Reconciling conservation and livelihood needs in Got Ramogi forest.

Abstract

Sustainable forest management remains a serious challenge in Kenya, particularly for community-managed forests. The situation is attributed largely to the failure of past forest management interventions to integrate conservation and livelihood needs of communities adjoining these forests. We present a sustained-yield utilitarian model that seeks to harmonize conservation and utilization functions of Got Ramogi forest resources. An inventory of resources of 2007 indicated that the forest has approximately 53.2 m3 of wood ha-1. The resource is utilized at the rate of 2.7 m3 of wood ha-1 year-1 against a mean annual renewal rate of about 1.9 m3 of wood ha-1 year-1. The forest has been severely degraded over the past two decades threatening important plant and animal species with extinction. A number of sacred sites have been destroyed, while the bulk of them are dilapidated. We propose a range of resource management interventions, some of which are currently at the pilot stages. These include zoning the forest on the basis of conservation and utilization priorities, controlling resource off-take levels and promoting non-wood forest-based micro-enterprises in order to reduce community dependence on woody resources and diversify livelihood support functions of the forest.