Adawro exclosure

Adawro is an exclosure located in the Dogu'a Tembien woreda of the Tigray Region in Ethiopia. The area has been protected by the local community since 1994.

Adawro exclosure
Adawro exclosure, here with eucalypts
Location	Lim'at municipality, in Dogu'a Tembien district, Ethiopia
Nearest city	Hagere Selam
Coordinates	13.622°N 39.154°E / 13.622; 39.154
Established	1999

Environmental characteristics

• Average slope gradient: 70%
• Aspect: the exclosure is oriented towards the northeast
• Minimum altitude: 2635 metres
• Maximum altitude: 2705 metres
• Lithology: Basalt^[1][2]

Management

As a general rule, cattle ranging and wood harvesting are not allowed. The grasses are harvested once yearly and taken to the homesteads of the village to feed livestock. Physical soil and water conservation has been implemented to enhance infiltration, and vegetation growth.

Benefits for the community

Setting aside such areas fits with the long-term vision of the communities were hiza'iti lands are set aside for use by the future generations. It has also direct benefits for the community:^[3]

• improved infiltration
• improved ground water availability
• honey production
• climate ameliorator (temperature, moisture)
• carbon sequestration, dominantly sequestered in the soil, and additionally in the woody vegetation)^[4]

Water conservation

In contrast: the adjacent rangeland

In the Adawro exclosure, more than 800 precise measurements were done in 2003 and 2004, using five runoff plots, where the volume of runoff was measured daily. The rock type (basalt), slope gradient and slope aspect were the same, the only difference was the land management and vegetation density. Whereas in degraded rangeland, 11.4% of the rainfall flows directly away to the river (runoff coefficient), this happens only for 2.5% of the rain in a recent exclosure and 3.2% in a eucalyptus forest.^[2] In 2003, the soils of the then young exclosure could hold 280 litres of water per m³, similar to the adjacent rangeland.^[1]

Improved ecosystem

With vegetation growth, biodiversity in this exclosure has strongly improved: there is more varied vegetation and wildlife.

Trees

The main tree species found in the exclosure are:^[5][1]

• Flat top acacia (Acacia abyssinica, renamed as Vachellia abyssinica)
• Golden wattle (Acacia saligna)
• Rumex nervosus, a woody sorrel species
• Aloe macrocarpa

Soils

Main soil type in the exclosure are Phaeozems, formed in sediment that has been trapped by the vegetation of the exclosure, and as a remnant of the original situation before deforestation. Remarkably, also in the well-protected eucalypt plantation there is some undergrowth and soil development.^[5]