Households\u2019 dependence on community forest and their contribution to participatory forest management: evidence from rural Ethiopia

Tsegaye T Gatiso

doi:10.1007/s10668-017-0029-3

Abstract

In recent decades, there has been a major shift in natural resource conservation policies in developing countries, and community-based natural resource management has become the integral part of the policies. Nonetheless, the link between the local communities’ dependence on forest resources for their livelihood and the likelihood of the success of community forest management has been understudied. Thus, this study investigates how forest dependence influences the contribution of local communities to the management of community forest, using the data collected from 190 households participating in community forest management in rural Ethiopia. It was found that the sample households derived almost 38% of their annual income from community forest. Moreover, results from mixed effects linear regression models show that forest dependence promotes contribution to collective action in the management of community forest. When households derive more income from the community forest relative to their total income, they contribute more to the management of the community forest. This suggests that the more the households depend on the community forest for their livelihood, the more they value the resource and the more they participate in the management of the forest. Thus, the results underline that the success of local communities in managing community forest may be significantly influenced by their level of dependence on the resources from the forest.

Highlights

More dependence on forest products from the community forest leads to more contribution to collective action for the management of the community forest
This suggests that resource dependence for livelihood significantly affects the success of the community management of the common pool resource in general, which is in line with some studies in the literature (e.g. Wade 1989; Lise 2000; Heltberg 2001; Dietz et al 2003; Kumar and Palanisami 2009)
Dependence on the resources from the community forest may increase the value the local communities attach to the community forest, which in turn may enhance their contribution to collective action

Summary

Introduction

Rural households in the developing world derive significant part of their livelihoods from forest resources (Adhikari et al 2004; Adhikari 2005; Sunderlin et al 2005; Mamo et al 2007; Babulo et al 2008, 2009; Appiah et al 2009; Gobeze et al 2009; Gatiso and Wossen 2014; Wunder et al 2014; Dash et al 2016). It is well documented that the rural poor obtain major part of their household income from natural resources than their better-off counterparts (Narain et al 2008; Gatiso and Wossen 2014). It is well documented that the rural poor obtain major part of their household income from natural resources than their better-off counterparts (Narain et al 2008; Gatiso and Wossen 2014). Studies show that the major part of the forest income comes from natural forests (Angelsen et al 2014). This crucial resource has been continuously diminishing from time to time (FAO 2010, 2015), and sustainable management of forest resources has become an important agenda both in the academia and policy arena. The reasons for the ineffectiveness of such approaches could range from their being expensive to implement to their crowdingout effect on pro-conservation behaviour of the local resource users (Ostrom 1999; Cardenas 2000)

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Conclusion