📄 earth_science

Sacred forests as refuges for medium- and large-sized mammals under anthropogenic pressure: evidence from Debre Libanos Monastery Forest, Ethiopia

This study demonstrates that the Debre Libanos Monastery Forest in Ethiopia serves as a critical refuge for medium- and large-sized mammals, including the Vulnerable African leopard, despite significant anthropogenic threats like poaching and habitat encroachment, while highlighting the potential of combining habitat protection with local community participation and traditional religious stewardship for effective conservation.

Original authors: Mohammed Kasso, Asmare Bahiru

Published 2026-06-26

📖 5 min read🧠 Deep dive

CC BY 4.0

Original authors: Mohammed Kasso, Asmare Bahiru

Original paper licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). ✨ This is an AI-generated explanation of the paper below. It is not written or endorsed by the authors. For technical accuracy, refer to the original paper. Read full disclaimer

Imagine the Ethiopian highlands as a vast, bustling city where the "natural" neighborhoods have mostly been replaced by farms, houses, and grazing fields. In the middle of this concrete-and-corn landscape, there are tiny, green islands left behind. These aren't just random patches of trees; they are sacred forests, protected by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and treated as holy ground.

This research paper is like a detective story about one of these islands: the Debre Libanos Monastery Forest. The researchers wanted to answer a simple but crucial question: Even though the world outside is getting louder and more crowded, is this little green island still a safe home for the medium and large animals that live there?

Here is the breakdown of their findings, translated into everyday language:

1. The "Safe House" for Animals

Think of the forest as a lifeboat in a stormy sea. The storm is "anthropogenic pressure"—a fancy way of saying human activity like farming, building houses, and cutting down trees for firewood.

The researchers spent over a year (from early 2023 to early 2024) walking through the forest, looking for animals. They didn't just look for the animals themselves; they also looked for "clues" like footprints, poop, scratch marks, and hearing calls. This is like a detective looking for a suspect's shadow or a dropped glove when the suspect is hiding.

The Result: They found 14 different species of medium-to-large mammals. This includes:

The "Big Three" Primates: Gelada baboons, Grivet monkeys, and Olive baboons. These guys were the most common, making up over 80% of all the animals seen. They are like the loud, social neighbors who are everywhere.
The "Shadow Walkers": Carnivores like jackals, hyenas, servals, and even the African Leopard.
The "Rare Guests": The African Leopard is listed as "Vulnerable" (meaning it's in trouble globally). Finding even a few tracks of a leopard here is like finding a rare, endangered bird in a city park—it proves this little forest is doing something very important.

2. Where Do They Hang Out?

The forest isn't just one big block of trees. It's a mix of three types of neighborhoods:

Woodlands: Dense trees.
Shrublands: Bushes and smaller plants.
Grasslands: Open fields.

The animals use all three, but they have their favorite spots. The Woodlands were the busiest area, mostly because the monkeys love the trees for food and safety. The Shrublands were the second most popular, especially for the Gelada baboons who like to graze on grass near bushes.

Interestingly, even though the Woodlands had the most animals, the Grasslands had the most variety of different species relative to their size. It's like a small coffee shop having a more diverse crowd of customers than a giant stadium that is mostly filled with just one type of fan.

3. The Storm Outside: What's Threatening the Forest?

The researchers asked 62 local families and community leaders, "What is hurting the wildlife?" The answers were like a list of reasons why the lifeboat is taking on water:

Poaching/Hunting (78%): The biggest threat. People are actively hunting the animals.
Firewood Collection (72%): People are cutting down trees to cook their meals, shrinking the forest.
Farming Encroachment (65%): Farmers are pushing their fields closer to the forest edge.
Livestock Grazing (57%): Cows and goats are eating the plants the wild animals need.
Settlement Expansion (41%): New houses are being built right up to the forest boundary.

4. The People's Perspective: A Mixed Bag

Here is the most hopeful part of the story. When asked about wildlife, 61% of the locals said they had a positive attitude toward protecting the animals. They understand that the forest is special, holy, and good for the water and climate.

However, the other 39% had negative feelings. Why? Because sometimes wild animals eat their crops or attack their livestock. It's a classic "me vs. them" struggle: I love nature, but my cow got eaten by a hyena, so I'm angry.

5. The Bottom Line

The paper concludes that the Debre Libanos Monastery Forest is a critical sanctuary. Even though it is surrounded by human activity and under constant pressure, it is still successfully holding onto a diverse group of mammals, including some that are rare and endangered.

The Takeaway:
This forest is a "green island" in a "human ocean." It proves that religious traditions and community protection can keep nature alive even when there are no official national parks nearby. However, to keep this lifeboat from sinking, the community needs to stop the poaching and firewood cutting, and find a way to balance protecting the animals with the needs of the local farmers.

In short: The forest is still a safe haven, but it's being squeezed tight. The locals mostly want to save it, but they need help to stop the threats that are slowly eating away at their home.

Technical Summary: Sacred Forests as Refuges for Medium- and Large-Sized Mammals under Anthropogenic Pressure

Problem Statement
In the Ethiopian highlands, natural forests are increasingly fragmented by agricultural expansion, settlement, and resource extraction. While sacred forests maintained by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church are recognized as biodiversity refugia, empirical data regarding their capacity to sustain medium- and large-sized mammal populations under growing anthropogenic pressure remains limited. Previous research has predominantly focused on vegetation diversity or species inventories within national parks, often overlooking the specific dynamics of mammalian persistence, habitat use, and local community perceptions within these small, religiously managed forest remnants. This study addresses the gap in understanding how Debre Libanos Monastery Forest functions as a conservation refuge for mammals amidst a human-dominated landscape.

Methodology
The study employed a cross-sectional design integrating ecological surveys and socio-ecological assessments in the Debre Libanos Monastery Forest (North Shoa Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia).

Ecological Surveys: Conducted between February 2023 and March 2024 across woodland, shrubland, and grassland habitats. Data collection utilized line-transect observations (twice daily during peak activity hours) and indirect evidence (tracks, feces, vocalizations, scratch marks). The survey covered both wet and dry seasons to capture seasonal variations.
Community Assessment: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 62 households and key informants (elders, monks, forest guards) to assess anthropogenic threats, resource utilization patterns, and attitudes toward wildlife conservation.
Data Analysis: Mammalian occurrence was summarized using descriptive statistics. Species diversity was quantified using the Shannon–Wiener index ( $H'$ ) and Pielou's evenness index ( $J$ ). Habitat similarity was assessed using Sørensen's similarity coefficient. Threat frequencies were analyzed descriptively.

Key Results

Species Composition: A total of 14 medium- and large-sized mammal species (599 observations) belonging to 10 families and six orders were recorded. The assemblage was dominated by primates: Theropithecus gelada (32.2%), Chlorocebus aethiops (30.6%), and Papio anubis (19.0%), which collectively accounted for 81.8% of all observations.
Conservation Status: Thirteen species were classified as Least Concern (LC). Notably, the Vulnerable (VU) African leopard (Panthera pardus) was detected, primarily through indirect evidence (scratch marks and tracks), highlighting the forest's significance for threatened species.
Habitat Use: Woodland habitats supported the highest number of records (319), followed by shrubland (230) and grassland (50). While woodland had the highest abundance, grassland exhibited the highest Shannon diversity values ( $H' = 2.17$ in the dry season) and evenness, suggesting a more balanced distribution of species in that habitat. Sørensen similarity indices between habitats were high (0.88–0.91), indicating significant overlap in species composition and the utilization of multiple habitat types by the same species.
Anthropogenic Threats: Respondents identified poaching/illegal hunting (78%), fuelwood extraction (72%), agricultural encroachment (65%), livestock grazing (57%), and settlement expansion (41%) as the primary threats. Field observations corroborated these findings with evidence of traps, cut vegetation, and livestock intrusion.
Community Perceptions: Despite the identified threats, 61.3% of respondents expressed positive attitudes toward wildlife conservation, largely driven by the recognition of the forest's ecological and religious value. Negative attitudes (38.7%) were primarily associated with human-wildlife conflict (crop damage, livestock predation) and restrictions on resource access.

Key Contributions
This study provides empirical evidence that sacred forests, specifically the Debre Libanos Monastery Forest, serve as critical refugia for medium- and large-sized mammals within fragmented Afro-montane landscapes. It moves beyond simple species inventories to document habitat use patterns and the specific anthropogenic pressures affecting these populations. The detection of the Vulnerable African leopard underscores the potential of these religiously managed forests to support conservation-sensitive species outside formally protected areas. Furthermore, the study integrates local community perceptions, revealing that traditional religious stewardship coexists with, and potentially mitigates, anthropogenic pressures, though resource conflicts remain a challenge.

Significance and Claims
The authors claim that Debre Libanos Monastery Forest maintains ecological integrity and supports a diverse mammalian assemblage despite increasing human pressure. The study asserts that these sacred forests function as essential biodiversity reservoirs and ecological stepping stones in human-dominated landscapes. The persistence of species, including the Vulnerable leopard, suggests that traditional religious conservation practices remain effective but are increasingly strained by external pressures such as poaching and habitat encroachment.

The paper concludes that while the forest currently acts as a refuge, its long-term viability depends on strengthening habitat protection, fostering community participation, and integrating traditional religious stewardship with modern conservation strategies. The authors emphasize that sacred forests should be recognized as integral components of landscape-scale conservation planning in Ethiopia, complementing formal protected areas to maintain ecological connectivity and species persistence. The study modestly notes limitations, including the reliance on relative abundance rather than population density estimates and the exclusion of small mammal communities, suggesting that future research should employ occupancy-based models for deeper insights.