The plot for the study on vegetation changes was established in a deforested area of the Maeklong Watershed Research Station, Kanchanaburi, western Thailand. The plot (100 x 400 m2) was divided into four hundred 10 x 10 m2 sub-quadrats. We found six major vegetation types in the sub-quadrats: bamboo, woody shrub, banana (Musa acuminata), and three grasses Eupatorium ordotarum, Arundo donax and Bothrichloa sp. types. The aboveground biomass (kg m-2) of each dominant vegetation type was measured as follows: 4.1 for the bamboo type, 7.6 for the woody shrub type, 0.84 for the banana type, 2.0 for the E. ordotarum type, 2.3 for the A. donax type, and 0.8 for Bothrichloa type. The changes in dominant vegetation types have been monitored from 1992 to 1995. In 1992, the percentages of dominance for E. ordotarum, woody shrub, and A. donax were 39%, 20%, and 17% respectively. The transition matrices were calculated from the replacement patterns of vegetation types in the same quadrats. The vegetation change projected using the transition matrices suggested that the bamboo areas will increase while the woody shrubs and E. ordotarum areas will decrease in the future. Total bimass changes, calculating from the project, show that the total biomass of this pilot will increase due to the accumulation of woody shrub biomass. However, frequent fire disturbance will largely influence the speed of biomass accumulation in the plot.
Tag: change
Responding to change: new visions for forestry institutions
Building collaboration through action research: the case of Ottotomo Forest Reserve in Cameroon
The Ottotomo Forest Reserve in the Central Province of Cameroon is one of the protected areas in the country where several management strategies have been tested with varying degrees of success (e.g., the Tropical Shelterwood System (TSS) silvicultural technique was piloted in this forest more than 30 years ago). From 1994 with the enactment of the new forestry legislation in Cameroon, the management strategy shifted considerably, moving away from the classical ‘fences and fines’ to a collaborative approach whereby the aspirations of the local communities are taken into consideration. This paper attempts to provide an account of a collaborative management efforts facilitated by CIFOR in the reserve. Using a series of Participatory Action Research (PAR) tools, this paper identifies specific management problems, attempts to analyse those problems and establishes collaborative arrangements for future management inputs into the reserve. The paper ends with a series of lessons learned from this exercise.