Impact of forest law enforcement on the livelihoods of local communities adjacent to Budongo central forest reserve, mid-western Uganda.

Abstract

Forests are an important source of livelihoods especially to local communities who obtain from them both indirect and direct benefits. Direct benefits include timber, firewood, medicinal plants, and fruits while the indirect include roles in nutrient cycling, water conservation and carbon dioxide sequestration among others. Several initiatives have been launched by international community with an aim of curtailing illegal sourcing of direct benefits through strengthening forest law enforcement. Proponents argue that law enforcement is a means to halt illegal logging, deter current forest loss, capture lost revenues for government and revive viable framework for sustainable forest management while the critics argue that even wellmeaning law enforcement can perpetuate social injustices and inequities by having costs that fall on the poor. The current study sought to contribute to the understanding of the implication of forest law enforcement on livelihoods of local communities living adjacent to forest reserves in Uganda. Specifically, the study assessed the forms of forest law enforcement applied in villages adjacent to Budongo Central Forest Reserve, the impacts of these forms of forest law enforcement on livelihoods of communities, and the attitudes and perceptions of local communities. Data was collected using 7 key informant interviews, document review, 4 focus group discussions and 202 household surveys. Descriptive statistics, Chi-square test and Fisher exact test were applied determine the association between the forms of forest law enforcement and the location. Chisquare test was used determine the association of the perceived impacts of forest law enforcement on livelihoods impacts and the different socio-demographic characteristics. Binary Regression was conducted to determine the relationship of the attitudes and perceptions towards forest law enforcement. Mann Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests were conducted to determine the difference on perceptions and the different characteristics of the respondents. Qualitative content analysis using manifest approach of transcribed data based on themes was used to determine key messages from focus group discussions and key informants. The study revealed that the most applied forms of forest law enforcement included arrest/detaining of forest law breakers (99.5%), prosecution and trial in Courts of law (99%), destroying of crops grown in forest reserves (96%), sensitization on forest law by Government Agencies (81%) and promoting of forest user groups or Collaborative Forest Management (86.7%). The choice of the form of forest law enforcement is determined by a number of factors but the main ones are; the nature and magnitude of the offence and the vulnerability of the offenders. Forest law enforcement negatively affected recreation activities, access to poles from the forest, grazing, individual and community forest concessions within Budongo CFR. However, Forest law enforcement had no impact on spiritual activities within the Forest and on access to the Forest for Fodder. Attitudes towards forest law enforcement were influenced by sex, age and marital status and employment source of the respondents. Younger respondents (26-35) and Married respondents had more positive attitudes towards forest law enforcement. The study recommends that forest law enforcement agencies should emphasize using multiple forms of forest law enforcement including conciliatory forms.