Prospects and Conclusions
In the past decade there has been both an increase in understanding of the
conservation value of East Africa's high mountains, and an increase in efforts to
actually conserve them. The desire to act seems to be there, but the ability to act is
still hampered by a lack of money, a lack of administrative enforcement, and a lack
of political will, especially at middle levels of government. It is no exaggeration to
say that future economic development in East Africa will depend in no small part on
the degree to which these critical mountain ecosystems are protected and understood.
Research in these ecosystems, especially the forests, is sorely lacking (
35). One
bright light has been the hydrological and soils research in Mount Kenya's forests
carried out by the Laikipia Research Programme (
31,
32). If such quality research
were expanded to broader ecological questions and to other mountains, it would go a
long way toward filling our embarrassing lack of knowledge about the some of the
most important ecosystems in East Africa.
References
1 Agnew A. D.Q. 1984. "Cyclic changes of vegetation in the plant communities of the
Aberdare Mountains, Kenya". Journal of the East African Natural History Society 75(183): 1-12
2 Bekele T. 1994. "Phytosociology and ecology of a humid Afromontane forest on
the Central Plateau of Ethiopia". Journal of Vegetation Science 5: 87-98
3 Blackie J. R.,
Edwards K. A. 1979. "General conclusions from the land use
experiments in East Africa". East African Agriculture and Forestry Journal 43: 273-277
4 Butynski T. M.,
Kalina J. 1993. "Three new mountain national parks for Uganda". Oryx, 27: 214-224
5 Coe M. J. 1967. The Ecology of the Alpine Zone of Mount Kenya. The Hague: W.
Junk
6 Hedberg O. 1951. "Vegetation belts of East African mountains". Svensk Botanishe
Tidskrift. 45: 140-202
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Advances in Botany" 1: 914-919
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Phytogeogeographica Suecica 49: 1-147
9 Hamilton A.C. 1982. The Environmental History of East Africa: a Study of the
Quaternary. London: Academic Press
10 Hamilton A. C.,
Perrott R.A. 1981. "A study of the altitudinal zonation in the
montane forest belt of Mount Elgon, Kenya/Uganda". Vegetatio 45: 107-125
11 Kigomo B.N. 1980. "Crown-bore diameter relationship of Juniperus procera (cedar)
and its application to stand density control and production survey in natural
stands". East African Agriculture and Forestry Journal 46: 27-37
12 Kigomo B. N. 1985. "Diameter increment and growth of Podocarpus trees in natural
forests". Kenya Journal of Science and Technology Series B 6: 113-121
13 Kigomo B.N. 1987. "The growth of camphor" ( Ocotea usambarensis Engl.) in
plantation in the eastern Aberdare range, Kenya. East African Agriculture and
Forestry Journal 52: 141-147
14 Kingdon J. 1990. Island Africa. London: William Collins Sons
15 Levin S. 1994. "Forum: perspectives on sustainability". Ecological Applications 4: 545-589
16 Lovett J. C.,
Prins E. 1995. "Estimation of land-use changes on Kitulo Plateau,
Tanzania using satellite imagery". Oryx 29
-423-
Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information:
Book title: East African Ecosystems and Their Conservation.
Contributors: T. R. McClanahan - Editor, T. P. Young - Editor.
Publisher: Oxford University Press.
Place of publication: New York.
Publication year: 1996.
Page number: 423.
This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may
not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.
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