Despite its significance, dendrochronology has not been well developed in Africa where it has the potential to grow exponentially provided there is adequate training and resources. The field of study has not yet received due attention from the relevant authorities like governments of African countries, education and research institutions.
At the individual level too, the science is not well known among many people in the continent. As a result, only a few people have specialized in the study so far.
“One thing that I have noticed already is that Science has not been embraced by so many people. There are a number of reasons. Many people do not understand the science itself. This is because we have got few people who know the science. And, when you have good fuel, it’s very difficult to go to different parts of the continent. And there’s few of them, again, we don’t have the funds.” Justine Ngoma (PhD), a Dendrochronologists from Zambia elaborates.
Due to economic and technological shortcomings, Africa lags behind the remaining world in important research and innovation works including dendrochronology. Paradoxically, it is the most affected part of the world due to the looming climate change-induced environment crisis the prevention of which calls for due effort in research and development.
Climate change and the consequent environmental and ecological crisis are causing an unbearable loss against the entire world and more dangerously, against Africa, which lacks the required funding and technical know-how to prevent them or withstand the impact. As a result, the continent is losing thousands of lives of both humans and livestock, losing a considerable volume of its natural resources and biodiversity, all of which cannot be recovered easily. Hence, the preemptive actions against the impacts of climate change are worth taking at any cost.
“So, that one also should send a signal to the government or the policymakers, if these trees are being affected negatively how do we understand which species are being affected? And then how do we move forward? Do we need to plant more trees? And if you are planting more trees, which species so, it will help you as a government or as individuals to really plan”, added Justine.
Indeed, research can help a lot in analyzing decades or centuries-old data from the past and working out for the future. This obviously requires a lot of effort, investment and commitment from stakeholders especially the government, higher learning institutions as well as research institutions, among others.
Unlike research in other businesses, the investment that should be made in the study and analysis of tree rings should not be measured by direct and immediate outcomes. Rather all stakeholders must understand the long-term and diverse benefits of the study and plan accordingly, according to Justine.
“Science is expensive, and there’s no immediate benefit. So if the government can invest in science, we try to protect the negative effects that certain problems are bringing. Because there are certain things that if you detect them now, you can easily find a solution and protect other negative consequences that may come. So the policymakers, the government and also other collaborative partners have to invest in substance support. So if the government can support universities and research Institutions this science can help us to solve several problems.”
In this case, it is a must to do a cost-benefit analysis of the impact of climate change on the continent and the required financial and technical budget for prevention efforts including the study of tree rings in Africa. According to some statistics, Africa loses about 2-5 % of its GDP annually due to climate change. In terms of cash this loss amounts to between 290-400 billion USD. Hence, policy makers and research institutions should calculate all the risks and rethink their priorities and strategies.
Still, a large part of the continent’s forest remains untouched by scientists which means a lot of important data that the trees have archived throughout the centuries and the millennia has not been accessed. There is no doubt that they have been gathering a huge sum of information about the series of climatic crises, disease and insect outbreaks, forest fires, forest clearing, and human intervention. Yet it is so alarming to know that all these stored data are not used so far, and both the continent and the entire world are missing them.
“We say that tree rings are not really studied in Africa. We are at the early stage of tree ring studies in Africa just because for the whole topic, people believed that the trees in the tropics, in the warmer conditions do not form rings. But with time, they now investigated and they found that they really have growth rings. And then in Africa, when you compare Eastern Africa tree rings are more investigated than in West Africa.” says Balima Larba Hubert (PhD), Dendrochronologist from Burkina Faso.
Africa has diverse ecosystems and climatic conditions. The resource and technical shortcomings that prevail in the continent make the study an uphill battle unless there is a concerted collaboration between Dendrochronologists in Africa and outside.
The analysis of tree rings in Africa is highly beneficial not only to the continent but also to the entire world. Therefore, the task of expediting into the bulk of forests of Africa and studying the rich data must not be limited to scientists in the continent. It is also potentially vital to research and development for countries and research institutions elsewhere.
“We will really need information from trees to be able to project the future response of the ecosystem, to climate change, for instance global warming. So in the Future tree rings will be really more important because through tree ring analysis we can understand the long-term response of trees and ecosystems to changing environmental conditions. So we believe that in the future, we will rely on tree ring analysis to be able to do some projects for climates or for Ecology.” Balima notes.
Despite their small number and resource constraints, Dendrochronologists in Africa are working on how they can apply their knowledge in response to the looming challenges that the continent is facing. As a pioneer Dendrochronologist in the continent, Aster Gebrekristos (PhD), a senior global scientist at Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF), is coordinating the formation and operation of the Africa Tree Ring Network. The network facilitates research, training and other important workshops where African Dendrochronologists come together.
“This is the first African tree ring gathering, ever in Africa. There is a strong society in Europe Asia and America. Until recently, I remember that I was the only one attending conferences and now we have trained many people. That’s why we established this network. Now we have [Dendrochronologists] from more than 30 countries.” says Aster regarding the small but flourishing number of Dendrochronologists that gathered recently here in Addis Ababa.
The establishment of the Africa Tree Ring Network would be timely as it can facilitate data and resource sharing between African and foreign scientists and concerned institutions, according to Aster.
“Our future plan is to advocate for the importance of the data and also train people online, on the field and also to mobilize resources to do research and to make sure that African forests and trees are managed well because if you have data information, then we can manage them properly. That is why we are here to create a vibrant tree ring Society of Africa so that we can share data globally and also between different countries of Africa.”
As much as the African Dendrochronologists are joining hands to coordinate their professional service to the continent that needs it the most, there is also a growing demand for them to extend their activities to the grassroots so that their higher level scientific analysis could benefit the much larger community of the continent in reclaiming the deteriorating environment and overcome the impacts of climate change.
According to the experts the scientific analysis from tree rings can serve beyond policy makers and higher institutions to the grassroots that are widely in direct contact with the ecosystem. They advise that the grass root community should learn the outcomes of the analysis so as to effectively realize the goals of environmental protection and preventing climate change.
“Whether the government or the individuals, what we are looking at is scientists first. When you have this data, we need to communicate in a language that a lay person can understand. If it’s the government, how do we use that information? How do we help the government to use that information to plan for the nation? So it’s basically to start from us as scientists. How do we communicate? And from there then the government can take it up and also the local community can take it up. And even them government organizations, or anybody interested can take it up to use that data to plan.” Justine noted.
Given the continents rich biodiversity that still remains unexplored, the Dendrochronologists can analyses and compile more data that has been archived by the forests and could help not only the continent but the whole world.
BY ZEKARIAS WOLDEMARIAM
The Ethiopian Herald December 22/2024
