Challenges Facing Community Participation in Participatory Forest Management in Southwestern Ethiopia

The purpose of this paper remained to detect the Contests of the communal participation of participatory forest management in selected kebeles of Addiyo woreda, Kaffa zone of SNNPRS of Ethiopia. The study engaged main and subordinate data sources. The study sites were selected by using purposively, and sample respondents were selected by using systematic sampling techniques. Accordingly, 295(91 females and 204 males) households were selected. The household survey, FGD, personal observation, and key informant interviews were used for primary data collection. The data of the study had analyzed using both numerical and qualitative methods. Binary logistic regressions remained employed to evaluate factors affecting the participation of households in PFM. The study initiates that woodland coverage is decreasing, the logistic regression results revealed that participation in PFM has a statistically significant and negative relationship with annual income, the distance of households from the PFM site, and PFM site from the market, whereas a positive relationship with family size, forest income, number of livestock, awareness of households about PFM and support from external stakeholders. Therefore, to see sustainable participatory woodland managing in the study zone, awareness would remain created among communities for this government, and external stakeholders should work co-operatively and actively.