Roles of Socio-Economic Incentives towards Sustainable Environmental Conservation of Kondoa Rehabilitated Rural Areas, Dodoma, Tanzania

Abstract

This paper was an attempt to reveal the less known roles of socio-economic incentives towards influencing environmental conservation of rehabilitated rural areas of Kondoa. The cross-sectional research design was employed. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 30 respondents from each of the four study villages and make a total of 120 respondent households. The study was conducted in Mafai, Ntomoko, Kalamba- Juu and Kalamba-Chini villages. Data were collected using pre-tested and pilot-tested questionnaires, focus group discussions and interviews. Ms-Excel and SPSS 20.0 computer software were used to analyze data. Descriptive statistics were employed to reveal various parameters in the study. Binary logistic regression analysis was further employed to reveal statistically significant socio-economic incentives towards sustainable environmental conservation in KRA. The study findings revealed the available five socio-economic incentives namely tree seedlings, fertilizer, improved seeds, beekeeping inputs and education programs. The binary logistic regression analysis further revealed tree seedlings (P<0.01), and education programs (P<0.05) as statistically significant socio-economic incentives in influencing the awareness of environmental conservation in KRA. The study findings further revealed roles of socioeconomic incentives in influencing the awareness of environmental conservation such as afforestation, reduce drought, supportive source of energy, improve yield, increase income, improve food security, control human activities and increase awareness on sustainable environmental conservation in KRA. The study concludes that socioeconomic incentives can significantly contribute to the restoration of forest loss and fragmentation hence leading to sustainable conservation of the biodiversity. The study recommends for the conservationists, environmentalists and policy makers to make use of the available five socio-economic incentives namely tree seedlings, fertilizer, improved seeds, beekeeping inputs and education programs in the course of implementing effective environmental conservation measures. However the study sought a high need of highly integrating tree seedlings and education programs in all sustainably practiced environmental conservation initiatives.