Forest Provisioning Ecosystem Services (FPES) Economics and Forest Dependency in the Elgeyo and the Nyambene Water Catchment Ecosystems, Kenya

Abstract

Forest provisioning ecosystem services (FPES) play a critical role in societal wellbeing, particularly in the low-income forest adjacent communities. Despite reported benefits, the contribution of these ecosystems to communities has not been reflected in the national economic accounting systems. The dependency and factors influencing forest exploitation are decimally understood, which among other factors lead to irrational management actions. This study endeavoured to assess the economic value of FPES and the dependency on forest resources in the two selected water catchment ecosystems of Elgeyo and Nyambene in Kenya. Structured questionnaires were administered whereby 384 households were drawn from forest adjacent communities each for the two ecosystems. Product prices were sources from the local and the neighbouring urban markets while surrogate product prices were utilized for products with distorted data and unclear market prices. The logistic regression model determined socio-economic factors influencing forest dependency. The aggregated FPES valuation was estimated at KES 90,042.89 (US$ 841.52) and KES 48,803.48 (US$ 456.11) per household annually for the Elgeyo and the Nyambene ecosystems respectively. The study indicated that FPES contributes about 33% and 35% of the household income for the Elgeyo and Nyambene respectively. Similarly, a majority of the forest community in the two ecosystems are highly dependent on forest resources as exhibited by about 69% and 59% of households respectively. Socioeconomic traits such as household income, tropical livestock unit, the size of the household, distance from state forest, and the locality influence forest dependency. As such, communities with lower income, larger households, and HH with large livestock and those living closer to the ecosystem are highly dependent on forest resources. This, therefore, calls for a concerted effort to not only account for the FPES values, but to also propose policies, and data-based strategic ecosystem management actions directed towards diversifying livelihood, reducing pressure on the state forest thus enhancing the stock and flow of ecosystem services in the Country for humanity. Keywords - Ecosystem, Water Catchment, Forest Provisioning Ecosystem Services (FPES), Forest Adjacent Community, Livelihood, Socio-economic & Culture, Attributes, Dependency