Participatory forest management system in urban forests in Kenya- A case of Ngong Road Forest, Nairobi, Kenya | JBES-Vol-15-No-6-

More documents

Recommendations

Info

J. Bio. & Env. Sci. 2019Ngong Road forest 98.8% indicated that they in someway participate in decision making. It was howeverimportant for the study to establish at which level ofdecision making are the memebrs involved. In thisregard, the study went further to establish the level atwhich the members were involved in decision making.By categorisig decision making levels to information,consulation and involvement, the findings of decisionmaking levels in NRFA, it was found out that majorityof the members 41.2% were involved at consultativelevel of decision making, 31.7% were involved atinformation level while 26.8% were involved atinvolvement level of decision making.It is observed that despite the fact that a big majorityof members in NRFA agree that they participate indecision making, the level of involvement is indifferent. Majority of members of NRFA indicatedthat they are consulted but decisions made later andthis implies that they are involved at the consultativelevel of decision making.Several studies that have considered the decisionmaking levels of communities in PFM have reportedthat community members are not involved. This studyreports that in as much as big majority of members feelthat they are involved in decision making, the level ofinvolvement is insignificant and thus calls for adeliberate need to enhance the decision making levelsof communities in forest management.Activities and Roles of the Ngong Road CFAThe study found out that the forest adjacentcommunity in Ngong Road forest that engaged inPFM came from different socio economic extremes ofaffluent and less affluent communities. In accordancewith the Forests Act, 2005, CFAs have been mandatedto carry out various activities and roles within forests(GoK, 2016). These are geared towards improving theforest status while at the same time enhancing themembers’ livelihoods. a) Activities. In Ngong RoadForest, the following activities were being undertakenby the CFA; tree nursery establishment, tree planting,beekeeping, fuel wood collection and harvesting ofplant parts for medicinal purposes.As a result of the different socioeconomic status inNRFA, it was observed that there was a variety ofactivities and different motivations for participationin PFM. The study observed that most of themembers from less affluent communities reliedprimarily on the forest to derive their livelihood. Thestudy realized that majority of these members at 80%had forest activities as their primary source oflivelihoods while a minority of 20% mentioned analternative source of livelihood. These livelihoodactivities include agricultural activities and businessrelated IGA and forest conservation activities. On theother hand, members from affluent regions of theforest engaged the forest activities either as hobby,leisure, conservation purposes or to earn extra income.Most of these individuals were registered for a varietyof use rights including sports, leisure, ecotourism,education and other forest conservation activities.From the findings, it can be generally deduced thatPFM plays a key role in community’s livelihood inurban forests in Kenya. This finding agrees with thefindings of (Bidii and Ngugi, 2014) that suggestedthat for developing countries, PFM is criticallyentwined in community livelihoods whereby as anentity, it is important factor in local economicdevelopment, poverty reduction and market basedconservation initiatives. It is also in agreement withthe findings by (Phiri, 2009) who observed that morethan 95% of FAC in Ethiopia depend on the forest fortheir livelihoods either directly or indirectly. It is thussuggested that both urban forests in Kenya play a keyrole in community’s livelihoods.The study further sought to find out whether theforest adjacent community Ngong’ Road forest werein any way benefitting from the forest in form ofservices in various ways and deriving different valuesIn regard to forest services, the study found out thatmajority of the members of Ngong road forestassociation were involved in forest services that wereof economic value (37.1%), recreational 21.3%,Religious 27.2% and social cultural value 14.5%.106 | Boiyo et al.
J. Bio. & Env. Sci. 2019Implementation of Forest Conservation InitiativesParticipatory Forest Management is based on a forestmanagement plan that is prepared with theinvolvement of the community and interestedstakeholders called Participatory Forest ManagementPlan (PFMP). Objectives to be addressed by each plandepend on the issues that are identified by thecommunities, stakeholders and Kenya Forest Service.The objectives vary depending on the forest reserve,communities, stakeholders and Kenya Forest Serviceoverall goal. Its performance is this based onimplementable activities, which are usually based onthe forest uses.According to the objectives that informed theformation of Ngong road forest association,, the studyfound out that one of the key objective was to not onlyto contribute to poverty reduction, createemployment, improve livelihoods through sustainableuse but also to contribute to the conservation andmanagement of forests and trees. While conductingthese activities, it was realized that Ngong RoadForest Association had partners working with them inconduction conservation activities. It was found outthat members of Ngong Road Forest associationconducted regular clean-up of the forests alongNgong Road. During these clean-up activities theywere joined by other partners among them KenyaWildlife services, neighboring private and publicschools, Nairobi City County Officials, UniversityStudents and Nairobi Business Community.The researcher sought to find out how effectively theassociation implemented its forest conservationinitiatives as enshrined in the management plan. Theresearcher sought to evaluate the level ofimplementation of the laid down forest managementactions towards realizing forest conservation andsustainable use. This was done using a scale of 0-5(where 0=nothing done, 1=documentation done,2=documentation and contacts with partners done,3=ground implementation screening done, 4=pilotingdone and 5=fully implemented) and the findings areas shown in Table 4.Table 4. Level of implementation of ForestConservation activities.ImplementaItemtion Level(Mean)NRFAJoint study on forest biodiversity (floraand fauna)5Mapping of threatened forest species 4Update forest database regularly frominformation from relevant research4institutionsCapacity build community on energyconservation5Encourage the use of alternativerenewable sources of energy, e.g. solar, 4biogas,Train the CFA and user groups insustainable forest management5Establish tree nursery and participate insilvi-ciltural activities5Engage in joint monitoring andevaluation5Total 37Mean 4.63The study found out that funding is a prerequisite tothe PFM process that is instituted in each forestreserve to ensure the PFM process is undertaken. Thepreliminary activities to PFM require financialresources. These activities include identifying thecommunity and verifying resources, assessing forestarea and the community, preparing draft forestmanagement plan, facilitating the formation of aforest association, negotiating, drafting and signing aforest management agreement and to declare the areaa PFM area. It was realized that the process increasescommunity awareness on the forest resource, changein attitude on forest ownership and change incapacity for fund raising. It was ultimately noted thatfunding of forest association influences the forestmanagement plan and the activities agreed on thedeveloped Forest Management Agreement. The planis highly influenced by the intensity of informationcollection and level of sensitization of stakeholderswhich also depend on the level of funding. It is thusconcluded that effective participatory forestmanagement process requires substantial amount offinancial resources.Conclusions and recommendationParticipatory Forest Management has taken root inKenya as a forest management intervention and has107 | Boiyo et al.
Page 1 and 2: J. Bio. & Env. Sci. 2019Journal of
Page 3 and 4: J. Bio. & Env. Sci. 2019Sampling an
Page 5: J. Bio. & Env. Sci. 2019heterogenei
Page 9: J. Bio. & Env. Sci. 2019Mutune JM,

Participatory forest management system in urban forests in Kenya- A case of Ngong Road Forest, Nairobi, Kenya | JBES-Vol-15-No-6-

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?