Analyzing the perceived prioritized forest ecosystem services under the participatory management: A case of Maksegnit District, Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia

The participatory forest management (PFM) approach, as a policy decision, was introduced in Ethiopia in the 1990s to combat forest resource degradation and ensure decentralization in management. The success of forest resource conservation through PFM depends on the benefits received from the forest resources and their ecosystem services (ESs) attached by the local communities. Hence, this study examines the perceived prioritized direct and indirect benefits of forest ESs across wealth groups and membership status in Kulkal Ber forest, located in Maksegnit District, Amhara National Regional State, Ethiopia. Primary data are collected from 352 households in four peripheral forest villages through face-to-face interviews. Chi-square, Kruskal -Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests are conducted to explain the significant association between forest use and the importance of forest ESs with wealth groups and membership status, respectively. Perceptions on use, priority, and service trends are analyzed using descriptive statistics. We found a significant trade-off between subsistence and cash uses of provisioning, regulating, and cultural ESs across wealth groups. Food-provisioning services are essential for subsistence and cash uses for low wealth households than high wealth households, and they are more prioritized than regulating services. The perceived importance of different ESs categories varied significantly across all wealth groups. High-wealth households have more perceived importance in provisioning, regulating, and supporting services than low-wealth households. Medium wealth respondents have more perceived importance of regulating and supporting services than low wealth respondents. But no significant difference is found in the importance of cultural services across all wealth groups. There is a statistically significant difference between member and non-member households for the perceived importance of different ecosystem categories. Member households have more perceived importance towards provisioning, regulating and supporting, and cultural services than non-member households. There is a need for advocacy and awareness creation about regulating and supporting services among local households who are non-members of PFM, enhancing agricultural productivity, and promoting alternative livelihood strategies for forest-dependent poor households to maintain sustainable forest conservation and flow of provisioning ESs.