Exploring the West African forest island phenomenon: scientific insights gained, successes achieved and capacities strengthened

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cg.authorship.typesCGIAR and developing country instituteen_US
cg.contributor.affiliationKwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technologyen_US
cg.contributor.affiliationFederal University of Agriculture, Abeokutaen_US
cg.contributor.affiliationInstitut de l'Environnement et de Recherches Agricoles, Burkina Fasoen_US
cg.contributor.affiliationInternational Institute of Tropical Agricultureen_US
cg.contributor.affiliationHungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciencesen_US
cg.contributor.affiliationCSIR-Crops Research Institute, Ghanaen_US
cg.contributor.affiliationWageningen University & Researchen_US
cg.contributor.affiliationImperial College of Science and Technologyen_US
cg.coverage.countryBurkina Fasoen_US
cg.coverage.countryGhanaen_US
cg.coverage.countryNigeriaen_US
cg.coverage.iso3166-alpha2BFen_US
cg.coverage.iso3166-alpha2GHen_US
cg.coverage.iso3166-alpha2NGen_US
cg.coverage.regionAfricaen_US
cg.coverage.regionWestern Africaen_US
cg.creator.identifierVincent Logah: 0000-0002-8349-7600en_US
cg.creator.identifierJamiu O. Azeez: 0000-0001-5821-3779en_US
cg.creator.identifierSamuel Ayodele Mesele: 0000-0003-0275-620Xen_US
cg.howPublishedFormally Publisheden_US
cg.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1098/rsfs.2023.0078en_US
cg.isijournalISI Journalen_US
cg.issn2042-8898en_US
cg.issue4: 20230078en_US
cg.journalInterface Focusen_US
cg.reviewStatusPeer Reviewen_US
cg.subject.iitaAGRONOMYen_US
cg.subject.iitaCAPACITY DEVELOPMENTen_US
cg.subject.iitaFOOD SECURITYen_US
cg.subject.iitaFORESTRYen_US
cg.subject.iitaSOIL FERTILITYen_US
cg.subject.impactAreaNutrition, health and food securityen_US
cg.subject.impactPlatformNutrition, Health and Food Securityen_US
cg.subject.sdgSDG 2 - Zero hungeren_US
cg.volume14en_US
dc.contributor.authorLogah, V.en_US
dc.contributor.authorAzeez, J.en_US
dc.contributor.authorCompaore, H.en_US
dc.contributor.authorMesele, S.A.en_US
dc.contributor.authorOcansey, C.M.en_US
dc.contributor.authorBougma, A.en_US
dc.contributor.authorTetteh, E.N.en_US
dc.contributor.authorVeenendaal, E.M.en_US
dc.contributor.authorLloyd, J.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2024-12-13T08:43:50Zen_US
dc.date.available2024-12-13T08:43:50Zen_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/163448en_US
dc.titleExploring the West African forest island phenomenon: scientific insights gained, successes achieved and capacities strengtheneden_US
dcterms.abstractAnthropogenic activities around local villages in mesic savanna landscapes of West Africa have resulted in soil improvement and forest establishment outside their climatic zones. Such unique ‘forest islands’ have been reported to provide ecosystem services including biodiversity conservation. However, the science underpinning their formations is limitedly studied. In 2015 and with funding support from the Royal Society-DFID (now FCDO), we set out to investigate the biogeochemistry of the forest islands in comparison with adjacent natural savanna and farmlands across 11 locations in Burkina Faso, Ghana and Nigeria. Our results showed that the forest islands do not differ significantly from the adjoining ecosystems in soil mineralogy implying that their formation was anthropogenically driven. We observed greater soil organic carbon and nutrient distributions in the forest islands, which also had more stable macro (>500 μm) and meso-aggregates (500–250 μm) than the adjoining agricultural lands. We found that soil micro-aggregate (250–53 μm) stability was climate (precipitation) driven in the West African ecosystems while meso- and macro-aggregate stability was land-use driven. In one of the unique forest islands we studied in the Mole National Park of Ghana, we found its mineral-associated organic carbon over 40% greater than the adjoining natural savanna with potential implications for the achievement of the global initiative of the ‘4p1000’ in West Africa. We conclude that the North–South–South research collaboration has established clearly, the science underlying the age-long West African forest island phenomenon and has, among many successes, led to capacity building of young scientists driving cutting-edge research in climate change adaptation and food systems transformation in the sub-region.en_US
dcterms.accessRightsLimited Accessen_US
dcterms.audienceScientistsen_US
dcterms.available2024-08-09en_US
dcterms.bibliographicCitationLogah, V., Azeez, J.O., Compaore, H., Mesele, S.A., Ocansey, C.M., Bougma, A.B., ... & Lloyd, J. (2024). Exploring the West African forest island phenomenon: scientific insights gained, successes achieved and capacities strengthened. Interface Focus, 14(4): 20230078, 1-11.en_US
dcterms.extent1-11en_US
dcterms.issued2024en_US
dcterms.languageenen_US
dcterms.licenseCopyrighted; all rights reserveden_US
dcterms.subjectcapacity developmenten_US
dcterms.subjectecosystemsen_US
dcterms.subjectforestsen_US
dcterms.subjectsavannasen_US
dcterms.subjectsoil aggregatesen_US
dcterms.subjectsoil fertilityen_US
dcterms.typeJournal Articleen_US

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