Demographic and Socio-Economic Determinants of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Towards Forest Conservation: A Case of Wondogent, Sidama Zone,SNNPR
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Date
2007-07
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Forest coverage is the main indicator of the level of resource degradation. This is very apparent
in the highlands of Ethiopia, which are identified among the critically endangered eco-regions of
the world. As part of these highlands, Wondogent forest, which is located in Wondogent woreda,
for instance, is one of the disturbed resources we have in the country. Assessing and explaining
determinants of people's knowledge, attitude and practice towards forest conservation is the key
objective of the study. An interview was conducted to collect the data. Literatures and Internet
sources were also assessed during the study. The analysis is made at the individual level where
the household listing served as the sampling frame. Random sampling was used to identify the
415 interviewees and Bi-variate and Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine the
relationship between the set of independent variables and the dependent variable. The findings of
the study show that considerable proportions of the target population have no knowledge of the
resource. Even among those who have the knowledge of the resource, the majority do not know
the status of the forest currently. People's perception of the long term impact of the current forest
destruction is also found to be so weak. There are also much higher percentage of respondents
(across all the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics) with no knowledge of
conservation, negative attitude and poor practice of conservation. According to the result of the
model, place of residence, sex and household size are identified as significantly important factors
to affect knowledge of conservation. In terms of attitude place of residence, age and literacy
status are found to be important factors to affect attitude of the people towards conservation
measures. Based on such findings of the study, among others, provision of an extensive
environmental awareness education, development of alternative energy and income source are
forwarded as recommendations .
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Socio-Economic Determinants of Knowledge