Attitudes of Forest Users Towards Participatory Forest Management: The Case of Gebradima Forest, Southwestern Ethiopia

Abstract

In recent years, the Ethiopian government has implemented participatory forest management (PFM) programs for achieving both forest conservation and livelihood outcomes through active participation of local communities. Understanding the attitudes of local communities is very important for designing effective local community development and sustaining conservation strategies. This paper examines the attitudes of forest users’ towards PFM programs and explores the association between respondents’ characteristics and their attitudes towards PFM programs in the Gebradima forest of southwestern Ethiopia. Primary data were collected through a household survey, key informant interviews and focus group discussions from three PFM rural kebeles (the lowest administrative units in Ethiopia). Descriptive statistics and Chi square tests were used to analyze the data. Results revealed that the majority (79.7%) of the respondents expressed favorable attitudes towards PFM programs. Results also indicated that there were significant associations between gender, age, education, income from the forest and livestock ownership with attitudes towards the PFM programs (p < 0.05). On the other hand, marital status, family size and landholding size had no significant associations with attitudes. This study suggests that there is a need to promote local community development to ensure long lasting support of the forest users for sustaining forest conservation strategies.