Assessment of Rural Communities’ Access to Forest Resources and Degree of Community Dependence: A Case of Itale Forest Reserve

This study assessed rural communities’ access to forest resources and degree of community dependence. The study was conducted in two villages (Itale and Iwala) in Ileje District. The exploratory survey design used a structured questionnaire to capture both quantitative and qualitative information from sampled households. We administered a structured questionnaire with both closed and open-ended questions to households and key informants. Data collection also included focus group discussions, wealth ranking, transect walks, field observation, and preference ranking. The study employed systematic, random, and purposive sampling to select a sample of 94 household heads and 18 key informants. The results revealed that access to forest resources was denied to rural communities by 95.5% while 4.5% access was granted for community development activities only. Communities’ dependence on forest resources varied across forest resource types, whereby dependence over firewood was 91.2%, while thatch grass dependence was 23.6%. The degree of community dependence on forest resources revealed that 57.0% of the respondents depend on forest resources for their livelihood. It is recommended that local communities should be involved in monitoring and sustainable forest management processes, as it was noted that they were not integrated into the management system.