BOTANIC GARDEN PROFILE Gullele Botanic Garden, Addis Ababa (Ethiopia): Current status, Challenges and Opportunities
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24823/Sibbaldia.2021.313Abstract
Gullele Botanic Garden (GBG) was founded through a joint venture between Addis Ababa University and Addis Ababa City Government. Since its establishment in 2010, it has developed its infrastructure and carried out a range of activities related to plant conservation, research, environmental education and ecotourism in line with its vision and mission. Key activities described in this paper are the five different uses of GBG land; the installation of a weather station; and the construction of a mini-greenhouse for plant acclimatisation, the multipurpose Agora II (an eco-friendly building with a green roof), a thematic garden and a nursery. The lists of endemic plants (65), large mammals (11) and endemic bird species recorded are presented in Appendices I, II and III respectively. The main activities and works carried out by GBG are not yet widely known to local and international communities. Through describing the garden’s current status, challenges and opportunities, this paper aims to increase awareness among the scientific community and more widely of GBG’s activities and intentions for protecting Ethiopia’s flora.
This article has an Erratum available to download as a pdf.
References
ANGIOSPERM PHYLOGENY GROUP, CHASE, M.W., CHRISTENHUSZ, M.J.M., FAY, M.F., BYNG, J.W., JUDD, W.S., SOLTIS, D.E., MABBERLEY, D.J., SENNIKOV, A.N., SOLTIS, P.S. & STEVENS, P.S. (2016). An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG IV. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 181(1): 1–20. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/boj.12385
BELAY, B. (2009). Ethnomedicinal and floristic composition study of plants in Gullele Botanic Garden, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Unpublished Masters dissertation, Addis Ababa University.
BOTANIC GARDENS CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL (2021). PlantSearch database. Available online: www.bgci.org/resources/bgci-databases/plantsearch/ (accessed August 2021).
BRAMWELL, B. & LANE, B. (1993). Sustainable tourism: an evolving global approach. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 1: 1–5. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/09669589309450696
ERGUA, A., EPHREM, A., BELAY, B., YEMENZWORK, E. & SETA, T. (2020). Floristic diversity and natural regeneration status of Entoto Mountain and the surrounding area in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. International Journal of Forestry Research, 2020(2): 1–10. doi: https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/4936193
FEKADU, D., KUMERA, W. & BELAY, B. (2011). Survey Report on Birds and Mammals of Gullele Botanic Garden, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Unpublished document.
GRATZFELD, J. (ED.) (2016). From Idea to Realisation – BGCI’s Manual on Planning, Developing and Managing Botanic Gardens. Available online: https://www.bgci.org/files/BG_Manual2017/cover%20and%20contents.pdf (accessed August 2021).
GULLELE BOTANIC GARDEN (2015). Gullele Botanic Garden Strategic Plan (2016–2020). Internal document.
HAILESELASSIE, G. & GETANEH, A. (1989). The Addis Ababa-Nazaret volcanics: a Miocene-Pleistocene volcanic succession in the Ethiopian Rift. SINET: Ethiopian Journal of Science, 12(1): 1–24.
HAWTHORNE, W.D. & MARSHALL, C.A.M. (2016). A manual for Rapid Botanic Survey (RBS) and measurement of vegetation bioquality. Available online: https://herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk/bol/Content/Projects/oxford/resources/Rapid_Botanic_Survey_manual_2016.pdf (accessed August 2021).
HEDBERG, I., FRIIS, I. & PERSSON, E. (2009). Flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea, Vol. 8. General Part and Index to Vols 1–7. The National Herbarium, Addis Ababa.
KITHIIA, J. & LYTH, A. (2011). Urban wildscapes and green spaces in Mombasa and their potential contribution to climate change adaptation and mitigation. Environment and Urbanization, 23(1): 251–265. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0956247810396054
MOUNCE, R., SMITH, P. & BROCKINGTON, S. (2017). Ex situ conservation of plant diversity in the world’s botanic gardens. Nature Plants, 3: 795–802. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-017-0019-3
SHAW, K. (2017). CEPF Small Grant Final Project Completion Report. Available online www.cepf.net/sites/default/files/final-report-sg72646.pdf (accessed August 2021).
SMITH, P.P. (2018). Building a global system for the conservation of all plant diversity: A vision for botanic gardens and Botanic Gardens Conservation International. Sibbaldia, 14: 5–13. doi: https://doi.org/10.24823/Sibbaldia.2016.208
WOLDEGERIMA, T., YESHITELA, K. & LINDLEY, S. (2017). Ecosystem services assessment of the urban forests of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Urban Ecosystems, 20(3): 683–699. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-016-0624-3
WYSE JACKSON, P.S. & SUTHERLAND, L.A. (2000). International Agenda for Botanic Gardens in Conservation. Botanic Gardens Conservation International, Richmond.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Categories
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Talemos Seta, Birhanu Belay
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Please read our Open Access, Copyright and Permissions policies for more information.
