| dc.description.abstract | The social and economic incentives for community to participate in forest
management activities to achieve sustainable management of forests have
received very little attention in West Africa. In particular, differences in relation to
gender, age and social origin have not been examined. Local communities use
the forest for different purposes and have participated in different ways towards
the sustainable management of the forest depending on their livelihood and
social differences such as gender, age and social origin.
Ninety people from four communities comprising two migrant
communities, an admitted settlement in the forest reserve and a forest landowning
community served as participants for this study. The study utilized
participant observation, participant interviews and strategic planning workshops.
Local communities value and use forests and forest resources for
household subsistence and as a supplementary source of cash income
depending on gender, age, social origin and household responsibilities of each
individual. Local communities have participated in the management of the forest
through forest boundary cleaning, forest rehabilitation, monitoring for illegal
activities, prevention of fire outbreaks and forest management planning.
Participation in each activity depends on the gender, age and social origin and to
some extent the access to collect and gather forest resources. Many people in
the local communities were interested in participating effectively and efficiently in
the management of the forest if sustainable and secured social and economic
incentives are in place. Local communities are interested in participating in forest
boundary cleaning, monitoring and reporting illegal activities, controlling and
protecting of forest fires, rehabilitating degraded areas of the forest, including
thinning and harvesting operations, and in forest management planning.
Appropriate incentives for participating effectively and efficiently are
dependent on the gender, age and social origin of each individual. These include
social and economic incentives such as payment of wages for each activity,
access to the forest for gathering and collecting forest resources for both
household subsistence and income generation, community development
projects, increase in revenue rates, regular payment of revenues, employment
for the Juniors and a share in the final crop planted in the forest through
rehabilitation work. | |
