Forest dependence and household welfare : empirical evidence from Kenya
Date
2008
Authors
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Publisher
Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy in Africa (CEEPA), University of Pretoria, Pretoria, ZA
Abstract
This paper explores the role of forest in household welfare in Kenya. The paper uses primary
household level data collected from Nakuru district in November and December 2006. The
household level data is supplemented by a community survey to gather community level
information on market access among other factors. Both descriptive and econometric methods
are used to explore the correlates of participation in forest activities and also in forest collective
action. The paper also analyses the contribution of forests to income distribution in the study
sample using the Lorenz curve approach. The paper further explores resource extraction and the
economic reliance of households on forests. The results suggest that forests play an important
role as safety nets that cushion households during periods of hardship. The results also suggest
that forests play an important role as a gap-filler and as a source of regular subsistence use and
also an important role in poverty reduction. The econometric results point at the role of
household heterogeneity in terms of willingness to participate in forest collective action and
private resource endowments in influencing economic reliance on forests. The results further
suggest that both the poor and the less poor derive a substantive share of incomes from forest
activities and that forests are not necessarily poverty traps for rural households. Forest policies
need to take into account tradeoffs between forest extraction and forest degradation and also
consider targeting of households in forest use and management depending on household
heterogeneities in both current and permanent incomes.
Description
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Working Paper
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Keywords
POVERTY, SOCIAL FORESTRY, FOREST DEPENDENCE, NON-RESIDENT CULTIVATORS, HOUSEHOLD HETEROGENEITY, KENYA