Explaining the Determinants of Community Based Forest Management: Evidence from Alamata, Ethiopia

Abstract

In Ethiopia, community forest management (CFM) programme is adopted and implemented through participation of households in and around the forest for decades. The objective of this study was to assess the determinant factors of household participation level in community forest management. More specifically, it aimed to identify the effects of demographic, bio-physical and economic factors on households' level of participation. To achieve the objectives of the study, data were collected from 157 household respondents from different sampling units. A logistic regression model was employed to determine the relative importance of variables. From the demographic factors, age, gender, level of education and family size were found to have a significant effect on the level of participation. From the biophysical factors distance from forest and location, a place where the respondents locate is found to have a strong power to explain household's level of participation in community forest management (CFM). The economic variable which is measured in terms of household's economic benefit from forest has also a significant effect. The findings have implications on identifying and formulating effective strategies for improving the participation level of households in forest management there by lessening the main causes of forest depletion.

Factors affecting smallholder farmers participation in degraded forest rehabilitation practices. The case of Gemachis District, West Hararghe Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia

“…The household far from the forest did not benefit from the forest because it requires additional cost for transportation of grasses/other forest resources and information asymmetry on the different forest rehabilitation programs. The result is consistent with others studies conducted by Tadesse and Abay (2013) in Ethiopia and Musyoki et al (2013) in Kenya. They found a negative relationship between distances of a household's home from the forest and participation in forest management and rehabilitation practices due to information asymmetry and rare benefits obtained from the forest.…”

“…The prevailing shortage of land was initiating farmers to diversify forest-based incomes through managing the forest in a sustainable manner. The result is consistent with findings of Tadesse and Abay (2013), Eshetu et al (2014), Alemayehu et al (2015) in Ethiopia and Blay et al (2008) in Ghana and Musyoki et al (2013) in Kenya. They found that benefits obtained or expected from the forest such as timber and non-timber forest products serve as incentives for the households to engage more in forest management and rehabilitation practices.…”

“…Organization of household in a cooperation create a set of rules and regulation, incentive mechanism (the right to use, manage and control of forest resources) and external support obtained from different organization encouraged respondents to participate actively in degraded forest rehabilitation activities. The result is similar with studies conducted by Gobeze et al (2009), MOA (2012), Tadesse and Abay (2013), Alemayehu et al (2015), Semeneh (2016) in Ethiopia and Musyoki et al (2013) in Kenya. They found that households who were living in the forest previously and nearer the forest organized in the group/association/ cooperative to manage forests and their result indicates a strong relationship of forest cooperatives and participation in forest management and rehabilitation practices.…”

“…In addition, studies conducted on the factors affecting community participation in forest management in Ethiopia address only the levels of participation of forest users association or groups towards forest management (Tadesse and Abay, 2013). Similarly, studies conducted on the determinants of collective action on bamboo forest management do not examine the forest rehabilitation activities performed by the community (Semeneh, 2016).…”

Factors influencing households’ participation in forest management in the northern region of Ghana

“…Engida and Mengistu (2013) Meshack et al (2006) reported that Communitybased forest management (CBFM) could be a pathway to promoting a win-win situation in forest management strategies while still maintaining some amount of benefits received by communities from the forests and also guaranteeing a functioning ecosystem and maintenance of forest cover. Aabeyir et al (2011) suggested that achieving sustainable woodland management and controlling and ensuring fuel wood collection in a sustainable way is viewed as a major challenge to Ghana's traditional energy sector.…”