Pathfinder Initiative , 2023

Implementing partners: International Water Management Institute, Government of Ethiopia

Published In: COP28 Prospectus of Climate-Health Solutions, 2023

The development of exclosures areas and communal grazing lands in Ethiopia are created to promote natural regeneration, reduce land degradation, and increase carbon sequestration. Carbon storage generated from these exclosures was estimated as a potential income generation for the community.

Context

Natural resources are crucial for the livelihoods of people experiencing poverty, and efforts to rehabilitate these resources can significantly improve their quality of life. However, in many developing countries, natural resource conditions have deteriorated over time.   

In the highlands of Ethiopia, deforestation, unsustainable agricultural practices, and use of crop residues for energy have led to soil degradation, reduced productivity in agriculture, and loss of biodiversity. Soil erosion is also a significant issue, with steep slopes experiencing soil loss that exceeds the region’s maximum tolerable limit. Additionally, overgrazing has resulted in the disappearance of natural vegetation, leaving behind degraded grazing lands with sparse vegetation. 

Protecting and preserving natural resources and ecosystems can act as a sink for carbon (and reducing its emission into the atmosphere), and can regulate temperatures (thereby reducing heat stress for local populations). Additionally, ecosystem preservation can counteract the spread of vector-borne and zoonotic diseases caused by climate change and can help improve air quality through vegetation filtration and carbon sequestration. These can also improve climate resilience by increasing food security through agroforestry practices and reducing the risk of waterborne diseases through wetland and floodplain restoration.

Approach

Exclosures are areas closed off or protected from interference from people and domestic animals, with the goal of promoting the natural regeneration of plants and reducing land degradation of formerly degraded communal grazing lands. Studies in Ethiopia’s highlands have shown that enclosures can restore degraded ecosystems and provide economic benefits.  

The Gomit watershed covers an area of 1,483 hectares with a population of 360 households. The exclosures in Gomit were established in 2006 by a self-organized community association in response to natural resource degradation problems. The management and use of exclosures is run by the Community Watershed Team which includes nine elected community association members. In establishing the exclosures in the communal grazing lands, bylaws were drafted, and approval was obtained from all association members to protect these areas from people and domestic animals, promote natural regeneration and reduce land degradation. 

Impact and next steps

The International Water Management Institute conducted a study to investigate changes in vegetation composition, plant diversity and above-ground carbon following the creation of exclosures for a period of 7 years. The study also measured economic returns and the perception of local communities.  

Carbon stocks were estimated from the aboveground biomass, and were converted to units of carbon dioxide to help calculate the temporary certified emission reductions (tCER). The tradable unit of one tonne of carbon dioxide-equivalent of emissions sequestration was estimated as USD 3.43 per tCER in this study. Within the first seven years, aboveground carbon storage in exclosures increased from a tCER of 3.4 to 15.3 tonnes of carbon dioxide per hectare. This number increases to 139.4 tonnes when considering the entire watershed and communal grazing areas, after 3.5 years of implementation. 

Carbon storage in the exclosures generated an estimated revenue of USD 6.6 to USD 37 per hectare. The estimated revenue increases to USD 478.3 per hectare when considering the entire watershed, after 3.5 years of implementation. The study estimated that the potential income generation from this program could contribute to nearly 42% of the current annual income of the entire community if the carbon stored in aboveground biomass is traded.  

Informant interviews and household surveys also found that restoration efforts increased vegetation cover and rehabilitated large gullies, reducing soil erosion and crop loss and displaying significantly higher plant species richness than the communal grazing land.  

Scaling up such interventions to maximize livelihood benefits will require increasing the unit cost of certified emission reductions to improve the economic viability of exclosures as carbon sink projects, surpassing or matching revenue from crop production.