An Investigation of the Factors That Motivated Illegal Settlements in the Mau Forest, Kenya

Alice Jebiwott,George Morara Ogendi,Ronald Kibet,Abiodun Akintunde Alo

doi:10.4236/oje.2021.1111045

Abstract

The Mau Forest has in the recent past elicited serious political and environmental debates regarding its conservation status, as the forest is fast dwindling and the repercussions felt widely across the country. The forest, regarded as the largest indigenous montane forest in east Africa, has been hard hit by land-use changes mainly extensive and ill-planned human settlements. To save the forest, the government has resorted to forced evictions of the settlers. We sought to understand the drivers and causes for the observed illegal settlements in the Mau Forest. To collect data, we conducted focus group discussions and administered household questionnaires on evictees in the South-West and Eastern Mau. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results of the binary logistic regression model indicate that Poverty (p = 0.000), Agricultural production (p = 0.000) and Land Given by Government (p = 0.018) contributed significantly to the prediction of people’s motivation of settling in the Mau Forest. In conclusion, population pressure, laxity in forest law enforcement and insecure land tenure and politics were identified as some of the factors that motivated the observed rise in illegal settlements in Mau Forest. Such information on the factors that led to the illegal settlements in Mau Forest would be useful for forest conservation policy makers and managers. It will be a basis upon which interventions can be undertaken to enhance sustainable forest management in Kenya and beyond.

Highlights

Forests provide us with various ecosystem goods and services that support our wellbeing and livelihoods
We conclude that the factors that are more likely to motivate the people to move into the Mau Forest included population pressure, laxity on implementation of laws and policies, and insecure land tenure and politics
The findings provide evidence that land given by the government, poverty and agricultural production add significantly to the people’s decision to settle in the Mau forest

Summary

Introduction

Forests provide us with various ecosystem goods and services that support our wellbeing and livelihoods. Jenkins & Schaap [1], estimate that over 1.6 B people worldwide rely on forest ecosystems for their livelihood. According to Jenkins & Schaap [1], forests are an important income generator especially to rural families in Africa, Asia and Latin America. People living in and around the forests benefit from the forest through logging, practicing crop farming and livestock keeping on forestland, and utilization of non-timber forest products [4]. All these activities help alleviate poverty by generating cash and non-cash incomes which improve their wellbeing [5] [6]. The forest-dependent population in developing countries has risen out of extreme poverty as a result of the income generated from the forest ecosystem services [7]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion