Forest Management Cost at Household Level in the Bale Mountains Eco-Region Redd+Project, Southern Ethiopia

Effective forest use and management/governance requires a deeper understanding of forest’s multiple socioeconomic functions or benefits at various scales, in particular at local level. Hence, reliable and up to-date information on the state of forest resources are very important. Thus, the main objective of the study was to assess the cost of forest management at household level. Accordingly, Data were collected through household survey, group discussions and key informant interviews. Statistical methods such as descriptive statistics and Leaner regression was used to analyse data. The results of the study show that the performance of user groups and the attitudes and intention of households towards participating in collective management are associated with level of income and dependence on forest income. User groups that are more dependent on forest income and have higher heterogeneity in terms of dependence on the forest resource have shown lower performance. Forest dependent households have also shown a less positive attitude and intention towards engaging in planting activities. Forest prices were obtained by surveying local markets, and from information from interviews with local residents and from focus group discussions. The amount of forest management cost is calculated by the sum of thinning, cleaning, pruning, patrolling, fie line development, forest products collection costs transaction costs, costs of operational, plan preparation, attending a meeting, Capacity building, material costs and annual membership and fee that a member household has to pay were identified in study. The cost of forest management is estimated by the sum of Forest products collection costs, Transaction costs, Material costs, the annual membership fee that a member household has to pay. Accordingly, results revealed that in the study areas estimation of forest management cost is about 19,925 birr per ha up to the forest can give the actual function. It is recommended that a better outcome in terms of poverty alleviation can be achieved if pro-poor forest-based activities are specifically considered in planning conservation and development interventions. Keywords/ phrases: Bale Eco Region, Forest income, forest-management at household level, Oromia, Ethiopia, REDD+ DOI: 10.7176/JRDM/58-01 Publication date: August 31 2019 INTRODUCTION Back Ground Sustainable forest management follows that if communities are to be willing and economically able, to involve themselves in forest management then they must receive greater economic benefits from conserving forests than from degrading them. Hence, economic incentives provide tools for ensuring that both of these conditions are fulfilled (Soromessa et al., 2015). Such economic incentive provision requires that broader socio-economic conditions are supportive of community involvement in sustainable forest management, and that forest management systems themselves generate tangible benefits at the local level (Tesfaye et al. 2010). There is a clear need to ensure that sustainable forest management is economically desirable to communities in the interests of local economic welfare as well as towards the end of sustainable forest management. In other words, it is necessary to set in place incentives for community involvement in sustainable forest management (Teyiba A, Mustefa S, 2017). A report estimates the economic benefit and costs for the Multi-Stakeholder Forestry Program (MSFP) in Nepal (MSFP, 2011). Among others the report shows that benefits of community forestry come from direct extraction of timber, fuel wood, fodder, grass leaf litter due to the improved sustainable forest management and some indirect benefit due to higher carbon sequestration, soil stabilization, reduced flood risks and improved biodiversity. Significance of the Study Overall issues related to the involvement of indigenous people and local communities in the REDD+ project implementation and factors determine household participations in forest management and economic incentives have not been researched and analyzed. Therefore, as this study focuses on the estimation of economic contribution of forest resource to household economy for REDD+ in the Bale Mountain Eco region, it generates important knowledge on roles of forest in local livelihoods and the implications of this for local development and forest conservation. Study in the Bale Mountain Journal of Resources Development and Management www.iiste.org ISSN 2422-8397 An International Peer-reviewed Journal DOI: 10.7176/JRDM


INTRODUCTION Back Ground
Sustainable forest management follows that if communities are to be willing and economically able, to involve themselves in forest management then they must receive greater economic benefits from conserving forests than from degrading them. Hence, economic incentives provide tools for ensuring that both of these conditions are fulfilled (Soromessa et al., 2015). Such economic incentive provision requires that broader socio-economic conditions are supportive of community involvement in sustainable forest management, and that forest management systems themselves generate tangible benefits at the local level (Tesfaye et al. 2010).
There is a clear need to ensure that sustainable forest management is economically desirable to communities in the interests of local economic welfare as well as towards the end of sustainable forest management. In other words, it is necessary to set in place incentives for community involvement in sustainable forest management (Teyiba A, Mustefa S, 2017). A report estimates the economic benefit and costs for the Multi-Stakeholder Forestry Program (MSFP) in Nepal (MSFP, 2011). Among others the report shows that benefits of community forestry come from direct extraction of timber, fuel wood, fodder, grass leaf litter due to the improved sustainable forest management and some indirect benefit due to higher carbon sequestration, soil stabilization, reduced flood risks and improved biodiversity.

Significance of the Study
Overall issues related to the involvement of indigenous people and local communities in the REDD+ project implementation and factors determine household participations in forest management and economic incentives have not been researched and analyzed.
Therefore, as this study focuses on the estimation of economic contribution of forest resource to household economy for REDD+ in the Bale Mountain Eco region, it generates important knowledge on roles of forest in local livelihoods and the implications of this for local development and forest conservation. Study in the Bale Mountain Eco-region REDD+ Project, Southern Ethiopia with maximum amount communities can contribute for forest economy and finally assessing contribution of community forest contribution in nesting the Bale REDD+ project to the OFLP and its importance in implementing the strategy is very timely to help REDD+ to be delivered through community forest management.
Hence, the information generated from thesis will possibly use to improve planning and implementation REDD+ and related projects to enhance the forest contribution to household local economy development and overall social-ecological sustainability.

Ethical Considerations
Although there are no risks of participating in this study, all of the participants have been treated in accordance with the ethical guidelines of a qualitative research. Throughout the study, the researcher has provided an appropriate focus for ethical issues like other kinds of scientific researches. Everyone who has participated in this study has been freely acquiesced; personal identities has been kept confidential; moral standards has been applied to decisions made in planning, conducting and reporting of the results; and there has been no deliberate misrepresentation of the purpose of the study and overstatement or understatement of the findings. Moreover, the thesis has been conducted following all the necessary steps to make it methodologically thorough as much as possible; all kinds of results and findings whether good or bad have been reported; the researcher has endured impartial throughout the study to avoid exclamations of personal feelings or bias

Conceptual Framework
Forestry is uniquely positioned to contribute to addressing the problems of environmental degradation and rural poverty, given the multiple roles forests can play in the provision of food, the generation of income and the maintenance of the natural resource base (Gow, 1992, Warner, 2000, Kaimowitz, 2003. Participatory forest estimation and management schemes aim at achieving these dual objectives of sustainable development. On the other hand, owing to the open access situation of forest production, the methodological difficulties of measuring forest income and proper valuation, the contribution of forest resources and their role in peoples" livelihoods have been neglected or underestimated. Sustainable livelihood provides a suitable analytic framework in which to conceive forests in the context of households" vulnerability, the multiple factors influencing access to forest resources as a natural capital including institutions and other assets, and the place of forest production in the construction of estimation forest resource. The multiple products and services of forests combined with the differential spatial distribution and production predictability preclude the divisibility of forests and thus imply their management as common property (Arnold, 1998, Jessup and Peluso, 19860).
Correspondingly, a study on the value estimation of forest resource as common property should focus on examining the role of forest resources in the contribution of income for the local people, the socioeconomic characteristics of households participating in the co-management, identifying their interests and heterogeneity with regard to forest use, forest dependency, wealth or asset ownership, and attitudes towards the estimation of income contribution.
Identifying the interaction of these contextual variables in relation to the performance of collective action as measured by livelihoods outcome (income, food security, and sustainability of the forest resource base) is provide insight for a proper identification of important contextual variables related to the forest and user groups.
In parallel with the previous experiences of changes in tenure for land and natural resources and the top-down introduction of conservation and development activities in the past, it is likely that the co-management arrangement was experienced as an external import among local people. How the participating households perceive the initiative and what attitudes they hold are debatably important aspects in understanding their commitment and the success of implementation. The study is therefore applying the framework of income contribution of forest resource for individual household and forest resource management at household level. It was use the collective action framework to examine the relationship among resource characteristics, and socioeconomic characteristics of user groups, and performance in management.
respectively. The daily temperatures during the dry season show high fluctuation. The lowest temperature that has been recorded in the mountains is -150°C at night, with the highest recorded temperature the next day of +260°C; thus a range of 400°C within a 24-hour period.
The vegetation ecosystems of the Bale Eco-Region include: Afro-alpine grassland, Erica forest/shrubland, Mountain grassland, Dry Afromontane evergreen forest, Moist Afromontane evergreen forest, Bamboo forest, Combretum-Terminalia woodland, Acacia-Commiphora woodland and Wetland. The fauna and flora species in the eco-region comprise a large percentage of Ethiopia's endemics, some species of which are only found in Bale.
The main soil types common in the area are Cambisols, Vertisols, Luvisols, Lithosols and Nitosols. There is limited information on the conditions of the soils of the eco-region due to limited study on soils of the area. However, the Vertisols, Cambisols and Luvisols in the wide plateau of the eco-region are very fertile supporting subsistent and commercial agriculture with high productivity to the standard of the country.
Specifically Dodola is one of Bale mountain Eco region found in the Oromia national regional state (ONRS) of Ethiopia in the West Arsi Zone administrative area in the Dodola district (district) (Figure 2). It has a total area of 356,006 km2 constituting 35% of the total population and 31% of the total area of the country (CSA, 2008). About 12.4% of the population lives in urban areas. The forest area is situated in the Bale Mountains eco-region. The Bale Mountains eco-region is known for its extensive area of Afro-alpine, as the origin of four major rivers, which are the only sources of perennial water for the arid lowlands of the east and southeast of Ethiopia, and for its unique and diverse fauna and flora (CRSO-BARD). It is the location of the Bale Mountains National Park and several forest priority areas (ibid). The climate of Bale ranges from tropical in the southeaster lowlands to alpine in the north-western highlands, the altitude varying between 400 and 4377m a.s.l. (GFA, 1991).
The total population of the district is about 194,000. The urban population of 35, 000 (18%) is one of the largest in the zone (CSA, 2008). An early estimate indicated that 95% percent of the total population belongs to the Oromo ethnic group and the remaining 5% constituted mainly of the Amhara and Guraghe ethnic groups (GFA, 1991). Based on the households sampled in the survey, almost all households are from Oromo ethnic groups. For the Dodola area, June, July and August constitute the growing season when the cultivation, seeding, fertilizing and weeding activities take place. September is the month with a relatively low level of agricultural work. Harvesting starts in October for barley, November for teff, and between November and December for wheat.
About 60% of the rainfall comes in the main rainy season from June to August while a small amount of rainfall occurs between January and March followed by a dry spell in May. The main dry season is in November and December (IFMP, 2002).
The daily temperature varies between 14°C and 17°C at an altitude of 2500m (ibid). A daily temperature variation between 8°C and 27°C has been recorded for the years 1996 -2002.

Sampling Design and Procedures
Bale REDD+ is being implemented in 11 districts of Bale eco-region. Among 11 Bale REDD+ phase project intervention districts, only one district, Dodola, has been randomly selected. The district has 9, REDD+ CBOs. Among 9 REDD+ CBOs, 2 REDD+ CBOs namely Deneba and Berisa were randomly selected. For this study, a 153 sample households were selected based on the sample size of population in the study area or. To select sample of household simple random sampling method was employed. In-person interviews are generally believed to produce the better data, though they are very expensive to undertake. Secondary data desirable was taken from Bale REDD+ field office and data was taken from different individuals as secondary source

Sampling
Data for the empirical study were drawn from, closed formal questionnaire designed for gathering relevant quantitative and qualitative data from respondents. The reason for choosing those two PAs among the 9 of CBO was their pioneering role in concluding contracts with the forest administration implementing the WAJIB approach. WAJIB blocks were stratified into groups based on strata neighbours and selection of blocks was made randomly from each strata. Two separate lists of kebeles, one from Deneba and other from Berisa, were compiled ( Table 1). The member of households in each WAJIB members was as shown compiled.in (Table 2). Deneba PA includes those WAJIBs that are located at the forest-agriculture frontier. Owing to their location and relative accessibility, most of the forests in these WAJIBs have been exposed to massive exploitation before WAJIB establishment.
The Berissa PA consists of the oldest WAJIBs. The new concept of forest dwellers" association was first accepted in the Berissa peasant association. Most of the WAJIB"s in the Berissa PA are also found at the forest frontier and close to the main road. Thus, there has been massive exploitation before the establishment of WAJIBs. Because this areas the nearest marketplace is the Dodola market place or town. This is because based on the total number of households in the two kebeles, households would have been selected 113 from Deneba (with a total of 462 households members) and 40 from Berisa (which had only 163 households members) if proportional sampling had been used (Table 3).
Thus, the study also aimed to get an even distribution of households across the two kebeles. The average number of CBO groups in the two areas was sampled 153 sample size 74% was taken from Deneba and 26% from Berisa from total number of HH based on the member ship size frame of the WAJIB members. Among the 74% and 26% of interviewed household members, 20 % and 5 % is a numbers of females households interviewed from the CBO in Deneba and Berisa respectively. In other meaning from the 74% and 26%, interviewed household 19% and 5 % interviewed is the number of female in Deneba and Berisa respectively.  Members of households were defined as those households that were heavy forward the CBO members. Such households had one or more household member(s) who were involved in either decision making, needs assessment, resource mobilization and implementation activities. Contributing households were those who happily involved in doing different activities without payment or direct compensation. During the survey, sampled households were identified from the two lists of member's households with the help of two committee members, from each CBO, who distinguished the households well.

Data collection instrument
Data used in this study were obtained from a questionnaire survey of 153 household heads from Deneba and Berisa communities. The questionnaire comprised mainly of structured questions in order to obtain qualified answers (Appendix 1). However, a few other questions were left open-ended to give interviewees a chance to express their views and draw lessons from their wisdom. The questionnaire was translated into the Regional language (Afaan Oromoo). It was then pre-tested, on three randomly selected households in Deneba and one randomly selected households in Berisa. Following the pre-test, some questions were deleted and others modified to improve their clarity and ensure their contextual relevance. The questionnaire was subdivided into different sections.
There was brief introduction as to what is offered by REDD+ and its expectations from households that are able to participate. The respondents were first asked if they are aware of REDD+ programme, what they are doing with REDD+ and if they were participating in the forest management and its costs. However, because there may be incentives to falsify data if the results are linked to financial flows (e.g., Nielsen and Lund 2012), strong third party verification was required. Cross-checks are provided by the government, and there is strong NGO and donor support.

Primary Data Collection Methods Field observation
Observation would be done across visible WAJIB areas of Deneba and Berisa forest management area before conducting the main survey to understand estimation of forest income contribution processes ,production system, family members participating in forest management and also to observe age, sex ,time allocate to forest practice that have been adopted by local community in the area. Moreover, Informal discussion with local community would be done held for some general information of the topic.

Questionnaire survey
The questionnaire was prepared to collect information concerning households' background Information , forest income and estimation , forest management , income earn from forest Service, and main output of forest, respondent's perception on forest contribution and family member participating in activities, their cooperation in the role of GDP contribution of forest information etc. The questionnaire is prepared initially in English and translated into 'Regional 'language (Afaan Oromo). Enumerators would trained on the techniques of data collection and on the contents of the questionnaire, the questionnaire was pretested on randomly selected few way every CBO members can easily know about the perception of these project. The result of the study directly shows what mentioned above.

Household Characteristics
The average age of the respondents was 45years (Table 4). The average family size the interviewed households was 8, which is higher than the national average of 5 persons per family. This discrepancy is probably caused by an inadequate difference of the view of "family" on the one hand and "household" on the other. According to the result of Table 5 above and Figure 3 below, more than half of the sample households were children under 15 years of age. Out of the 245 children aged 6 to 14 years only 100 (40.8 %) attended school.
According to Todaro (1997) concept of "the hidden momentum of population growth," large proportion of children and adolescents in a population implies high dependency ratio in the present and large number of potential parents, which will inevitably put immense pressure on the forest resources in the future.
Meanwhile, on the FBAC document it is indicated that restricting settlements of the agreed number of homesteads in the WAJIB blocks is one of the votive duties of the WAJIB groups. In other words, the WAJIB members cannot open new settlements in the forest other than those registered homesteads during settlement census. The high proportion of young generation in the WAJIB blocks and the prescribed duty of the WAJIB groups to restrict settlements will sooner or later create tremendous internal pressure that risks the sustainability of the WAJIB approach unless something fundamental is designed. Table7 Figure 3.shows that nearly 57.3% of household members were illiterate and only 11.3 % had more than primary education levels. So that the level of education also an impact on forest dependability. The study shows that illiterate HH members highly depend on forest than educated HH members (Table7.) As you observed from above table (7) there is a significant variation of forest use across educational status.

Source of Households Income Crop production
The result shows that the livelihood of people in the study area is based on agriculture (crop production and livestock production). The main types of crop production that produced last year in the study area were teff, wheat, barley, beans, pea and vegetables, fruits. The income of respondents from the crop production last year is presented  (2018) Table 8, shows that the income of households from crop production with average sales last year. The mean annual income from crop production in the study area is about 11048.39Br. The maximum income from crop production in the previous year was about 32300Br.
According to focus group, discussions and individuals interviews the income generated from crop production in the study area were not cover yearly budget of households in all. Therefore, this is why livelihood of households were depend on forest resource production.  (2018) The major livestock types commonly reared in the study area include oxen, cows, heifer, sheep, goats, donkeys, horses, poultry and calves. Among these, oxen are used for farming, donkeys for carrying, and sheep and poultry are mainly kept for marketing to generate income.  Table 11 shows that income of households from livestock production and average sales last year. The mean annual income from livestock production in the study area is found to be about 4289.68Br. The maximum income from livestock production in the previous year was about 34000Br. According to focus group discussions and individuals interviews the income generated from livestock production like crop production in the study area were not cover yearly budget of households in all. Therefore, this is why because livelihood of households were depend on forest resource production.  (2018) The result shows that more than half 56% of interviewed households were rely on the natural forest while around 44% of them were on plantations and own woodlots. This implies that majority of livelihood of households in the study areas were depended on natural forest than plantations and own woodlots.  (2018) The mean annual income from forest production in the study area is found to be about 9486.77Br. The maximum income from forest production in the previous year was about 25000Br. According to focus group, discussions and individuals interviews, the income generated from forest production play great role in fulfilling to cover yearly budget of households in the study area.  (2018) Results (table 23) shows that out of 155 respondents, only 56 of them were valid and they respond that the non-farm resources which they generated income from were land renting, daily labor, petty trade, food aid and others such as (carpentry, pottery, civil services). From this, the mean total income from non-farm resource was 2140.00ETB and standard deviation is 4330.03ETB

The Cost of Forest Management
We present preliminary estimates of gross value of household production and consumption of wood forest products and estimate the net value of forest products (net operating margins) by subtracting from imputed gross values the cost of forest collection, processing and transportation. The gross value is calculated by multiplying quantity of a forest product harvested by its price. Forest prices were obtained by surveying local markets, and from information from interviews with local residents and from focus group discussions. Firstly, total harvest volumes, prices and gross values was presented and how the labor cost of forest gathering was estimated later.
The gross value of wood forest products collected annually from forests and woodlands is higher than the gross value of wood products.
The value of forest products account for the total value of household production and income whereas agriculture (including livestock) and other livelihood activities. An accurate assessment of the role of forest resources to local communities should take into account the cost of production. The cost of production enters into household cost-benefit calculations that influence household labor allocation decisions across different livelihood activities.
The next subsection presents an attempt to account for the cost of harvesting forest products to estimate net operating margins for different forest products harvested by local communities in the study area. In the second draft, I will examine in greater detail the differences in net operating margins and forest income communities and households derive from forests and compare these to net operating margin in agriculture.
In the study, different costs were identified. The first cost is the forest management cost, which covered the costs of silver cultural and forest protection activities including thinning, cleaning, pruning, patrolling, and fie line development. Second type of cost is the forest products collection costs that pay to the CFUG to get access to timber, fuel wood, and other products (e.g. fodder, Sal leaf, and grass). The time spent in collection was also considered as the collection costs. Third type of cost is the transaction costs, which include the costs of operational plan preparation, attending a meeting, capacity building and annual membership fee. These costs arise during the course of development and implementation of the community forest operational plan when forest users exercise their exclusive rights over common property resources (Adhikari and Lovett 2006). The inclusion of transaction costs into policy formulation is necessary to determine the failure and success of community forest management (Meshack et al. 2006). Hence, this study attempts to analyse the transaction costs separately. Since the tenure right of the community forest is with the Government of users are not entitled to pay the rent for the forestland, the land rental cost is not included in the analysis. Fourth are the material costs that we used in this study. Forest users use various harvesting tools and means of transport.
The material costs included costs of tools' purchase and maintenance and transport. The last but not least is the annual membership fee that a member household has to pay. The costs of households' contributions are estimated either in monetary terms, if they are paid in cash, (e.g. annual membership fees) or in time when the contribution is in terms of labour, for example, participation in forest management activities (thinning, pruning) and meetings (user group assembly and user committee meetings). Table19 (2018) Generally cost of forest management is estemated by calculating forest production and amount of labor input and output in the production process .So that estimation including that the following paterns according to the respondent idea. According to this study, the cost forest of management is estimated by the sum of Forest products collection costs, Transaction costs, Material costs, the annual membership fee that a member household has to pay (Table19).
Thus the amount of cost of forest management starts from thinning to the annual membership fee that a member household has to pay for the general investigation .So that according to the respondent in the WAJIB members in the study areas estimation of forest cost management needs 19,925 birr per ha up to the forest can give the actual function. The study can identify identified the amount of cost forest management from respondent what mentioned above (Table19).
Therefore, to get the forest cost management in all forest area in the WAJIB, we calculate by amount or size of forestland by 19,925 with a given period (the year up to forest actual function). The cost of forest management is different in different institution and in different WAJIB members (Table13).

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Conclusion
Forest resources are vigorous but diminishing in terms of obtainability and variety due mainly to human factors and natural factors. The effort of IFMP to congestion the Deneba and Berisa WAJIB is outstanding in that it rights 13 forest dwellers with exclusive use rights in order to regulate uncontrolled access to the forest and to provide a maintainable solution to the "fatherless" state of the forest. This importance comes at the expense of the clear social cost of increases income mainly to the members of CBO in different ways.
Results of the study have exposed that there is a high perception of REDD+ in the WAJIB occurring mainly between the state forest conservation agencies and the community. After the implementation of WAJIB, there is sustainable access of forest in the WAJIB groups have become prominent by emerging into "controllable" catastrophes. Moreover, the result depicts that the forest is the major income contributor to the household's than most of the household livelihood activities. The household earns 51.3% of cash income and 34% of total income from the forest for which they are provided with all rights to manage, develop and use.
A modifying factor is to be seen in the fact that in CBO members there is no equal or fair distribution of to derive income from the natural forest irrespective of family size to the WAJIB-scheme. On the other hand, forest dwellers too have to make sacrifices. Sustainable forest management necessarily yields less than overexploitation in the short run.
Thus, it was to be probable that total sales of forest products decline due to WAJIB-implementation. In fact, this is what they should if the resource base is to be secured.
The regression test of significance of the relationship between Educational level and forest income products as a source of revenue and wealth status was found significant at more than 6% level of significance in WAJIB. It reveals the presence of relationship between the household's wealth status and dependence on the forest as a source of revenue in CBO. As the result shows the poorer, a household is the larger is its dependence on the forest as source of revenue.
Thus the amount of cost of forest management starts from thinning to the annual membership fee that a member household has to pay for the general investigation .So that according to the respondent in the WAJIB members in the study areas estimation of forest cost management needs 19,925 birr per ha up to the forest can give the actual function. The study can identify the amount of cost forest management from respondent what mentioned. Here I recommend that both government and NGOs can financially support households in the WAJIB members because the cost of forest management is high and difficult to cover only the farmers.
Households that attach more values on the products and services provided by forests are more motivated to invest their time in forest conservation activities. Thus, the values that households attach to forests disclose the degree of commitment they may have in conserving forests through local participation. Households can participate for anthropocentric, cultural/moral/spiritual and livelihood reasons and not just financial gains. Therefore, people's decisions to participate in WAJIB are verbalized by their magnetism to varied values, rather than through separate assessments of the costs and benefits of each part. By understanding the forest values that people hold, policy makers will be better equipped to design policies that reduce economic gaps with family size among stakeholders, and assist communities to implement forest plans.
Household decision to participate also depends on many socio-economic factors and the institutional setting in the management of local forests. In Deneba and Berisa, men are more probable to participate than women because the gender disparity in decision-making power within communities that undermines the participation of women is here.
In addition to women, older household heads, larger households, those who observe that there is degradation in the area and those who attach high anthropocentric and cultural/moral/spiritual values to forest resources are more likely to participate in CBO. On the other hand, younger household heads, men, married people, those with high levels of household income or social grants are less likely to participate in CBO. Although households might have an interest to participate, they may in fact fail to do so if they are displeased with the way previous CBO initiatives have been managed i.e., CBO conflicts, perception of discrimination, running of the committees and if they do not have confidence in the continuity of benefits and benefit distribution.

Policy Recommendations
Drawing from the empirical results, this study recommends that:  Policy makers should consider the values households assign to forest resources not just financial benefits when authorizing policies to adoptive participation in the WAJIB.  Forest products contribute large share of local community incomes in the study area. Therefore, conservation of forests is thus very essential to sustain local people livelihoods.  Development activities of Government extension services and Non-Governmental Organisations need to hold WAJIB and provide support to improve environmental and technical awareness. This can improve the perception of WAJIB members towards forest degradation and broaden the participation base and assurance the sustainability of WAJIB programs.