%0 Journal Article
%T The Impact of Governance Regime on Land Cover and Use Change and Forest Structure: Insights from Kakamega and Loita Forests, Kenya
%A Musingo Tito E. Mbuvi
%A James B. Kungu
%A Alfred Eshitera
%J Open Journal of Forestry
%P 185-215
%@ 2163-0437
%D 2022
%I Scientific Research Publishing
%R 10.4236/ojf.2022.122011
%X Forests in Kenya are managed under different
management regimes, including traditional community based forest management, command
and control, <span>participatory forest management,
leasehold, concessions, and private. As</span>sess<span>ment of these regimes¡¯ impact (positively or negatively) on forest
conserva</span>tion <span>has not been done. The
study was done to determine the impact on forest</span> con<span>servation of three management regimes traditional
community based forest</span> <span>management,
command and control, and participatory forest management. </span><span>The survey was done through secondary data, focus group
discussion, key</span> informant interview, household survey, ecological
survey, and land cover and <span>land use analysis
through GIS. The results indicate that the forest site under</span> participatory
forest management witnessed better forest management. In this site, the forest
zone witnessing best management was the one near the forest station where the
rangers are located and adjacent to the community that has been involved in
forest management and benefited most from project inter<span>vention</span></span><span style=\"font-family:&quot;\">,</span><span style=\"font-family:&quot;\"> an
incentive fo</span><span style=\"font-family:&quot;\">r </span><span style=\"font-family:&quot;\">their participation
in forest management. The</span><span style=\"font-family:&quot;\"> for</span><span style=\"font-family:&quot;\">ests under traditional community based forest
management faced a high<span> </span><span>forest degradation rate. Forest under command and
control regime witnessed </span><span>the best
forest condition improvement attributed to the management regime</span> <span>not allowing consumptive forest resource utili</span></span><span style=\"font-family:&quot;\">z</span><span style=\"font-family:&quot;\">ation. Each regime was best</span><span style=\"font-family:&quot;\"> <span>under its¡¯
legislative framework and would facilitate better forest management and
contribute to improved livelihoods without compromising forest </span>quality.
Par<span>ticipatory forest management was the most
preferred management regime</span> contributing to better forest management,
improved community livelihoods, and formally involved communities and other
stakeholders. Each re<span>gime¡¯s appropriateness
would be enhanced through stakeholder capacity</span> building, institu<span>tional reform, adequate financial facilitation,
and appropriate implementa</span>tion. Therefore, adopting participatory forest
management attributes
%K Forest
%K Regime
%K Appropriateness
%K Management
%K Livelihoods
%U http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=116451