesha, D. T., Tsunekawa, A., Tsubo, M., Ali, S. A., & Haregeweyn, N. (2014). Land-use change and its socio-environmental impact in Eastern Ethiopia’s highland. Regional Environmental Change, 14, 757–768.
Olagunju, T. E. (2015). Impacts of human-induced deforestation, forest degradation and fragmentation on food security. New York Science Journal, 8(1), 10.
Palmer, M. A., Lettenmaier, D. P., Poff, N. L., Postel, S. L., Richter, B., & Warner, R. (2009). Climate change and river ecosystems: protection and adaptation options. Environmental Management, 44, 1053–1068.
Qiu, J., & Turner, M. G. (2015). Importance of landscape heterogeneity in sustaining hydrologic ecosystem services in an agricultural watershed. Ecosphere, 6(11), 1–19.
Rashmi, I., Karthika, K. S., Roy, T., Shinoji, K. C., Kumawat, A., Kala, S., & Pal, R. (2022). Soil Erosion and sediments: A source of contamination and impact on agriculture productivity. In Agrochemicals in Soil and Environment: Impacts and Remediation (pp. 313–345). Springer.
Scoggins, M., Booth, D. B., Fletcher, T., Fork, M., Gonzalez, A., Hale, R. L., Hawley, R. J., Roy, A. H., Bilger, E. E., & Bond, N. (2022). Community-powered urban stream restoration: A vision for sustainable and resilient urban ecosystems. Freshwater Science, 41(3), 404–419.
Shah, N. W., Baillie, B. R., Bishop, K., Ferraz, S., Högbom, L., & Nettles, J. (2022). The effects of forest management on water quality. Forest Ecology and Management, 522, 120397.
Vose, J. M., Sun, G., Ford, C. R., Bredemeier, M., Otsuki, K., Wei, X., Zhang, Z., & Zhang, L. (2011). Forest ecohydrological research in the 21st century: what are the critical needs? Ecohydrology, 4(2), 146–158.
Wassie, S. B. (2020). Natural resource degradation tendencies in Ethiopia: a review. Environmental Systems Research, 9(1), 1–29.
Zegeye, H. (2017). Major drivers and consequences of deforestation in Ethiopia: implications for forest conservation. Asian Journal of Science and Technology, 8(8), 5166–5175.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Rafina, Sandri, Halifah
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
