Impacts of Participatory Forest Management on Community Livelihood: Case study of Kereita forest Kenya

<p>Since the 1990s there has been an increasing shift in the management of natural resources from state control to participatory approaches. Many developing countries, including Kenya, have promoted participatory forest management (PFM) as a strategy for enhancing forest conservation and the sustainable use of forest resources through community participation. Drawing on a case study of the Kereita forest, in the central highlands of Kenya, this research explores the impact of PFM on community livelihood. Using a post-structural political ecology approach and qualitative research methods, I conducted and analysed 18 semi-structured interviews. Results indicate that the implementation of PFM has changed how the community access forest products. PFM, through processes of inclusion and exclusion, has had both positive and negative effects on community livelihoods. New opportunities were opened, for instance, increased awareness about forest conservation led to a women’s group developing alternative livelihood pathways. In contrast, the development of a new eco-lodge disrupted community plans to rehabilitate that area. This case study also reflected other critiques of PFM in terms of who holds ultimate authority; ultimately, the government retained a lot of control in forest management, and PFM processes have concentrated power with the government and channelled certain livelihood outcomes that benefit the already wealthy. These uneven power relations between the community and the government produce and perpetuate conflicts in implementing PFM hence hampering livelihood improvement. Furthermore, I argue that PFM has created and embedded both visible and invisible boundaries – through fences and permits, for instance – that regulate what takes place where, and who accesses what. To sustain the development of good community livelihoods through PFM, this research calls for continued interrogations of power imbalances within current PFM structures.</p>

Impacts of Participatory Forest Management on Community Livelihood: Case study of Kereita forest Kenya

<p>Since the 1990s there has been an increasing shift in the management of natural resources from state control to participatory approaches. Many developing countries, including Kenya, have promoted participatory forest management (PFM) as a strategy for enhancing forest conservation and the sustainable use of forest resources through community participation. Drawing on a case study of the Kereita forest, in the central highlands of Kenya, this research explores the impact of PFM on community livelihood. Using a post-structural political ecology approach and qualitative research methods, I conducted and analysed 18 semi-structured interviews. Results indicate that the implementation of PFM has changed how the community access forest products. PFM, through processes of inclusion and exclusion, has had both positive and negative effects on community livelihoods. New opportunities were opened, for instance, increased awareness about forest conservation led to a women’s group developing alternative livelihood pathways. In contrast, the development of a new eco-lodge disrupted community plans to rehabilitate that area. This case study also reflected other critiques of PFM in terms of who holds ultimate authority; ultimately, the government retained a lot of control in forest management, and PFM processes have concentrated power with the government and channelled certain livelihood outcomes that benefit the already wealthy. These uneven power relations between the community and the government produce and perpetuate conflicts in implementing PFM hence hampering livelihood improvement. Furthermore, I argue that PFM has created and embedded both visible and invisible boundaries – through fences and permits, for instance – that regulate what takes place where, and who accesses what. To sustain the development of good community livelihoods through PFM, this research calls for continued interrogations of power imbalances within current PFM structures.</p>

Factors influencing community participation in the implementation and monitoring of FLEGT-VPA in Ghana

PurposeVoluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) offers a framework for open and participatory forest management for forest actors, particularly communities fringing forest reserves. This paper aimed to determine the factors influencing the participation of local communities in the implementation and monitoring of Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade-Voluntary Partnership Agreement (FLEGT-VPA) activities.Design/methodology/approachThe study was conducted in three communities in Goaso Forest District in the Ahafo Region of Ghana. Based on a cross-sectional design, 105 (n = 105) community members were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify socio-demographic and cultural factors that influence people's participation in FLEGT-VPA activities. Friedman and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were conducted to analyse the influence of the environmental role of the forest and participation in FLEGT-VPA activities.FindingsThe study found a significant association between the leadership status of respondents' local customs/taboo days and participation in both implementation and monitoring activities. At the same time, a significant association was found between respondents' participation in previous training programs and FLEGT-VPA monitoring activities. The environmental role of the forest was also found to have a significant association with respondents' participation in FLEGT-VPA activities.Originality/valueStudies on the factors that influence the participation of forest fringe communities in Ghana in implementing and monitoring FLEGT-VPA activities are non-existent or scarce. This study identified significant socio-demographic and environmental factors contributing to participatory forest conservation modules such as FLEGT-VPA which will guide future forest conservation initiatives that are inclusive of stakeholders’ interests/concerns.

Forest Governance: Hydra or Chloris?

Many forest-related problems are considered relevant today. One might think of deforestation, illegal logging and biodiversity loss. Yet, many governance initiatives have been initiated to work on their solutions. This Element takes stock of these issues and initiatives by analysing different forest governance modes, shifts and norms, and by studying five cases (forest sector governance, forest legality, forest certification, forest conservation, participatory forest management). Special focus is on performance: are the many forest governance initiatives able to change established practices of forest decline (Chloris worldview) or are they doomed to fail (Hydra worldview)? The answer will be both, depending on geographies and local conditions. The analyses are guided by discursive institutionalism and philosophical pragmatism. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Community perspectives on conservation of water sources in Tarkeshwar sacred groves, Himalaya, India

Sacred groves have significance in socio-culture and biodiversity conservation. This study evaluated local people perceptions regarding conservation of sacred groves for water-services, through willingness-to-pay (WTP), willingness-to-accept (WTA) and willingness-to-labour-work (DLP). Data were collected through a pre-tested questionnaire from 107 randomly selected households in 18 villages of Uttarakhand. The villages were categorised into 3 classes (core, nearby, faraway) based on proximity to the forests. The contingent-valuation method was used to evaluate WTP [Rs 3,802 (≈$57)] and WTA [Rs 38,224 (≈$571)] for water as an ecosystem-service and statistical-analyses were performed to evaluate whether factors such as gender, age, household-income and location explained differences in the parameters. It was found that gender had a significant impact on WTP, with women having higher WTP, and that location had significant impact on WTA. The result shows that WTA increased with increasing distance from the sacred-groves (Rs 43,077 ± 21,139 in faraway-villages and Rs 35,323 ± 10,483 in core-villages). The results indicated that consideration of gender inequality and education status in villages should be included in planning and decision making about participatory forest management of sacred-groves. These findings facilitate forest-resource-management in mountains and provide guidance for programmes and policies dealing with irrigation, drinking-water and community development.

Determining the Influence of Participatory Evaluation on Conservation of Mau Forest Programme in Bomet County, Kenya

Forests are considered the second most important natural resource after water throughout the world. There is need to undertake review of policies and legislation on forestry to incorporate aspects of Participatory Forest Management to conserve and manage resources in a sustainable way. The paper sought to determine the extent to which Participatory evaluation influences conservation of Mau Forest programme. This study was guided by descriptive survey and correlational research designs. A sample size of 364 respondents was drawn from a target population of 4100 people using Yamane (1967) Formula.From the findings, r = -0.048 indicated that there was a weak negative linear correlation between Participatory evaluation and Conservation of Mau Forest programme. With a p-value=0.43), the null hypothesis was not rejected and recommended that there is need to do a holistic analysis of local people, their livelihood assets and strategies, resource-use patterns and power relations before the implementation of conservation programs.