Deforestation and Forest Degradation as an Environmental Behavior: Unpacking Realities Shaping Community Actions

Abstract

Deforestation and forest degradation (D&D) in the tropics have continued unabated and are posing serious threats to forests and the livelihoods of those who depend on forests and forest resources. Smallholder farmers are often implicated in scientific literature and policy documents as important agents of D&D. However, there is scanty information on why smallholders exploit forests and what the key drivers are. We employed behavioral sciences approaches that capture contextual factors, attitudinal factors, and routine practices that shape decisions by smallholder farmers. Data was collected using household surveys and focus group discussions in two case study forests—Menagesha Suba Forest in Ethiopia and Maasai Mau Forest in Kenya. Our findings indicate that factors that forced farmers to engage in D&D were largely contextual, i.e., sociodemographic, production factors constraint, as well as policies and governance issues with some influences of routine practices such as wood extraction for fuelwood and construction. Those factors can be broadly aggregated as necessity-driven, market-driven, and governance-driven. In the forests studied, D&D are largely due to necessity needs and governance challenges. Though most factors are intrinsic to smallholders’ context, the extent and impact on D&D were largely aggravated by factors outside the forest landscape. Therefore, policy efforts to reduce D&D should carefully scrutinize the context, the factors, and the associated enablers to reduce forest losses under varying socioeconomic, biophysical, and resource governance conditions.

Multifunctional Land Uses in Africa

“…In the Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry sector, this is one of the most contested challenges for greenhouse gas inventories. Leakage points to the importance of going beyond the fields to take a holistic view of the entire landscape with nested land uses, policy impacts at the national and international scale, and a comprehensive review of driving factors, including subsistence needs, markets, policy, and institutional factors (Duguma et al 2019;Ostwald and Henders 2014). Frameworks that explore 'win-win' interactions between adaptation and mitigation and 'triple-wins' when development outcomes are added (Suckall et al 2015) can guide more holistic, sustainable and hopefully long-lasting trade-off assessments.…”

Farmers’ Perception on Forest Degradation in Eastern and Northern Regions of Ghana: Implication for Developing Sustainable Forest Management Strategy

“…Such forest degradation has resulted in critical shortage of wood, poor soil fertility and agricultural productivity, water pollution, loss of habitat and biodiversity, enhances global warming, and reduces surface water availability as most water bodies dried up. This indicates that forested areas are subjected to severe degradation, owing to the complex natural, anthropogenic, socio-economic as well as policy-related factors that leads to complete disappearance of trees and animal species in various areas (Amanor 1997;Asiedu-Amoako et al 2016; International Union for Conservation of Nature, IUCN 2017; Duguma et al 2019).…”

“…The effects of forest degradation have reported by several researchers as constantly threatening Ghana's GDP growth at present and more severely in the future (World Bank 2006;Adanu et al 2013;Duguma et al 2019). Consequently, challenges related to forest degradation have attracted several international actors to support for the on-going efforts to save forests and manage its landscape.…”

Typology of coffee-based agroforestry systems in the semi-deciduous forest zone of Togo (West Africa)

“…In the world, forests play an important role in maintaining fundamental ecological processes, such as water regulation, carbon storage, the provision of livelihoods and support economic growth (de Groot et al, 2002;Holvoet and Muys, 2004;Gurung and Seeland, 2008;Thompson et al, 2011;Abson et al, 2014;Sears et al, 2018). However, nowadays, these forests are facing serious degradation resulting from important overexploitation, intensive agriculture, especially in developing countries (Lawson et al, 2014;Duguma et al, 2019). This situation is due to the fact that people are looking for more fertile lands to increase their food production and ensure their food security and economic well-being.…”