Floristic Composition and Diversity of Sacred Site and Challenges towards sustainable Forest Management: the Case of Remnant Forest Patch of Debrelibanos Monastery, Ethiopia

Abstract

The flora and fauna diversity of Ethiopia is experiencing a great challenge due to interacting and complex factors. There have been efforts made by government and community to reverse such problems. However, the role of sacred in forest conservation and challenges they are experiencing was not fully studied. Hence, the aim of this study is to determine the composition, diversity and challenges of sacred forest of Debrelibanos monastery. Nested plot design (51 quadrats of 20 x 20 m and five sub-quadrats within each major plot) were used to collect all trees, shrubs and climbers with dbh and height greater than or equal to 2.5 and 2 meter. For social data collection, a total of 60 respondents were randomly selected and interviewed. Focus group discussion was also made. Shannon diversity index, Sorenson’s similarity index and ANOVA test were conducted using SPSS of version 20.0.

In total 61 woody species belonging to 39 families and 59 genera were identified in the forest. Fabaceae were the dominant family followed by Euphorbiaceae, Moraceae, Loganiaceae and Verbenaceae. From the identified woody plants about 77.9% are tree, 14.4% are shrubs and 1.1% is climbers. The overall species diversity and evenness of sacred forest was 3.35 and 0.45 respectively. However, they varying among communities due to disturbances and hence the forest was shrinking from year to year as reiterated by 86.7% of the respondent. About 98% of the respondent identified that, it was result of disturbance (expansion of burial sites, increasing demand for firewood, illegal settlement) and weak forest management techniques. The study concludes that it is necessary to establish and expand modern funeral system, alternative source of income and other infrastructures. Once this is done, it is very likely to gear towards sustainable forest management within the study areas.

Key words: Sacred forest, composition, diversity, remnant, Debrelibanos