Managing dry woodlands facing climate change in East Africa

This project will address the challenges of managing dry woodlands in Ethiopia and the Miombo woodlands in Tanzania (East Africa). These ecosystem types face drastic changes and a rapid reduction in size through human land use and climatic stresses.  We will work on capacity building addressing the management possibilities in a consortium of Ethiopian (Mekelle University) and European (Norwegian University of Life Science, Wageningen University, University of Hohenheim) institutions. We address research questions such as: (1) Which harvesting pattern should a forest manager follow in order to maximize the net present value (NPV) from sustained wood production? (2) What is the optimal management strategy for the joint provision of wood and carbon? (3) How does the optimal management strategy vary with differences in payment systems for carbon sequestration and/or storage?
(4) Which management strategies can balance economic gain and carbon sequestration and/or storage enhancement/maintenance and biodiversity conservation? (5) How do the optimal management strategies vary with differences in initial state of the woodland and differences in ownership? (6) How do risks of fire and illegal harvest affect the optimal management strategies? This study will come up with joint management suggestions for threatened ecosystems in a rapidly changing environment.