scholarly journals Role of Forest Resources to Local Livelihoods: The Case of East Mau Forest Ecosystem, Kenya

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. K. Langat ◽  
E. K. Maranga ◽  
A. A. Aboud ◽  
J. K. Cheboiwo

Forests in Kenya are threatened by unsustainable uses and conversion to alternative land uses. In spite of the consequences of forest degradation and biodiversity loss and reliance of communities on forests livelihoods, there is little empirical data on the role of forest resources in livelihoods of the local communities. Socioeconomic, demographic, and forest use data were obtained by interviewing 367 households. Forest product market survey was undertaken to determine prices of various forest products for valuation of forest use. Forest income was significant to households contributing 33% of total household income. Fuel wood contributed 50%, food (27%), construction material (18%), and fodder, and thatching material 5% to household forest income. Absolute forest income and relative forest income (%) were not significantly different across study locations and between ethnic groups. However, absolute forest income and relative forest income (%) were significantly different among wealth classes. Poor households were more dependent on forests resources. However, in absolute terms, the rich households derived higher forest income. These results provide valuable information on the role of forest resources to livelihoods and could be applied in developing forest conservation policies for enhanced ecosystem services and livelihoods.

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dagm Fikir ◽  
Wubalem Tadesse ◽  
Abdella Gure

The study was conducted in Hammer district, Southern Ethiopia, to provide empirical evidence on economic contribution to local livelihoods and households dependency on dry forest products. One agropastoral and two pastoral kebeles were purposively selected, and data was collected through household survey, group discussions, market assessments, and field observation. A total of 164 households, selected based on a random sampling procedure, were interviewed using structured questionnaire. The study found that income from forest products contributes 21.4% of the total annual household income. The major dry forest products include honey, fuel wood, gum and resin, and crafts and construction materials, contributing 49%, 39%, 6%, and 6% of the forest income, respectively. Households of the pastoral site earned more forest income and were relatively more dependent on forest products income than those in the agropastoral study site. Significant variation was also found among income groups: households with higher total annual income obtain more forest income than those with lower income, but they are relatively less dependent on forest products than the lower counterpart. Besides, various socioeconomic and contextual factors were found to influence forest income and dependency. The findings of the study provide valuable information up on which important implications for dry land forest development and management strategies can be drawn.


Author(s):  
Nilendu Chatterjee ◽  
Soumyananda Dinda

The topic of growth and convergence is at the heart of a wide-ranging debate in the growth literature. The century long history of deprivation and backwardness of Jangalmahal area and four districts of it in the state of West Bengal—Purulia, Bankura, West Midnapore and parts of Birbhum—is also a well discussed issue. The dependency of the people on forest products to earn livelihoods is a natural phenomenon which, over the years, has resulted in considerable exploitation of forest resources. Through this chapter, we have made an attempt to see whether there exists any convergence, both absolute as well as conditional, in the total forest product of Jangalmahal and in the incomes earned from forest resources. We have seen the presence of Beta convergence, both conditional and absolute, in both tests of forest products as well as income from it. Sigma of forest income diverges instead of converge. Similar result is seen in case of timber.


Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 1096
Author(s):  
Ngolia Kimanzu ◽  
Björn Schulte-Herbrüggen ◽  
Jessica Clendenning ◽  
Linley Chiwona-Karltun ◽  
Kyla Krogseng ◽  
...  

In nearly all parts of the world, an important part of people’s livelihood is derived from natural resources. Gender is considered one of the most important determinants of access and control over forests. It is thought that women and men within households and communities have different opportunities and different roles and responsibilities in relation to forest use. It is probable that when women have equal access to forests, better food security outcomes can be achieved for individuals and households that are dependent on forests for their livelihoods. A systematic evidence map of the evidence base linking gender with access to forests and use of forest resources for food security was undertaken. Ten bibliographic databases and 22 websites of international development and conservation organisations were searched using keywords suggested by stakeholders. Other articles were found by emailing authors and organisations to send potentially relevant publications. 19,500 articles were retrieved from bibliographic databases and 1281 from other sources. After iterative screening, 77 studies were included: 41 focussed on Africa, 22 on Asia, 12 on Latin America, 2 were global. Most indicators of food security measure access to food, measured by total consumption, expenditure, or income. Studies showed strong gender specialisation: commercial access and utilisation of forests and forest products dominated by men, whereas access for subsistence and household consumption is almost exclusively the task of women. Despite the large number of studies reviewed, limitations of the evidence base, including methodological heterogeneity, a dominance of case studies as the study design, and unequal geographical representation in study locations, make it difficult to generalise about the overall importance of gender and its effect on access to and use of forests for food security in developing countries. The critical gaps in the evidence base include geographical representation in primary research and a greater breadth of study designs to assess gender implications of access to forest resources globally.


2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
EAK RANA ◽  
RIK THWAITES ◽  
GARY LUCK

SUMMARYReducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, the sustainable management of forests and the conservation and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries (‘REDD+’) aims to improve local livelihoods and conserve plant diversity while limiting carbon emissions. Yet trade-offs and synergies that exist between supporting livelihoods, protecting plant diversity and maintaining forest ecosystem services are poorly documented. We used forest inventory data and community-group records to assess trade-offs and synergies between carbon, plant diversity and forest products in 19 community forests managed under REDD+ in Nepal. Trade-offs were prevalent for carbon, whereby community forests with relatively high carbon values had relatively low values for plant diversity or forest products provision, and vice versa. Synergies occurred between plant diversity and forest products provision (fuelwood and fodder), suggesting that forests with relatively high plant diversity values were also important for providing critical forest products to local communities. This study shows that conserving forests for carbon should not impinge greatly on the flow of forest resources to at least some local communities; however, promoting carbon storage will not necessarily protect plant diversity. These findings should help guide future REDD+ policy for community forests.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 35
Author(s):  
Mangala De Zoysa

Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) are considered as “win-win” solutions to both government and market failures in sustainable forest management. PPPs in Sri Lanka are filling a regulatory gap resulting from withdrawal of government from the management of forest resources. The national forest policy has emphasized afforestation, conservation and protection as the main components of emerged government-community, donor–recipient and public–private partnerships with local people, rural communities and other stakeholders. Timber and fuel-wood plantations, and agro-forestry woodlots have been established through partnerships. Eco-tourism has been given special emphasis through partnerships between the government agencies, private sector and communities. Private sector involves in forestry as a business through sustainable agro-forestry, imparting financial gain. The government has identified risk mitigation as an integral part of the government–community partnership planning process. Investments of private sector in forest management are committed to enhance inflow of foreign exchange earnings through the export of value added forest products. The Forest Ordinance has empowered Forest Department for the management, protection and development of forest resources. PPPs are far less frequent in rule-setting and implementation of timber and fuel-wood plantations and agro-forestry woodlots. Work undertaken by community based organizations in PPPs occurs on a minor scale. Private-sector involvement in forest resources management has raised serious concerns by public perception about conflict of interest. The Government needs serious efforts and amendment of forest policies to promote public-private partnerships for the sustainable development of forest resources.


2021 ◽  
Vol 943 (1) ◽  
pp. 012025
Author(s):  
H Pandey ◽  
S Rajmohan ◽  
S Bung ◽  
S Y Bhutia

Abstract The rural and tribal communities of Madhya Pradesh’s Shivpuri District depend on forest resources for meeting their domestic energy needs, forest products, and employment. Under Green India Mission, households were randomly selected and surveyed. The data of 61 households from 3 villages of Satanwada range (dry deciduous forest) and 131 households from 4 villages in Pichhore range (dry deciduous scrub forest) was collected through semi-structured questionnaire interviews and direct observation. Generalised Linear Model was used to determine the major factors affecting fuelwood collection. The study revealed the factors affecting the amount of fuelwood collection in Satanwada and Pichhore. Family size of households near to the forest negatively affected the amount of fuelwood collected; opportunity cost of fuelwood collection was lower for them than for families living further away from the forest in Satanwada. In Pichhore, LPG consumption reduced the amount of fuelwood collected, while cow dung complimented the quantity of fuelwood collected. Since the availability of fuelwood was scarce, alternate energy resources became determining factors of the amount of fuelwood collected. In both ranges, the distance of the forest from households had a positive effect on the quantity of fuelwood consumed due to higher opportunity cost and degradation of adjacent forests. The study also revealed a strong correlation between the sampled population percentage of women in villages and the sampled village cattle count. The study also showed the difference of fuelwood collection in Satanwada (8.8 ± 0.6 kg) and Pichhore (6.8 ± 0.4 kg) suggesting that forest degradation correlates with lesser utilisation of forest resources. Hence, the study justifies the need of synergy between public rural provisions of alternative fuel sources with afforestation programs.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayehu Fekadu ◽  
Teshome Soromessa ◽  
Bikila Warkineh Dullo

Abstract Background This study provides empirical evidence, for the contribution of forest provisioning ecosystem services to the local communities done on the Afromontum rainforest of southwest Ethiopia which is endowed with many Fauna and Flora. The study may give some representative evidence for policy-maker on behalf of conservation of the area. Methodology This study was done with the approach of focus group discussion and in-depth interviews of the rural community in southwest Ethiopia coffee forest. The role of forest provisioning services analysis was made by relative forest income (RFI) procedure based on the stratification category of the local ethnics and newcomers. Results The overall result indicated that seventeen forest provisioning services collected by the community from natural forest, however income were varied in relation to demographic features, the income from forest for local communities shown too high to which contributes 90.85% of the total income and have a long history of the link between this livelihood and forest. While forest also provides a considerable income for the new resettled community coming from elsewhere in the area but we observed non- forest income were the main source of revenue for this community. Conclusions The traditional and the indigenous communities used for access to a finite resource and considered the resource harvested from the forest are the central part of their economy and the relationships between forests and people’s livelihoods particularly for this remote community were complementary. Then planning should take into conceder, in policy perceptive, for supporting this remote community for livelihood improvement and conservation of this natural forest.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. H. M. Raihan Sarker ◽  
Mohammad Nur Nobi ◽  
Biswajit Nath ◽  
Eivin Røskaft ◽  
Paul Kvinta ◽  
...  

Abstract The Sundarban provides various types of resources for an estimated four million people living in and around this mangrove forest in its Bangladesh parts. This study was carried out to quantify the value of forest income in these communities with the aim of understanding the contribution and importance of forest resources to the livelihoods of the poor, and their possible role in poverty alleviation. Eight key different resources such as fish, shrimp fry, crab, fuel-wood, wood for the construction of house and boat, thatching materials, honey and wax were identified in this study and their economic value estimated at US$145.2 million/year. It was also revealed that the households depended on mangrove resources for their livelihoods, with the lower and the middle-income households being heavily dependent. The households belonging to the lowest income group had neither land nor agricultural or livestock resources for generating income, therefore, a greater proportion of their income came from the forest, making them highly dependent on forest resources for survival. Given a population of about 4 million people residing in 17 upazilas (sub-districts) close to the Sundarban Reserve Forest, and their higher dependence on forest resources, sustainable management of the common pool resources provided by the forest is essential for alleviating extreme poverty. Management regimes for the Sundarban Reserve Forest need to be ensured continued access of the local residents to forest resources, especially of those who are the poorest, for sustaining livelihoods. In this regard, co-management of resources could be a pro-poor strategy if it does not compromise the livelihoods of the poorest living in and around the Sundarban.


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