CHALLENGES OF SUSTAINABLE FOREST RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN KOKOSA WOREDA: WEST ARSI ZONE OROMIA REGION, SOUTH CENTRAL, ETHIOPIA. CHALLENGES OF SUSTAINABLE FOREST RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN KOKOSA WOREDA: WEST ARSI ZONE OROMIA REGION, SOUTH CENTRAL, ETHIOPIA. CHALLENGES OF SUSTAINABLE FOREST RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN KOKOSA WOREDA: WEST ARSI ZONE OROMIA REGION, SOUTH CENTRAL, ETHIOPIA.

Abstract

Globally, forests cover about four billion hectares. Ethiopia forest cover is about 3% of the total land area which is far much below the internationally recommended 10% per country. More than 1.6 billion people globally depend on forests for their livelihood. Ethiopia is one of the worlds fastest population growth accelerated environmental degradation and structural food insecurity. In Ethiopia the factors accelerated forest resource degradation has the major threat to rural livelihoods and sustainable natural resource management in the country. The objective of study of this study is to determine socio-economic factors affecting sustainable management of Gorte forest, assess to current forest conservation activity. A descriptive research design was used. Purposive sampling was used in the study and the sample size was 182 respondents, Data was collected using questionnaire, satellite image, interview and observation. Data was analyzed using descriptive analysis by the help of statistical package for social sciences. The stakeholders are not adequately involved in forest management. The major causes of deforestation in study area were agricultural land expansion, cutting down of tree for fuel wood and charcoal production, settlement expansion and timber harvest for construction purpose. Efforts should thus be focused on those factors that affect sustainable management of the forest.