Sustainable forest management and poverty alleviation: the case of some selected forest communities in the Offinso South Municipality, Ghana

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Date
2013
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Abstract
Forest resources have been considered important for the well-being of people, particularly the poor in society because of their economic values. As a result there has been growing concern on how to manage forest resources sustainably for the sake of the world’s poorest subsistence communities living at forests margins. In the Offinso South Municipality, deforestation rates has remained high for decades with its consequential effects on the economic and livelihood activities including the collection of Non-timber Forest Products (NTFPs). This study therefore examined the prospects of sustainable forest management for poverty alleviation in the Offinso South Municipality in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Focus group discussions, key informant interviews and questionnaire were the methods and tool respectively used for gathering data from 150 households which were selected randomly from four forest-adjacent communities by virtue that their livelihoods activities are dependent on the forest resources. Both SPSS and Excel softwares were used to analyze the quantitative data while content analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data. Moreover, remote sensing analyses of satellite images were employed to determine forest loss in Municipality in 1986, 2003, and 2007 respectively. The sustainable forest management policies of the Municipality were analyzed based on their Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT). Results indicate that about 45 percent of the households are poor and a little over 15 percent are extremely poor. Also the average income that is saved from the consumption of NTFPs was estimated at 33 percent of the total monthly income of the households. The available NTFPs also supplement household food and medicinal needs. Moreover, the communities are not adequately and practically involved in sustainable forest management practices though they are purported to be the beneficiaries of the policies. It was also discovered that sustainable forest management policies of the Municipality are focused more on sustainable timber harvest other than the management of all forest resources. The study therefore recommends the adoption of the community forest model, which is seen as a bottom-up approach that engages and empowers local communities and also enables them take ownership of both native forests and plantations, in the Municipality. The model gives greater control to local people who are historically dependent on forests to improve their livelihoods. The community forest model therefore has the prospects for sustainable forest management and poverty alleviation in forest regions.
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A thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of Master of Philosophy,
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