Assessment of forest management practices and livelihood income around Arero dry Afromontane forest of Southern Oromia Region in Borana Zone, South Ethiopia

Abstract

Forest resources are often well managed by local communities either through their own initiatives using traditional institutions or being organized with assistances from development actors such as non-governmental organization (NGOs) and governmental organizations (GOs). The study was aimed to assess forest management practices, and the contribution of forest resource for communities' livelihoods of Arero forest of Oromia Regional State. Secondary and primary data was collected from household survey, forest management groups. The socioeconomic importance of the forest resources was assessed by interviewing, 85 households randomly selected from three villages. A semi-structured questionnaire was used for the survey. To assess forest management practices, group discussion was used with selected key informants and local administrators. For socioeconomic survey households (HHs) were used. SPSS software was used for data analyses. Results showed that informal institutions of the Oromo 'Gadaa' systems and formal institutions like SOS Sahel Ethiopia were collaborated and played to manage the Arero forest in the region. Furthermore, the forest users' (local communities) collect various forest based products such as honey, wild fruit and medicinal plants. The annual income derived from direct forest related activities constituted 16.5% of the total household income. This figure is not including the role that the forest plays in the form of forest grazing. The contribution from the forest ranks third in terms of relative importance in household income generation after livestock and wage labor. Forest management activities like fire protection, control expansion of settlement, controlled forest grazing and enrichment planting was practiced to improve forest conditions by traditional forest management communities in collaboration with other development institutions. The observation of the population of some dominant plant species experiences poor regeneration. This also implies that current management practices are not satisfactory to sustain the forest conditions. Unless improved management interventions are made, the sustainability of the contribution to livelihoods income from the forest will be in question in the future.

Review on: Suitable Forest Management Innovations for Enhancing Forest Productivity without Compromising Growing Stock and Subsidiary Ecosystem Services

“…Forest resources are often well managed by local communities mainly through their own initiatives using traditional institutions (Belay et al, 2019;Shiferaw et al, 2019). In some traditions, forests are considered to serve as link between the sky and earth and are associated with human creation.…”

“…Moreover, wood scarcity is common particularly for forest industries in developed countries and for fuel in developing countries (Christersson and Verma 2006;Shiferaw et al, 2019). For instance, the gap between demand and supply of forest products is expanding in Ethiopia (Lemenih and Kassa 2014).…”

“…Currently, remaining forests are found in south-western parts of the country (Choi et al, 2019;Nigussie et al, 2017;Zerihun et al, 2020). The depletion of forests in turn resulted in reduced agricultural productivity (Shiferaw et al, 2019). There is also a growing understanding that deforestation will further exacerbate poverty (Yemiru 2011).…”

“…The quantity and quality of forest resources is dependent on the practice of sound forest management (Yemiru 2011;Shiferaw et al, 2019). Being influenced by modernization/traditional approach, conservation policies in Africa have been focused on biological value of forests and ignored the people who depend on it (Carney and Farrington 1999;Hurni and Ludi 2000).…”

Mixed-Species Allometric Equations to Quantify Stem Volume and Tree Biomass in Dry Afromontane Forest of Ethiopia

“…This forest type has ecological significance, being the remnant forest in different parts of the country; it provides habitat for many endangered species and stores a large amount of carbon (Girma et al, 2014;UN-REDD, 2017;Gebeyehu et al, 2019). The forest also supports the livelihoods of many people by providing diverse forest products (Gobeze et al, 2009;Asfaw et al, 2013;Shiferaw et al, 2019). However, the potential of these forests has been impaired by severe anthropogenic disturbances, and the forests have been heavily deforested and degraded due to their location in areas suitable for settlement and agriculture (Lemenih & Bongers, 2011).…”