Assessment of drivers of community participation in participatory forest management: a case of Kessup forest, Elgeyo-Marakwet county, Kenya.

Abstract

The Forests Act 2005 enacted in 2007 revised 2016 has brought a paradigm shift in forest management as it upholds the principles of public participation in forest resources. The study examined the drivers of community participation in Participatory Forest Management (PFM). It examined the drivers on households near indigenous and plantation forest within the same forest block in Kessup forest in Elgeyo-Marakwet County. The objectives of the study were to assess the households’ drivers to participate in PFM, community forest associations (CFA) composition and level participation in and to assess the stakeholders and their roles in Kessup forest. Data were collected through structured questionnaires, key informant interviews and the focus group discussions. Data collection were done along 15Km transect, sampling 96 households after every 5th households within 0-5km from the nearest edge of the forest. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for the data analysis. Summative content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data. The results indicate that socio-economic and biophysical factors drive the community involvement in PFM. The age, distance, gender, education level, awareness of the forest act, products derived from the forest, ownership of livestock and fodder sources all at (p<0.05). The involvement of the community members in PFM is mostly driven by tangible material gains regardless of the forest type. Besides Kenya Forest Service, other stakeholders involved in the management of Kessup forest were, the community members, Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and Non-Governmental Organizations. Despite lack of coordination of forest activities among the aforementioned stakeholders, their undertakings were mostly geared towards community empowerment. There was low involvement of community in decisionmaking processes.