Gender Participation In Community Forest Management, Cross River State, Nigeria

The study investigated gender participation in sustainable forest management in Cross River State, Nigeria. Multistage sampling procedure was used to select 135 respondents. Data was collected with the aid of structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics and t-test at 5% level of significance. Socio-economic characteristics showed that 59.3% of forest users were males and 64.5% had primary education and below. Users were aware of sustainable forest management practices like: participation in forest management committee meetings (100%), prohibition of deforestation (98.5%), and membership into forest management committees (95.6%). Concerning participation in community forest management activities, 3.6% women participated in forest patrol activities against 27.5% men, 14.6% women belonged to community forest management groups compared to 40% men. Major factors that constrained women’s participation were: traditional gender roles/responsibilities (MS= 4.37) and high level of poverty (MS=4.32). For men they were: stringent laws on accessing/harvesting forest resources (MS= 4.25) and age of forest user (MS= 4.17). The t-test results showed that when equal variances were assumed, there was no significant difference in the level of participation in community forest management activities between the males and females [t (133) = -.723, p=.472, 95% CI (-.140, .065)]. The study recommended that technical support to community members should focus on strategies that motivate them to get actively involved in sustainable management of their forest.