Impact of Carbon Sequestration Forestry Project on Income of Local Community:

Abstract

The atmospheric concentration of CO₂, which is the principal greenhouse gas, has significantly increased from its 280 ppm, preindustrial level, to 395ppm in 2014. As a result, many physical and biological systems and other key sectors including forest resources and societies in the developing countries are suffering. Multifarious mitigation efforts are being put in place to halt offset this negative outcome. In light of this, Soddo Community Managed Reforestation project is among these mitigation efforts under taken in Ethiopia since 2006. The major objective of this study was then to investigate the income benefit which goes to the local community from participating in this project. The study was carried out in three systematically selected Kebele Administrations (KAs) legally organized into forest Development Cooperatives and one control KA  from which non-participant members  were selected for the purpose of comparison. From these KAs, a total of 173 sample HHs (125 from participant KA and 48 from Control KA) were selected after matching based on systematic random sampling technique. Propensity Score Matching (PSM) was used to evaluate the impact of project participation. The result indicated there is significant difference in average annual income between the project participants and non-participants. The project participants earned an average annual income of 8806 Birr, which is 61% higher than that of the non- participants, who earned 5472Birr. The probability of participation in the project was positively and significantly determined by sex and distance at 0.1 significance level; educational status and landholding at 0.05 significance level and environmental knowledge at 0.01significance level, whereas age of the households was significant and negatively determined participation at 0.05 significance level. Thus, it has a paramount importance to scale up such projects in other potential areas of the county for the benefit of the community and ecosystem by government, non-governmental organizations and the private sectors into other potential areas of Ethiopia to contribute for its Climate Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) strategy.

Keywords:  Climate Change, Reforestation, Propensity Score Matching