The Effect of Community Dialogue on Awareness, Collaborative Forest Management, and Forest Conservation Practices Focusing on Zombo District of Uganda = 지역사회 대화가 인식, 협력적 산림 관리 및 산림 보전 실천에 미치는 영향 - 우간다 좀보 지역을 중심으로 -

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

A significant reduction in forest cover in the West Nile sub region of Uganda, including Zombo district, was reported by JICA’s baseline survey conducted in 2021. The Nebbi District NGO Forum, a civil society organisation, implemented a nine-month project in the districts of Greater Nebbi, including Zombo District that intended to improve engagement and dialogue among stakeholders regarding collaborative forest resource management. The purpose of the study was to assess the effect of this project activities in Zombo district by examining the role of community dialogue in increasing awareness and participation in collaborative forest management, as well as to assess whether this collaboration leads to enhanced conservation practices within communities in Zombo District, Uganda. The study was specifically set to assess the effect of community dialogue on awareness of collaborative forest management, the effect of community awareness on collaborative forest management and the effect of collaborative forest management on forest conservation practices in Zombo district, Uganda. A cross-sectional study design was utilized, employing a quantitative approach with a sample size of 87 out of 110 households. Purposive sampling was used to select 8 respondents for the key informant interviews, comprising respondents from DFS, NFA and Nebbi NGO Forum. The researcher used purposive sampling technique to select the forest reserves and the villages that were part of the project being implemented by the Nebbi NGO forum. The households from the project beneficiary villages were randomly sampled from the NGO forum list in order to obtain a sample that is a representative of the whole population. Quantitative data analysis consisted of descriptive statistics (frequencies and percentages) and inferential statistics (Spearman’s rank order correlation). Descriptive statistics revealed a marked increase in awareness of collaborative forest management among respondents following the community dialogue, signifying that community dialogue has a positive impact on collaborative forest management. The correlation analysis result showed a weak positive correlation between community dialogue and awareness of collaborative forest management, with a correlation coefficient (r) of 0.200. This means that as community dialogue increases, awareness of collaborative forest management tends to increase slightly. A significant number of respondents showed knowledge on collaborative forest management, meaning that the community members are able to participate in the management of the forest resource. The results also indicated that all of the respondents had participated in collaborative arrangements with at least one of the existing organisations that were working with the community on forest management. These have led to changes in their conservation practices, such as an increase in reforestation efforts. The findings showed that the various changes in forest conservation practices after the collaborations include increase in tree planting, reduced illegal activities, adoption of improved cookstoves, increase in forest fire control, increase in community meetings, mindset change in forest management and increase in the number of petitions from the communities. These indicate that community dialogues substantially improve awareness of CFM in local communities, increased awareness directly enhances the effectiveness of CFM initiatives and effective implementation of CFM has a positive effect on forest conservation practices. The study recommends frequent community dialogues to enhance CFM in communities near forests, a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation framework must be established to assess progress in awareness, participation and conservation results. The ministry of water and environment should institutionalise community dialogue and participation as fundamental strategies in Uganda’s forest policy and legal framework. Government budgets for forestry programs must incorporate designated funds for community dialogue, awareness creation and capacity building initiatives for ensuring ongoing engagement and expanding effective CFM models.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• Abstract i
• List of Tables vi
• List of Figures vii
• Chapter 1. Introduction 1
• 1.1 Research background 1
• 1.2 Statement of the problem 4
• 1.3 Main objective of the study 7
• 1.4 Research questions 9
• 1.5 Significance 9
• Chapter 2. Literature Review 11
• 2.1 Collaborative Forest Management 11
• 2.2 Theoretical framework of Collaborative Forest management 13
• 2.3 Community dialogue and awareness of CFM 15
• 2.4 Community awareness and collaborative forest management 17
• 2.5 Collaborative forest management and forest conservation practices 20
• Chapter 3. Methodology 23
• 3.1 Study area. 23
• 3.2 Study design 24
• 3.3 Study population, sample size and sampling procedure 25
• 3.4 Ethical considerations 26
• 3.5 Data analysis 26
• Chapter 4. Results 28
• 4.1 Response rate 28
• 4.2 Demographic characteristics results 28
• 4.3 Forest interaction 31
• v
• 4.4 Effect of community dialogue on awareness of Collaborative Forest Management 32
• 4.5 Effect of community awareness on collaborative forest management 34
• 4.6 Effect of collaborative forest management on forest conservation practices 38
• Chapter 5. Discussion and Conclusion 47
• 5.1 Discussion of results 47
• 5.1.1 Effect of community dialogue on awareness of CFM 47
• 5.1.2 Effect of community awareness on Collaborative Forest Management 48
• 5.1.3 Effect of Collaborative Forest Management on forest resource practices 50
• 5.2 Conclusion 51
• 5.3 Recommendations 53
• 5.4 Study limitations 56
• References 58
• 국문 초록 66
• Acknowledgement 69
• Appendices 70
• vi