Niger State has unique history of kolanut production in northern part of Nigeria. Unfortunately, the potentials of kolanut production in the state are not duly recognized. Lavun and Mokwa Local Government Areas, where kolanut is widely produced were selected for the study. Kolanut farmers were randomly selected for administration of structured questionnaire. Cola nitida was the dominant species planted by the farmers. More than two third of the kolanut plantations were 60 years and above. Kolanut farms were mainly owned through inheritance. Farmers at Lavun adopted more cultural practices than the farmers at Mokwa; such practices included application of organic manure and mulching to the kolanut trees, felling of unproductive kolanut trees to coppice, and adoption of multiple land practice. Due to this, the farmers at Lavun got more harvest from their kolanut plantations than those at Mokwa. Stored nuts were mainly attacked by weevils and rot disease. Challenges of kolanut production are low yield, lack of information on improved technology, pest and disease infestation, lack of intervention from the government, and transportation. Farmers in the study areas still hold kolanut production in high esteem, and there is vast area of land which could be used for kolanut production.

Invasive alien species, once they made entry into a region or country, often become difficult to eradicate and it appears that they have cometo stay. Worse still, their adverse effects on the native biodiversity are enormous and they are considered ecologically harmful. Agriculturaland economic losses to invasive species are comparatively high. Mechanical control is expensive and difficult in some terrains; chemicalcontrol is also expensive, requires constant application and has its environmental implications, while biological control is mirred with mixedfailures and successes. This paper reviewed that economic exploitation of some notorious invasive species in other countries – such asSudan, Ethiopia, India, Senegal, Mali and the Gambia – and how this had helped reduce the spread of these invasives and at the same time,became source of income to the poor people. It is believed that adopting this concept in Nigeria will create incentives for harvesting invasivespecies with more commitment, while it is an indirect way of controlling them. Furthermore, harvesting could be labour intensive, thuscreating jobs for people, while it provides additional means of income for rural people, which is a key adaptation strategy for climate change

In this study, various coping strategies used by forest-based rural communities in Vhembe District of South Africa in response to climate variability and change challenges were investigated. The effect of community socio-demographic characteristics on the adaptive capacity and choice/effectiveness of coping strategies was examined. Household level data were collected from 366 respondents selected from 21 rural communities using the proportionate random sampling procedure. The Pearson Chisquare test was used to analyse the coping strategies. The effects of household and community sociodemographic characteristics on choice and effectiveness of coping strategies were determined using the binary logit model. It was observed that the respondents used diverse coping strategies, depending on the nature of climate variability and extreme weather events they were confronted with. Rainwater harvesting was the most popular strategy that the respondents in Makhado (90%), Mutale (96.3%), and Thulamela (50%) used to cope with erratic rainfall. Tree planting around houses and on farmland were the most popular strategies (90-100%) to counter the effects of extreme temperature. Furthermore, household and community demographic characteristics in particular education and skills levels, and forest products, institutional services and infrastructure available in the communities such as markets, and water supply facilities significantly (p<0.05) influenced the choice of households' coping strategies. Therefore, it can be hypothesized that efforts that enhance the household's capacity and community infrastructural development might be viable and sustainable ways of improving rural communities' resilience to climate change and variability challenges.

Forests are vulnerable to climate change and are also major sources of livelihood for many rural households in Africa. This study examines rural people’s perceptions of climate change impacts on forest-based livelihoods using rural communities of Vhembe District in South Africa as a case study. The study was based on the principles of perceived impact-based assessment, and sustainable livelihoods framework. Using the stratified proportionate random sampling procedure in combination with weighted Enumeration Area for the selected communities, 366 households were chosen and interviewed. Data analysis involved computing frequencies and conducting the Chi-square, binomial tests and binary logistic regression analysis. The respondents identified erratic rainfall, extreme temperature, extreme drought and flooding as key climatic events in their community. But not all identified key climatic events were perceived to constitute risk to forest products and forest-based livelihood. Only extreme drought was indicated to constitute risk to availability of forest products. In addition, the binary logistic regression showed a significant difference (p < 0.05) in the perceived risk of climate change to the availability of essential forest products across the three municipalities. Hence the need for forest development initiatives that target vulnerable forest products per community as a means of enhancing resilience of forest-based livelihood to climate change impacts in rural community development in South Africa.

In most African countries, forest-based climate change intervention initiatives such as the nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs) and national adaptation programme of actions (NAPAs) are widely accepted. This is mainly due to the fact that they are relevant in addressing multiple challenges associated with rural development, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, and sustainable forest management. However, there are concerns about the implications of strategic and practical steps taken in this context on forest-dependent communities. Thus, there is need to reconcile local socio-economic vulnerabilities and forestbased climate change intervention initiatives. In the current study, socio-economic factors influencing households' dependence on forest resources and associated implications on climate change interventions were investigated. Proportionate stratified random sampling was used to select 366 households from forest-based rural communities in Vhembe District of South Africa. A structured questionnaire was administered to household heads in 21 villages.The Pearson Chi-square test was used to analyse the factors that influence household dependence on forest. The effects of household socioeconomic characteristics on households' forest dependence influencing factor were determined using the binary logit model. Up to 97 2 % of the respondents depended on the forest resources predominantly because of low costs associated with using them. It was observed that socio-economic characteristics of households such as farm husbandry skills, years of residence (53-65) in the community and age of respondents (≤ 38-65) significantly (P < 0.05) influenced use of the forest resources.Thus, effectiveness and sustainability of forest-based climate change intervention initiatives can be promoted if the socio-economic conditions prevailing within households in areas next to forests are improved.

This study evaluates the efficacy of Improved Forest Management for Sustainable Livelihoods Program (IFMSLP) in communities adjacent to Mua-Livulezi Forest Reserve, Malawi. The program is specifically aimed at alleviating poverty and enhance rural livelihoods through promoting greater community involvement in forest management while providing access and associated benefits. The study therefore evaluated the effect of the program on community organisation, forest access, forest use, product availability and commercialisation of forest products. The results show that despite the program putting in place strategies for the people to access different products for different uses; forest use is restricted mainly to subsistence use rather than cash income. The main forest product collected by the people for livelihood was firewood, mainly for cooking and heating. This is an indication that forests are an important natural capital for subsistence rather than cash income. Gender, location of the village, and distance to the nearest forest area were significant predictors of households' forest use. Introduction of the co-management program has not brought out the expected outcomes in areas of community organization, forest access, forest product availability and commercialisation of forest products. A multi-institutional approach is recommended to draw upon diverse talents and experiences from individual institutions both government and non-governmental in order to achieve meaningful social change.

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Adoption of participatory forest management has initiated the trend of transfer of access, management and control of forest resources from government to committee based institutions. Hence, understanding the institutional arrangements that support implementation of comanagement with Local Forest Organisations is crucial for sustainable forest management. This study therefore examined the potential and contribution of institutional arrangements to sustainable forest management under co-management arrangement in Mtakataka, Malawi. Our results show that while co-management has created new multi-level local forest organizations in the communities, the potential of the organizations to contribute to sustainable forest management has been negatively affected by lack of appropriate power and legitimacy. There are clear and well defined boundaries for the forest resources and communities involved in comanagement of the forest reserve. However, co-management is faced with issues such as low participation of community members, ineffective rule enforcement, inadequate human and financial resources, and conflict of forest use. Despite these issues, it is concluded that with improvement in the co-management program, the local forest organisations have potential to achieve sustainable management of forest resources. It is thus recommended that the LFOs should be encouraged to follow what was jointly agreed upon and documented in the management plans. The management plans should also be regularly evaluated and effectively monitored for sustainable management and use of the forest products.