Socio-Economic Determinants of Woodfuel Extraction and Its Effects on Vegetation Cover of Gazetted Forests Within Koibatek Forests Zone, Kenya

Abstract

Globally, about 2 billion people extract and use woodfuel in the form of firewood and charcoal. Africa‟s per capita woodfuel consumption is 0.89 m3 per year accounting for 67% of the total energy while Kenya‟s woodfuel consumption accounts for 68% of the total energy. Despite the importance of woodfuel in Kenya‟s economy, information on socio-economic determinants of woodfuel extraction and its effects on vegetation cover of gazetted forests is scarce. Therefore, the study purposed to assess the socio-economic determinants of woodfuel extraction and its effects on vegetation cover of gazetted forests within Koibatek Zone, Kenya. The specific objectives were to: establish the influence of socio-economic determinants on woodfuel extraction within gazetted forests, assess the relationship between income earned from sale of woodfuel on the volume extracted; analyze the influence proximity of extractors to forests on the number of firewood headloads extracted; determine the relationship between volume of woodfuel extracted and percent gazetted-forest cover change and evaluate the influence of mechanisms for enforcing existing legislations on woodfuel extraction within gazetted forests from 2006 to 2014. A cross-sectional descriptive research design was adopted. Purposive sampling was used to select all 8 gazetted forests blocks and the 8 forest officers while stratified random sampling was used to select 384 woodfuel extractors within the Zone. Primary sources of data included: scrutiny of registers for licenses of woodfuel extraction; administration of questionnaires to 384 woodfuel extractors, key informant interviews with Ecosystem Conservator and 8 forests officers; 8 Focused Group Discussions and Classification and Interpretation of satellite images. Secondary data was collected by review of policy documents, office files and journals. Data analysis utilized Pearson Chi-Square tests, Simple Linear Regression and descriptive statistics such as percentages and crosstabs. Qualitative data were arranged, coded and discussed. The study established that gender was a significant socio-economic determinants of woodfuel extraction from gazetted forests (X2(2) =33.113, p<0.005). Age (X2(10) =15.759, p>0.005), level of education (X2(10) 8.439, p>0.005) and livelihood support when unemployed X2(10) = 11.207, p>0.005) were not significant socio-economic determinants of woodfuel extraction within gazetted forests. Income earned from sale of woodfuel had significant (p<0.05) relationship with volume of woodfuel extracted within gazetted forests since about 53.1% variation in volume of woodfuel extracted can be explained by income from sales (R2=0.531). Proximity to forests had positive but not significant influence on the number of firewood headloads extracted within gazetted forests (R2=0.002, P>0.05). Thus, 0.2% variation in firewood headloads can be attributed to proximity to gazetted forests. The volume of woodfuel extracted within gazetted forests had significant negative relationship with percentage forest cover change (R2=0.001, b= -0.023, t=- 0.04, p<0.05). The estimated 260,745.59m3 of woodfuel extracted within gazetted forests from 2006-2014 equated to 8.24% (3,902.5 hectares) loss in forest cover. The study also established that enforcement of existing legislations had significant (p<0.05) influence on woodfuel extraction within gazetted forests. It can be concluded that volume of woodfuel extracted was determined by gender and sale of woodfuel extracted. The woodfuel extracted within gazetted forests leads to significant change in cover of these forests. It is recommended that woodfuel extractors be sensitized on woodfuel extraction legislations and empowered with knowledge of sustainable forest management and agro-forestry. In addition, surveillance of gazetted forests be enhanced to curb illegal activities such as charcoal burning. The results are useful to energy and forest policy makers in developing policy strategies for sustainable extraction of woodfuel.