Sele-Nono: The Ethiopian Rainforest

By Dr. Alemayehu Kefalew/Ethiopia
​Edited by Rashidah AbdulQuadri/Nigeria

Rainforests are regarded as a thermometer of the state of the planet. They are incredible places as they contain more than half of the world’s biodiversity (plant and animal species), although they only occupy a few portions (less than 7%) of the earth’s land surface. Such forest ecosystems are characterized by intact forests with tall trees having different strata. The reason why they are so called “rain forest” is due to the fact that such forest ecosystems receive high amounts of rainfall (more than 1700 mm) per year. Climatically, they are very warm but also very wet; hence they are the most fertile places on the planet enabling them to be home to an amazing variety of plants and animals. Owing to the fact that it is home to many varieties of life that can be found on earth, some scholars name it as the “the main biological library of the earth”. Most of the information in this library is not even known to science; only the major rainforests are repeatedly told to us in the literature (Figure 1) because of their biggest size.

Figure 1. Locations of major rainforests
(Image Source: https://www.enchantedlearning.com/rgifs/Rfmap2.GIF)

The Ethiopian rainforests are not listed among the major rainforests as shown up in the (Figure 1). This perhaps is because the Ethiopian rain forests are found only in some patch areas of the southwestern and southeastern parts of the country. The Harena forest best represents the rainforests of the southeast. The southwest forests contain a number of patch rainforests which includes Masha forest, Yayu forest, Berhane-Kontir, Maji, Bonga, Sele-Nono forest, and many other patches. In this article, I will give a brief about the Sele-Nono rainforest, which is part of the southwest forest of Ethiopia and studied less compared to many of the other rainforests in the country. 
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Sele-Nono forest is an intact forest that covers 91% of the district. It ranges from 840 m asl to 2448 m asl., hence possesses both types of rainforests namely; transitional and Afromontane rainforests. The transitional rainforest type found between the elevation of 500 to 1500 m asl., with mean annual temperatures ranging from 20 to 25°C and an annual rainfall of more than 1700 mm. The characteristic species of such rainforest includes Pouteria atissima, Anthocleista schweinfurthii, Celtis philippensis, C. zenkeri, Eugenia bukobensis, Garcinia huillensis, Manilkara butugi, Morus mesozygia, Strychnos mitis, Trichilia dregeana, and Trilepisium madascariense (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Transitional rainforest of Sele-Nono Forest, Ethiopia (Photo by the Author, 2018)

The Afromontane rainforest of Sele-Nono forest occurs in the altitude of 1500 and 2450 m asl. Mean annual temperatures range from 15-200 C and annual rainfall more than 1700 mm. Often times, the forest is covered in a cloud, and hence sometimes called as the cloud forest (Figure 3). The tree canopies are characteristically made up of a mixture of Croton macrostachyus, Ilex mitis, Olea welwitschii, Afrocarpus falcatus, Pouteria adolfi-friederici, and Schefflera abyssinica. Natural coffee is one of the characteristic species in the understory. ​

Figure 3. Sele-Nono Afromontane rainforest, Ethiopia (Photo by the Author, 2018)
Sele-Nono forest is rich in plant biodiversity. It has a complex ecosystem containing tree ferns, wetlands and mountain bamboo thickets (Figure 4)

Figure 4. Different vegetation types in Sele-Nono Afromontane rainforest, Ethiopia (Photo by the Author, 2018). Left Tree fern, Middle wetland, Right bamboo thicket

The forest acts as a carbon sink, regulates the climate of the areas nearby it and away, safeguard water quality via, and prevent soil erosion. It is also home to wild coffee (Coffea arabica). In the forest there are lots of rivers and waterfalls which are sources of drinking water for the local people, but can also be used further for tourism attraction and/or to generate hydropower (Figure 5).  ​

Figure 5. Representative examples of rivers and waterfalls in Sele-Nono rainforests, Ethiopia (Photo by the Author, 2018)

Moreover, the forest is rich with edible, medicinal, and poisonous plants. It also rich in having different spice plants (e.g. Zingiber officinale, Afromomum corrorima, Piper capense, etc.), route tubers (e.g. Dioscorea, Yam, etc). It also contains both temporary and seasonal wetlands. Apart from these biotic resources, the area is also having rich resources such as natural caves and coal (Figure 6).

Figure 6. Resources in Sele-Nono rainforest, Ethiopia (Photo by the Author, 2018). Left: Natural wide cave, Right: Coal dig out by the researcher.

World Rainforest day (WRD) was originally created in 2017 by the “Rainforest Partnership” which is an international, non-profit organization based in Austin, Texas, USA that  is dedicated to protect rainforests around the world. The Partnership launched its first inauguration on June 22, 2017. Since then, June 22nd is formally celebrated every year as a year of WRD to further raise awareness and encourage action to protect the world’s rainforests. Accordingly, I will like to take this opportunity to make people of the whole globe that Ethiopia do have a lot of patch rainforests. 


Yes, we shouldn’t only talk about the giant rainforest like that of the Amazon and Congo basin. We, the present generation like those in the ATO - ClimatEducate Project (ATO-CE) shall also concentrate on the small patch rainforests. So in this year of WRD of 2020 I, as nature lover and a good member of ATO-CE, would like to awaken young scientists to glorify the neglected rainforests (Just because of their size) and investigate them deeply to bring them to publication to reach the wider community. This will ensure that the world will have more rainforest resources that we will be proud & vital for the survival of life on Planet Earth.   

REFERENCES:

Abreham Assefa, Sebsebe Demissewand Zerihun Woldu(2013). Floristic composition, structure and regeneration status of Masha forest, south-west Ethiopia. Afr. J. Ecol. 52: 151–162.


Alemayehu Kefalew (2019). Ecology, Carbon Stock Quantification and Formulation of Allometric Models for Some Trees of Sele-Nono Forest, Southwest Ethiopia: Implication for Biodiversity Conservation and Climate Change Mitigation. PhD Thesis, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.


Dereje Tadesse, Tadesse Woldemariam and Feyera Senbeta (2008 ). Deforestation of afromontane rainforests in Ethiopia. In: Deforestation Research Progress (Sanchez, I. B. and Alonso, C. L., eds.), pp.19-38. 


Feyera Senbeta and  Denich, M. (2006). Effects of wild coffee management on species diversity in the afromontane rainforests of Ethiopia. Forest Ecology and Management 232: 68–74.


Feyera Senbeta (2016). An analysis of vegetation structure of the moist evergreen Afromontane forests of Ethiopia. Ethiop. J. Appl. Sci. Technol. 7 (2): 37-50 
Gallery, R. E. (2014). Ecology of Tropical Rain Forests. Ecology and the Environment, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-7612-2_4-1


Schmitt, C. B., Denich, M., Sebsebe Demissew, Friis, I & Boehmer, H. J. (2010). Floristic diversity in fragmented Afromontane rainforests: Altitudinal variation and conservation importance. Applied Vegetation Science 13: 291–304 


Seymour, F., van Heist, M., Azevedo,T. et al. (2014). State of the Rainforest. Rainforest Foundation Norway and GRID-Arendal.


Tadesse Woldemariam (2003). Vegetation ecology of the Yayu forest in SW Ethiopia: impacts of human use and implications for in situ conservation of wild Coffea arabica L. populations. Ecology and Development Series No. 10. Cuvillier Verlag, Gottingen.


UNEP (1995). Global Biodiversity Assessment. United Nations Environment Programme.

THE AUTHOR

Dr. Alemayehu Kefalew is currently a project member of the ATO - ClimatEducate Project in Africa and a facilitator for ClimatEducate Educators' Network. He has an undergraduate degree in Teaching Biology from Debub University (Ethiopia). He did his M.Sc in Botanical Science and Ph.D. in Vegetation Ecology from Addis Ababa University (AAU, Ethiopia). He has published books and research articles in reputable journals. He is now working as a lecturer in Botany at Debre Markos University, Ethiopia. He has a strong interest and passion in environmental education and climate action.