ROLE OF FOREST ECOSYSTEM RESOURCES IN ALLEVIATING HOUSEHOLD POVERTY IN EASTERN MAU, KENYA

Abstract

The role played by forest ecosystem resources is critical to forest-fringe rural households who depend on it to sustain their livelihood outcomes like alleviating household poverty and reducing household income inequality. The importance of forest ecosystem resources has long been recognized but has seldom been quantified and analyzed. In this research study, we examine distributional and poverty effects of forest ecosystem resource extraction among households living in forest peripheries in Eastern Mau forest reserve. Primary data were collected from forest-fringe rural households living five kilometers from the forest margin. This study site was purposively selected to be within six administrative locations that straddle Molo and Njoro sub-Counties. Semi-structured questionnaire survey instruments and interviews were used to generate the data. The main objective of this study was to determine the role of forest ecosystem resources in alleviating poverty among rural households living in forest margins of Eastern Mau forest reserve. The marginal impact of forest-based income on total household income was computed to analyze the effect of forest-based income on household poverty. Similarly, Foster-Greer-Thorbecke (FGT (α)) poverty indices were used to decompose diverse household income components. The model was used to determine the impact of each household income component on (FGT (α)) poverty indices. The (FGT (α)) poverty indices revealed the marginal impact of forest-based income on household headcount poverty index (FGT (α=0)) reduced from 0.299 to 0.252. This index drop indicates a reduction in measured household poverty by 15.7%. Also, forest ecosystem resources were shown to contribute about 12% to total household income. Equally, on-farm income activities as the mainstay household income sources contributed 53% to total household income. In conclusion, forest ecosystem resources have a significant role in alleviating household poverty. The study recommends to state-actors to formulate governance structures and policies that concomitantly enhance efficient conservation and management of forest ecosystem resources while embedding regular household primary income strategies. Also, state-actors should incorporate forest-based income in national income accounting by including it in the computation of national gross domestic product (GDP).