Conservation Outcomes of Collaborative Forest Management in a Medium Altitude Semideciduous Forest in Mid-western Uganda
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Date
2020
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Journal of Sustainable Forestry
Abstract
Globally, community involvement in forest management has been
hailed as an effective strategy to achieve both conservation and livelihoods
improvement goals. In Uganda, Collaborative Forest
Management (CFM) has been promoted to enable registered local
community groups to co-manage specified areas of state forests with
state agencies. However, there is paucity of empirical research evidence
on conservation outcomes that are attributable to CFM. To fill
this gap, this study used forest inventory data collected in compartments
under different forest management regimes (CFM, inactive-
CFM, and non-CFM) in 2003 and 2016 to assess spatial and temporal
changes in forest structural attributes in a semideciduous forest in
mid-western Uganda. Our ordination results show significant changes
in tree communities in the non-CFM compartment. The CFM compartment
registered a net increase in basal area. We attribute these
changes to the high rate of illegal timber extraction and charcoal
processing, with signs of the latter only recorded in the inactive- and
non-CFM compartments. Illegal timber extraction was perpetuated by
powerful outsiders while charcoal processing was dominated by local
area residents for cash income. Deliberate management interventions
should be instituted to curb illegal human activities and enhance
regeneration and recruitment of target tree species in the forest.
Description
Keywords
Collaborative Forest Management, Forest conservation outcomes, Human activity, Uganda
Citation
Christopher Mawa , Fred Babweteera & David Mwesigye Tumusiime (2020): Conservation Outcomes of Collaborative Forest Management in a Medium Altitude Semideciduous Forest in Mid-western Uganda, Journal of Sustainable Forestry, DOI: 10.1080/10549811.2020.1841006