Climate Change and Adapted Land Use - Batch 1

Seasonal Variation on Soil Nutrient Availability for Plant Use and Farmers Adaptation Strategies in North Bank Region of The Gambia

Tue, 01 Jul 2014 00:00:00 GMT

Seasonal Variation on Soil Nutrient Availability for Plant Use and Farmers Adaptation Strategies in North Bank Region of The Gambia Sonko, Ebrima This study examined seasonal variation on soil nutrient availability for plant use and farmers adaptation strategies in North Bank Region of The Gambia. The aim was to evaluate nutrient levels in the soil interface by determining changes in soil nutrient availability for plant use during wet and dry season. Soil samples were collected in three upland fields at a depth of 0-15cm and analysis were done on this variables: pH, Soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN) and soil moisture content. Soil pH was measured using the glass electrode method with a soil-to-water ratio of 1:2. Soil total nitrogen was determined using the micro Kjeldahl distillation and titration method. Soil organic carbon (SOC) was determined by a modified Walkley-Black procedure. The gravimetric method of moisture estimation was used to dry the soil samples on the oven at 105 °C and dried to a constant weight. Plant tissue (groundnut) was collected within 1m2 wooden frames and prepared for routine analysis of total nitrogen (TN), total carbon (TC) and moisture content. Socio-economic data was obtained from 105 respondents through household interview. Rainfall data was obtained from Water Resources of The Gambia to determine the trends in the study area. The result show that soil moisture content, soil total nitrogen and soil pH were found to be significant (P<0.05) in different seasons indicating variation in nutrient content in the productive soil depth due to the influence of moisture deficiency except soil organic carbon which shows no significant difference. In addition, variation of available plant nutrients content within the communities showed that higher plant total nitrogen was received during wet season in Nuimi Lamin 3.18 % followed by Jokadu Dasilami with 2.84 % while Njaba Kunda is having the least 2.20 %. During dry season there was no significant (P<0.05) different of plant total nitrogen among communities. Meanwhile Plant total carbon also showed a significant (P>0.05) difference within the communities during wet season, Nuimi Lamin having the highest percentages (53.11% followed by Jokadu Dasilami with 51.12% while Njaba Kunda recorded the least 36.88 %). During dry season there was no significant (P<0.05) difference in plant total carbon. It is establish that majority of the farmers are between 40-60 years of farming experience and have limited knowledge of farm management practices. Farmers use both chemical and organic fertilizers mostly to manage their soils as adaptation strategies. Rainfall trend in the study area was found to be 35 % lower (425 mm) than normal 1200 mm. The study also concluded that soil degradation and drought in the region is a challenge, therefore it is recommended that farmers should be encouraged to practice organic farming and avoid harvesting the entire crop biomass which can conserve moisture and increase soil fertility. A Thesis submitted to the West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use and the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Degree in Climate Change and Adapted Land Use

Assessment of Soil Organic Carbon Stocks and Trace Gas Emissions from Burnt Lands Under Different Vegetation in Northern Ghana

Sun, 01 Jun 2014 00:00:00 GMT

Assessment of Soil Organic Carbon Stocks and Trace Gas Emissions from Burnt Lands Under Different Vegetation in Northern Ghana Nyadzi, Emmanuel To determine the contributions of human activities on a changing climate do not only call for the assessment of main greenhouse gases but also trace gases emissions as well as variations of carbon sink in the soil. This study examined the dynamics of soil organic carbon stocks (SOCS) and estimated trace gas emissions using Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published guidelines. The study was conducted in the guinea savannah of Northern Region of Ghana. Six ( three on burnt and other three on unburnt lands) experimental plots of 50 m x 50 m were marked out on four different vegetation and soil samples taken from five sampling points at 0-10 cm,10-20 cm and 20-30 cm depths. Carbon concentration and bulk density were determined using Wakley Black and core method respectively. Another Five sampling plots (1m x 1m) on each vegetation cover were marked out to sample above-ground biomass for carbon content determination, before carbon release and trace gases (CH4 and CO) were further estimated. Findings of the research showed that while Carbon and bulk density differed significantly (P<0.05) across depth. A significantly strong negative correlation existed between them. Fire significantly (P<0.05) increased SOCS on burnt lands. SOCS insignificantly (P>0.05) varied under the vegetation types with close savanna woodland (CSW) recording the highest stock of organic carbon of ~16.7t/ha on unburnt sites and ~19.43 t/ha on burnt sites while Grass/herbs with scattered trees and shrubs (GHST) recoded ~7.9 t/ha and ~9.42 t/ha on unburnt and burnt sites respectively. Above-ground biomass density was highest on OSW with a density of ~4.8t/ha, while CSW recorded the least biomass density. GHST contained the highest organic carbon of 45.46% while CSW recorded 29.28% as the lowest carbon content. A significantly positive correlation existed between above-ground biomass density and carbon released. CH4 and CO emitted differs significantly (p<0.05) under all the vegetation cover types and were perfectly correlated (r=1.00) with the quantity of above ground biomass density and carbon release. Results also showed that irrespective of the vegetation type, more CO were emitted than CH4 during burning and this variation differed significantly (P<0.05) under the different vegetation types. The average amount of CH4 and CO emitted per hectare of area burnt made Open savanna woodland (OSW) the highest CH4 and CO emitter with 0.001719 tons and 0.045119 tons respectively while closed savanna woodlands (CSW ) recorded the least emission of 0.000268 tons of CH4 and 0.007043 tons of CO. The ratio of Dead and live at the time of burning on each vegetation type was the main reason for variations in emissions under the different vegetation covers. The results implies that, soils in the study area are generally low in SOCS and in the face of a changing climate(increasing temperature and unreliable rainfall) soils of this kind can barely support plant growth . Also the emissions may directly and indirectly contribute to global warming, impact negatively on both plant and animals, reduce visibility, cause health problems as well as increased human mortality especially if locally significant, especially when the release are annual, and concentrated during the dry season. A Thesis submitted to the West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use and the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Degree in Climate Change and Adapted Land Use

Assessment of the Impact of Climate and Land Use Changes on Pastoral Livestock Farming in Boulgou Province, South-Eastern Burkina Faso

Tue, 01 Jul 2014 00:00:00 GMT

Assessment of the Impact of Climate and Land Use Changes on Pastoral Livestock Farming in Boulgou Province, South-Eastern Burkina Faso Kima, Sophie Agnès In Burkina Faso, climate change and conversion of grazing area to cropland are the main challenge of pastoral livestock. This study seeks to examine the impact of climate and land use/cover change on pastoral livestock farming in Boulgou province between 1980 and 2013. In order to achieve this, annual rainfall and temperature data from 1980 to 2012 were statistically analysed using a simple linear regression model and standardized anomaly index (SAI) to show the long-term annual trends, and to evaluate the inter-annual fluctuations of rainfall in the study area over the period of study. In addition, onset and cessation dates were computed from daily rainfall data because of their importance to agriculture and water resources management. Also, Landsat satellite images of 1989, 2001 and 2013 as well as socio-economic data from 248 respondents were analysed. Within the period of study, annual rainfall was highly variable and this was depicted as positive or negative anomalies with standardized anomaly index (SAI) greater or less than 1.5 times the standard deviation below the 33 years mean of 818.9mm. Conversely, the annual minimum and maximum temperature show a statistically significant upward trend with a rate of change of 0.25oC and 0.24oC per decade respectively which reflects an increase 0.82oC and 0.76oC from 1980 to 2012. Although substantial increase in rainfall occurred in 1989, 1994, 2007, 2008 and 2009, such anomalies occurred only 42.4% of the time, implying that there were more dry years than wet years. In addition, the analysis of daily rainfall data showed that, on the average, the onset and cessation dates were 9th June and 7th October, depicting a delay, in comparison to the long term average of mid-May and October. The interpretation of the classified Landsat images revealed an increase in cropland from 20.5% to 36.7% in 1989 and 2013 respectively. This resulted mainly from the conversion of woody savannah and shrub and grass savannah. The socio-economic survey suggests that most of the agro-pastoralists (about 73.4%) had observed that temperature had changed compared with rainfall amount (1.2%). In addition, 95.2% of the respondents observed that the frequency of the rains had decreased. The survey corroborated the results obtained from the analyses of climate and Landsat data used for the study. The respondents believe that climate is changing for the worst and is having negative impacts on crop and pastoral livestock through reduction in crop yield, fodder quantity and quality, water availability, animal production and reproduction, increasing of animal morbidity and mortality. Consequently, in order to tackle the combined impacts of climate variability /change and land use change, they practise local adaptation measures that include the use of crop residue (98.4%), vaccination (91.9%), the adoption of agro-pastoralism (89.5%), using concentrated livestock feed (80.6%), herd destocking (44.8%) and use of woody forage (42.3%). In addition to these, improvement of grazing areas, availability of information and technical training on new adaptation technologies acquired from the NGOs and government agencies can successfully reduce the vulnerability of agro-pastoralists. A Thesis submitted to the West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use and the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Degree in Climate Change and Adapted Land Use

Evaluation of Climate Variability and Land Use Change on Vegetation Dynamics in Fina Reserve, Mali

Tue, 01 Jul 2014 00:00:00 GMT

Evaluation of Climate Variability and Land Use Change on Vegetation Dynamics in Fina Reserve, Mali Sanogo, Karamoko The sustainable management of biodiversity and productivity in forested lands requires an understanding of main interactions between socioeconomic, biophysical factors and their response to environmental change. Fina reserve is located between 13°101 - 401 North latitude and 9°301 - 501West longitude. The study evaluated the effect of climate variability and land use change on the vegetation dynamic in Fina reserve, Mali from 1983 to 2013 using times series analysis, lag-correlation, application of remote sensing (intensity change), farmers’ perception and adaptation measures as well as Geographic Information System (GIS). The result confirms a positive correlation between inter-annual rainfall variability and vegetation since the deficit phase of rainfall correspond to the vegetation deficit phase. Similarly, there is a positive correlation between inter-annual rainfall and Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) of 66% significance at 1% level. NDVI values changed in relation to different amount of rainfall and maximally respond to variation of rainfall with a lag-correlation at about two biweekly with a coefficient of 91%. The temperature is positively correlated with NDVI at the onset and cessation of the season, but negatively correlated during dry and rainy season. Also, the result of land use change detection shows that from 1985 to 2013 there was an increase of agriculture land and decrease in savannah wood land. By implication, the main factors for these changes were natural factors such as deficiency of rainfall and climatic variation since the change in the first interval (1985to1999 was 78.49%) higher than the second interval (1999 to 2013) which was 67.51% even though human population is on increase in second period. Furthermore, the result of transition to forest shows that, savannah woodland and steppe in both time intervals are consistently targeting the forest while bare land and Savannah woodland are consistently targeting agriculture land. The farmers in Fina reserve are aware of the effect of climate change through increase variability of rainfall, higher temperature, shorter length of rainy season, late onset and earlier cessation and increase flooding. Generally, land use and land cover dynamics have local and regional scale effects because its impacts do not have limited boarders and rainfall is the major driver of vegetation dynamics in Fina reserve. Therefore, it becomes necessary to local land use planning and design with protection practices for improved sustainability of the Fina reserve. A Thesis submitted to the West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use and the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Degree in Climate Change and Adapted Land Use