TITLE:
An Investigation of the Factors Influencing Community Participation in Forest Management: A Case of Balaka District, Malawi
AUTHORS:
Regina Zande, Maureen Kapute Mzuza
KEYWORDS:
Forest Management, Community Participation, Natural Resources, Deforestation
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection,
Vol.10 No.3,
March
17,
2022
ABSTRACT: Forests are vital for the environment through the support which they
provide to biodiversity. They also provide cultural, social and economic
support to human welfare. Forest degradation is attributed to multiple land
uses which include agriculture, human settlement, the use of trees as the main
source of energy and other infrastructure development. The main objective of
the study was to assess factors that influence community participation in
forest management in Kangankundi village forest area in Balaka District, Southern
Malawi. Simple random sampling was used to select 100 community members who
were interviewed in the study. Data were analyzed in SPSS version 22. The results showed positive significant
relationship between community awareness and community participation (p = 0.015), and also between economic
benefits and community involvement (p = 0.003). Involvement was not affected by income-generating activity which
showed that (p = 0.781) and level of
education (p = 0.535). Community
awareness and economic benefits appear to be the main factors influencing
community participation. Firewood and bamboos were noted to be the most
resource obtained from the forest and beekeeping was also the income-generating
activity in the study which is being promoted. It is concluded that community
participation is influenced by many factors. The study recommends that youth
must be deliberately involved in forest management as opposed to the current
participation which is dominated by elderly people.