The Socio Economic Effects of Community Forest Management: Evidence from Dendi District, Ethiopia

Abstract

The system of community forest management (participatory forest management) seeks to initiate the process of eliminating the main causes of forest depletion through participation of local communities. In this paper we have attempted to analyze the participatory forest management in Dendi Destirict of Oromia region through households' socio-economic and forest conservation lenses.

The findings of the study reported that participatory forest management enhanced the livelihood, the conservation measurements and the social assets of the local communities. It was found that this regime of forest management could attain the sustainability of the forest and accelerate the standard of participant household's livelihood; hence, the program is an efficient management option towards sustainability of the forest resources.

Key words: Participatory forest management, Community forestry, Livelihood, Rehabilitation of degraded forest, Sustainable development