Socio-Ecological Impact Of Community Forestry

Sri Lanka's community forestry(CF)program emerged in the early 1980 s following a global trend of conserving forest resources and provide benefits to the local communities.So far,Sri Lanka has implemented the CF programs in two periods,with expanding project sites,the enlarged rural population involved,and increasing research,while there is a few knowledge about roles of the CF in the rural socialecological system.This study aims to investigate the social-ecological impact of the recent community forestry program in Sri Lanka under three different aspects namely,impact on forest condition,impact on livelihood outcomes and impact on the forest-people interaction.Further,the study evaluates the communities' willingness to participate in CF.This study used the before-after control impact design(BACI)to collect the data.Data were collected from 450 households and 180 sample plots established in nine forests.The Difference in Differences method and Probit and Logit model were used to analyse the data.Findings obtained in willingness analysis indicate that factors related to education,non-forest income,benefits and losses from CF,landholding and decision on policy and regulation are the most important determinants of local people's participation in the CF program in intermediate Zone in Sri Lanka.Impact analysis of livelihood outcomes indicated that the CF program has improved livelihood with a significant(p<0.001)positive effect on household conditions,livestock and non-timber forest products income,savings and loan,state landholdings and informal education.The results of forest condition analysis showed that the CF program has increased seedling and sapling density to a significant degree(p<0.001)and reduced human disturbances.The results of forest and people interaction in terms of human disturbances indicated that the number of loped trees,encroachment plots,grazing patches and evidence of fire was significantly reduced(p<0.001)after implementation of the CF program.Moreover,social groups' perceptions of the impact of CF found that the CF program has improved local environmental conditions by reducing invasive species,forest fire and soil erosion;as well as improving wild fauna,forest greenery and understory vegetation.Further,respondents perceived improvement in forest product supply in the form of fuel wood,edible NTFPs and fodder.A major contribution of the CF program was found in reducing invasive species and forest fire.The study also revealed that the impact of CF may vary depending on pre-existing forest conditions,length of period to implement,perception,and decisions by local people.However,the increase in the number of CF members and the increase of demand for state land may threaten the future sustainability of the CF program.Despite,the CF program demonstrating very promising results in terms of livelihood improvement,more efforts are still needed to encourage alternative income sources to enable future generations to be less dependent on the forest.In addition,putting values on the different environment services such as water from forests and selling them to outside buyers could create a possible income source for those local communities that have been managing and using these resources for a long time.Moreover,the study suggests payment for environmental services as a potential solution for humanwildlife conflict.Therefore,CF could be used as a tool for wildlife conservation.Moreover,to broaden the scope,additional empirical research in different time periods,location,and scale are needed.