Abstract:
Forests are valuable to support natural systems and improvement of human welfare. The world’s
forest cover is estimated to be about 3.6 billion ha. Out of this portion, 57% is located in
developing countries and indirectly supports about 1.6 billion people where at least 400 million
are directly dependent on forest resources for their livelihood. Ethiopia is currently classified as
a low forest cover country. Degradation and loss of forest cover has been attributed to competing
land use from agriculture, human settlements and other infrastructural developments. There is
therefore need to conserve forests to ensure sustainable supply of the forest goods and services.
The main objective of this study was to assess the impacts of PFM on rural livelihoods.
Proportionate stratified sampling technique was employed to select sample respondents based on
Kothari’s formula of (2004) and the number of sample size selected for this study was 102. Both
qualitative and quantitative methods were used in data collection. Household questionnaires and
semi-structured interviews were used in data collection. Study findings were presented as tables
and in text form. The findings showed that PFM in Debele forest has positive impacts on the
livelihoods of adjacent communities. From the findings, it was found that there is a strong
positive relationship between PFM and community participation, community local structures,
PFM IGAs, coordination of PFM activities and forest management and conservation policies.
From the results, 75.8% of the Debele forest adjacent communities were involved in PFM as
registered members of Community CFA. Major products obtained from the forest by the
communities are food, fodder for livestock & firewood among others. The IGAs that the
community was involved in included bee-keeping, Stinging nettle, Mushroom farming and eco tourism among others. However, utilization of IGAs at Debele forest was not optimum. Main
challenges to PFM were Forest fire, increased dependency on forest resource, Low commitment,
lack of preparedness and support from GO side, Weak law enforcement and Lack of or slow
progress in institutionalizing PFM are popular. The community, therefore, required training and
scale up their awareness on development, value addition and marketing of Non Wood Forest
Products (NWFP) among others. This study, consequently, contributed in unraveling certain
underlying impacts of the current PFM, on rural livelihood improvement. The study also
contributed to the existing knowledge and understanding of forest management, conservation and
rural livelihood of the community adjacent to Debele forest and governance in general to
influence policy and decision making process in forest resource management.
