| dc.description.abstract | Background: The study was set to evaluate the impact of poverty on forest degradation in Kole
district includes; food insecurity, poverty, adverse weather loss of some tree spices among others
in Kole District. The specific objectives of the study were to examine the effect of limited energy
sources, unstable income sources, and food insecurity on forest degradation in Kole District.
Methods: study adopted a case design while incorporating both qualitative and quantitative
methods. The study used simple random sampling and purposive sampling to select respondents
which include the local community near Ayer and Alito CFR and key informant respectively. A
total of 132 respondents were selected. A total of 118 questionnaires were returned and analyzed
using IBM SPSS version 23, while qualitative data from the key informants was analyzed using
the recursive method and the result presented in chapter four.
Results: The findings revealed that limited energy sources and unstable income sources were
significant at coefficient p<0.01, β= 0.43, and p<0.01, β= 0.38, respectively in determining the
effects of poverty on forest degradation but food security was insignificant.
Conclusions: The study concludes that the use of firewood as a source of energy in households,
and generally limited energy sources among households degrade forest; that fuel wood harvesting
in particular, and unstable income sources in general degrade forests, and that food insecurity
promotes land clearance within forests although it is not significant degrading forests.
Recommendations: The study recommends that energy subsidies such as on electricity, biogas
and introduced in Kole district, fishing for the people living in and around the forests be
considered and deployment of forest officials be done in forest areas of Kole district.
Keywords: Poverty, Forest Degradation, and Kole District | en_US |
