Factors Affecting Local People Participation in Forest Managed for Carbon Sequestration: The Case of Mount Damota, Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to examine factors affecting local people participation in forest managed for carbon sequestration in the case of Mount Damta of Southern Ethiopia.The data were collected through document analysis, field observation, focus group discussions, key informant interview and by surveying 146 randomly selected households. The collected data were analyzed by using descriptive statistic, participation index and binary logistic regression. The study indicated that the level of participation of the local people was low in terms of attending the selected activities of the four stages of the forest management.However,majority of respondents participated in implementation phase activities.The level of participation of the local people was found being determined byage, sex, family size;training and education positively while land holding size, wealth, a distance from the forest and membership in executive committee negatively.Therefore, further efforts have to be made to enable the local people active participants in all processes of the forest management project.

Keywords: Forest Management, Local People Participation, Mount Damota