chainsaw milling and lumber trade in west africa project

Protocols for Field ResearchBROAD AIMS• To assess how social, environmental and economic costs and benefits are distributed inrelation to chainsaw milling as compared with large scale logging and milling operations;• To determine under what conditions chainsaw milling is appropriate and to contribute to thedefinition of the desired statePart One – rural household costs and benefitsPart Two – chainsaw milling firms costs and benefitsPart Three – chainsaw milling economic analysis, efficiency and environmental impactsPart Four – market analysis – production and consumption statisticsPART ONE – Rural householdsAim and objectives• To identify the costs and benefits to households in rural communities in the forest zone oflogging and lumbering activities and to compare small scale, chainsaw milling operations andlarge scale, industrial operations;• To characterise the extent of activity in and economic reliance on logging and lumbering inhouseholds in various communities in the forest zone;• To determine associations between household activity and economic reliance on logging andlumbering and physical and non-physical assets of households and the attributes of thecommunity in which they liveoohousehold demography; past experience; social status?resource quality; attitudes of the chief, district assemblyman, forestry agents and othermembers of the community towards forest protection and management; awareness ofrights related to forest resources; experience with regulatory system (e.g., permits,compensation claims); distance / access to local timber market• To identify the attributes of the households that are most reliant on chainsaw milling for theirlivelihoods• Will we also be able to identify what attributes of communities / villages make them more relianton chainsaw milling? If we have 9 communities, maybe it will be enough?Method - Experimental DesignThis research will be based on semi-structured interviews with members of households in the forestzone. The households will be selected from focal communities using a stratified random samplingstrategy, where strata are based on household asset holdings (wealthy, middle, poor) determined usingRapid Appraisal Techniques or key informants and the sample is distributed across the three strata.The focal communities will be selected to represent the variability amongst communities in the forestzone, particularly in relation to the level of logging and milling activity (both small, i.e., chainsaw milling,and large scale). In selecting focal communities for the study, the following variables will be taken intoaccount because they are thought to influence the prevalence and profitability of chainsaw milling:• Status of the foresto protected, managed by the FC, managed by Community, farmland• Resource endowment or forest qualityo High, moderately degraded, degradedo Western Region, Central Region, Eastern Region• Presence / absence or degree of threats to forest by outside forceso For example, presence of migrant farmers• Presence / absence of a large mill nearby• Variability in the accessibility of market selling to local marketIf the expectation is that the research results are generally applicability to communities across the forestzone (or the region in which they are located) it is important that the communities selected arerepresentative. By identifying the associations between variables that describe the household and thecommunity where the household is based we should be able to describe the factors that best explain