Demystifying the Benefits of Participatory Forest Management

Participatory forest management approach has been in practice in Kenya for close to 14 years since it was first piloted in Arabuko Sokoke forest in 1997 (KEFRI, 2002). In Kereita forest, the approach has been in practice for over 5 years. Despite having been in place for that long, there are still a lot of misgivings as to whether the PFM approach really contributes to the livelihoods of the Kereita forest adjacent communities. This suspicion is further grounded by the fact that forest related conflicts continued to affect the area. In addition there has been very limited documentation on the benefits accruing to the communities as a result of their participation in PFM. The purpose of this study was therefore to assess the impacts of participatory forest management on the livelihoods of forest adjacent communities in Kereita Forest of Kiambu district. This is as indicated in KEFRI (2002) that there is need for research to be carried out on PFM activities and their impacts on livelihoods.