Appraisal of Community Forest Associations in Advancing Livelihood and Conservation Agenda. A Comparative Study of Urban and Rural Forests in Kenya

The twin goals of participatory forest management as adopted by many developing countries are to foster sustainable forest management and to reduce poverty. In Kenya, various legal and policy reforms have been introduced and attempts have been made to devolve use and forest management rights to local communities. It remains debatable whether communitiesrsquo participation has yielded the intended improvements in livelihood and good governance. It would be no exaggeration to say that the study of forests and rural community livelihoods has been central to the development of scholarship on impacts of PFM on livelihoods. Equally certainly, the interest in forests has generated a need to consider the same in the light of urban forestry. This studynbsp based on participatory forest management program (PFM) in Ngongrsquo Road forest in Nairobi City County and Kiptuget in Baringo County Kenya was conducted with the aims of establishing factors motivating membersrsquo participation and identifying and describing the conservation and income generating activities undertaken and their effects on members livelihoods.nbsp Quantitative and qualitative data was collected through questionnaires, interview of key informants, focus group discussions and literature reviews. The results show that in both NRFA and KICOFA, factors related to perceived benefits in terms of economic, social, factors, forest products and services, appreciation of nature and conservation were motivations for participation. Further, the study realized that despite the fact that both CFAs had an array of IGAs aimed at supplementing their livelihoods and easing pressure on the forest, NRFA had made more significant progress in terms of realizing these activities as compared to KICOFA.nbsp It was further realized that though there was a general similar trend in terms of average earning from engaging in PFM, the study noted that in both KICOFA and NRFA, averagely 50% of the members were satisfied with the benefits. It was further observed that majority of members both in KICOFA and NRFA indicated that PFM has had large positive impact on their livelihood and thus their household were in a better position that before joining the CFA.nbs