Factors Affecting Stakeholders’ Participation in Collaborative Forest Management: The Case of Krokosua Hills Forest Reserve in Ghana

Abstract

Sustainable management of forest depends on effective participation of primary stakeholders the local people. This paper focuses on the assessment of factors that affect participation of local people in four key aspects of forest management - planning, implementation, monitoring and benefit-sharing - in Ghana using a case study of Krokosua Hills Forest Reserve (KHFR). Data collected from 407 households living around the forest reserve were analyzed to determine the factors affecting participation in reserve management. Socio-demographic actors were found to have mixed effects on reserve management, with reserve planning associated with gender and educational status of the respondents while benefit-sharing was associated with respondents’ educational status and the awareness of collaborative forest management policy. These results imply that for sustainable management of KHFR and similar forest areas in Ghana through collaborative arrangements, policy-makers and forest managers should consider socio-demographic attributes of primary stakeholders.