TY - JOUR
T1 - An assessment of the effects of forest reserve management on the livelihoods of forest fringe communities in the Atwima Mponua District of Ghana
AU - Sobeng, Augustus Kweku
AU - Agyemang-Duah, Williams
AU - Thomas, Andrew
AU - Appiah, Joseph Oduro
N1 - Funding Information:
The corresponding author is a Commonwealth Scholar and was funded by the UK government and Aberystwyth University. The funders had no role in the study design, or collection, analysis, and interpretation of data. The authors are very grateful to the representatives of the Nkawie Forest Services Division, the Atwima Mponua District Assembly, and the Centre for Integrated Rural and Child Development (NGO) for agreeing to be interviewed. We thank the respondents from the three forest fringe communities (Pamuruso, Bofaaso, and Kyereyasso) for sharing their experiences and perspectives. Many thanks are also due to the chief editor and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and edits to earlier versions of this paper.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2018/7/11
Y1 - 2018/7/11
N2 - The effect of forest reserve management on the livelihoods of forest communities is an important, yet poorly researched issue. This study examines the effect of management on the livelihoods of communities living near the Tano-Offin forest reserve in the Atwima Mponua District of Ghana. Information was gathered from one hundred and fifty forest fringe community members in Atwima Mponua District using semi-structured questionnaires. In addition, interviews were undertaken with staff from the Forest Services Division at Nkawie, the Atwima Mponua District Assembly, and a Non-Governmental Organization. We found that the communities in the study area have limited livelihood pathways due to restrictions on their access to forest resources. Furthermore, over 70% of respondents had incomes below the international poverty line of US$ 1.90 a day which was largely attributed to limited access to forest resources. We conclude that forest fringe communities in the study area and more widely across Ghana are likely to have undesirable livelihood outcomes and we stress the need for policies to involve forest fringe communities as principal participants in the process of policy formulation and decision-making regarding management of forest reserves
AB - The effect of forest reserve management on the livelihoods of forest communities is an important, yet poorly researched issue. This study examines the effect of management on the livelihoods of communities living near the Tano-Offin forest reserve in the Atwima Mponua District of Ghana. Information was gathered from one hundred and fifty forest fringe community members in Atwima Mponua District using semi-structured questionnaires. In addition, interviews were undertaken with staff from the Forest Services Division at Nkawie, the Atwima Mponua District Assembly, and a Non-Governmental Organization. We found that the communities in the study area have limited livelihood pathways due to restrictions on their access to forest resources. Furthermore, over 70% of respondents had incomes below the international poverty line of US$ 1.90 a day which was largely attributed to limited access to forest resources. We conclude that forest fringe communities in the study area and more widely across Ghana are likely to have undesirable livelihood outcomes and we stress the need for policies to involve forest fringe communities as principal participants in the process of policy formulation and decision-making regarding management of forest reserves
KW - forest resources
KW - Tano-Offin forest reserve
KW - livelihood pathways
KW - international poverty line
KW - livelihood outcomes
KW - forest reserve policies
KW - Ghana
KW - Forest resources
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85049792283&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/14728028.2018.1490668
DO - 10.1080/14728028.2018.1490668
M3 - Article
SN - 1472-8028
VL - 27
SP - 158
EP - 174
JO - Forests, Trees and Livelihoods
JF - Forests, Trees and Livelihoods
IS - 3
ER -