Exploring the Impacts of Protected Areas on Local Community: the Case of Subba Sabbata Forest Park
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2013-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This study entitled „Protected Areas and Local Community‟ has the main objective of examining the impacts of protected areas on local community with particular reference to Subba Sabbata Forest Park. The study community is referred to as Subba Lammaffa Community and is found in the territory under the jurisdiction of Subba Sabbata Forest Park around its administration office. The specific objectives of the study are: discussing benefits that the local people obtain from forest park, exploring costs that the community incurs, to uncover how the staff and the local community conceptualize these benefits and costs and identifying some of the people‟s coping strategies to overcome the costs they incur due to the park‟s presence.
The study employed qualitative case study design in which key informant interview, focus group discussion, observation and review of different documents were used as techniques of data collection. The research participants were members of the local community and staffs of Subba Sabbata Forest Park purposively selected based on the researcher‟s judgment. Ten key informants (seven community members and three staff members) were interviewed. This size was determined based on the principle of data saturation. Besides, two FGDs consisting of six and seven discussants were conducted. The findings were organized into different sub-themes and themes and later discussed in relation to findings of other researchers.
The findings indicated that Subba Sabbata Forest Park has both benefits and costs on local community. The benefits include: source of employment, alternative income generation, permitted use of the forest and its resources, source of community identity, recreational benefits and medical purpose. On the other hand, the costs are dislocation, denied land use rights, poor infrastructure, restriction on the use of forest resources, declining population size and care for elderly and challenges encountered from wild animals. It was found that participants from local community and the park administration differ even sharply contrast in their perceptions regarding the costs and benefits of the forest park. In some cases, what the staff raised as benefits were found to be costs from the community‟s perspective while others were hardly acknowledged. There are also common understandings between the two on some other issues regarding costs and benefits of the forest park on local community
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Social Work