Stakeholders' Perception of an Incentive-Based Approach to Forest Management: The Case of North Swaka Trust Limited in Mkushi District, Zambia

The country's total land area is 75.3 million hectares (ha), of which 39 to 50 million ha are forested areas (GRZ, 2016).Zambia faces entrenched and chronic natural resource management challenges, which continue to erode its natural wealth and economic potential.Its extensive Miombo woodlands and forests are being lost at roughly 250,000 hectares annually, representing one of Africa's highest rates of annual deforestation (Davis, et al., 2020).Forests are an important constituent of nature and provide benefits critical for rural communities, urban setups, the national economy, and the global community.The key drivers of deforestation include agricultural expansion, mining and infrastructure development, wood fuel extraction (firewood and charcoal), and widespread forest fires (Vinya et al, 2012).Deforestation contributes to disruption in rainfall activities thereby reducing water availability for both domestic and industrial (Aainaa, et al., 2019).There are socio and economic reason for this dependence on the forest resources.Some of factors are age, household size, education level, marital status, length of stay in the communities and wealth one has (Birben, 2022).The management of the forests remain a big challenge in many areas of the country.The Government of the Republic of Zambia has put in place a legal framework to help foster initiatives to manage the Abstract: The study investigated stakeholder's perceptions of an incentive-based approach to forest management administered by North Swaka Trust in Mkushi district.The purpose of the study was to obtain lessons on such similar initiatives that can be designed towards improved forest management.A mixed approach involving both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection was used.The study sample comprised 427 respondents along the forest buffer zone while purposive sampling was used to select five ( 5) key informants.Semi-structured interviews, interview guides, and field observations were used to collect primary data.Qualitative data was analysed using thematic analysis, whilst quantitative data was analyzed using Binary logistic regression, and descriptive statistics.The findings reveal that the incentives provided by North Swaka Trust, such as practical lessons on agricultural activities and input provisions, contribute to livelihood options for communities along the forest buffer zone.Key benefits perceived by stakeholders include conservation agriculture, beekeeping, input provision, growing of cover crops and market provision.The study's analysis of community responses on a Likert scale shows a mean score of 4.25 out of 5, indicating a positive perception (67.5%) of the effectiveness of the incentives towards sustainable forest management.Socio-economic factors like age, household size, and land ownership were found to influence community participation in conservation activities.However, there was scepticism from traditional leaders and some community members on the ability of the community to continue conservation efforts in the event that the trust was to discontinue their operations.The study concludes that North Swaka Trust's incentive-based approach has improved livelihoods, promoted sustainable practices, and mitigated deforestation on one hand, but could lead to dependency syndrome on the other hand.A more balanced approach that considers the socioeconomic context and empowers communities for resilience and self-sufficiency is thus recommended.Other aspects such as the impact of the NST incentive based at household, on forest cover and hydrology can be investigated.