Forest Income and Dependence in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review Across Agroecological and Socioeconomic Contexts

Forests provide substantial contributions to the well‐being of many rural dwellers. Despite their significance, there remains a lack of systematic reviews examining forest income, dependence, and the underlying determinants across Ethiopia’s diverse agroecological and socioeconomic contexts. To address this gap, this paper focused on forest income and dependency studies, especially across agroecologic zones of Ethiopia, to provide an overview of forest income and dependence and its economic contribution to the community and to identify factors affecting forest income and dependence. For this purpose, a total of 21 empirical studies were considered, of which 28.6%, 33.3%, and 38.1% were from lowlands, midlands, and highlands of Ethiopia, respectively. The findings revealed that households living in the midland agroecology had high mean forest income compared to those in lowland and highland agroecology zones. On the other hand, households living in highland agroecology are more dependent on forest products than households living in the lowland and midland agroecology zones. The findings indicate that fuelwood is the predominant forest product used by households living in highlands of Ethiopia. In contrast, households living in lowland agroecology zone primarily utilize forest honey, while wild coffee is the most common product utilized by households living in midland agroecology zone. The findings also revealed that poor households are relatively more dependent on forest products compared to rich households. Moreover, female‐headed households are more dependent on forest products compared to male‐headed households. Regarding farming systems used, households employing mixed farming systems derive greater benefits from forests compared to pastoralists and agropastoralists. Additionally, those households using mixed farming systems exhibit a higher level of dependence on forests than pastoralists and agropastoralists. Furthermore, the findings showed that education level, farm size, number of livestock, nonforest income, gender, family size, wealth status, and distance from forest are the major determining factors of forest income and dependence for households living in lowland, midland, and highland areas of Ethiopia. In conclusion, this review underscores the critical role of forests in the livelihoods of rural households across Ethiopia’s agroecological zones, revealing significant disparities in forest income and dependence influenced by socioeconomic and environmental factors. Policymakers should design targeted forest‐based livelihood strategies that account for agroecological variations and socioeconomic disparities to enhance equitable forest income across Ethiopia.