Forest Management Cost at Household Level in the Bale Mountains Eco-Region Redd+Project, Southern Ethiopia

Adamu Debelo Fetensa

doi:10.7176/jrdm/58-01

Abstract

Effective forest use and management/governance requires a deeper understanding of forest’s multiple socio-economic functions or benefits at various scales, in particular at local level. Hence, reliable and up to-date information on the state of forest resources are very important. Thus, the main objective of the study was to assess the cost of forest management at household level. Accordingly, Data were collected through household survey, group discussions and key informant interviews. Statistical methods such as descriptive statistics and Leaner regression was used to analyse data. The results of the study show that the performance of user groups and the attitudes and intention of households towards participating in collective management are associated with level of income and dependence on forest income. User groups that are more dependent on forest income and have higher heterogeneity in terms of dependence on the forest resource have shown lower performance. Forest dependent households have also shown a less positive attitude and intention towards engaging in planting activities. Forest prices were obtained by surveying local markets, and from information from interviews with local residents and from focus group discussions. The amount of forest management cost is calculated by the sum of thinning, cleaning, pruning, patrolling, fie line development, forest products collection costs transaction costs, costs of operational, plan preparation, attending a meeting, Capacity building, material costs and annual membership and fee that a member household has to pay were identified in study. The cost of forest management is estimated by the sum of Forest products collection costs, Transaction costs, Material costs, the annual membership fee that a member household has to pay. Accordingly, results revealed that in the study areas estimation of forest management cost is about 19,925 birr per ha up to the forest can give the actual function. It is recommended that a better outcome in terms of poverty alleviation can be achieved if pro-poor forest-based activities are specifically considered in planning conservation and development interventions. Keywords/ phrases: Bale Eco Region, Forest income, forest-management at household level, Oromia, Ethiopia, REDD+ DOI : 10.7176/JRDM/58-01 Publication date : August 31 st 2019

Highlights

Back Ground Sustainable forest management follows that if communities are to be willing and economically able, to involve themselves in forest management they must receive greater economic benefits from conserving forests than from degrading them
Economic incentives provide tools for ensuring that both of these conditions are fulfilled (Soromessa et al, 2015). Such economic incentive provision requires that broader socio-economic conditions are supportive of community involvement in sustainable forest management, and that forest management systems themselves generate tangible benefits at the local level (Tesfaye et al 2010)
It is necessary to set in place incentives for community involvement in sustainable forest management (Teyiba A, Mustefa S, 2017)

Summary

Introduction

Back Ground Sustainable forest management follows that if communities are to be willing and economically able, to involve themselves in forest management they must receive greater economic benefits from conserving forests than from degrading them. Economic incentives provide tools for ensuring that both of these conditions are fulfilled (Soromessa et al, 2015). Such economic incentive provision requires that broader socio-economic conditions are supportive of community involvement in sustainable forest management, and that forest management systems themselves generate tangible benefits at the local level (Tesfaye et al 2010). It is necessary to set in place incentives for community involvement in sustainable forest management (Teyiba A, Mustefa S, 2017). Among others the report shows that benefits of community forestry come from direct extraction of timber, fuel wood, fodder, grass leaf litter due to the improved sustainable forest management and some indirect benefit due to higher carbon sequestration, soil stabilization, reduced flood risks and improved biodiversity

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Conclusion