Application of Tea Buffer Zones for Prevention of Forest Encroachment and Livelihood Improvement in Forest Reserves: Case Study of Kakamega Forest

Forest encroachment in indigenous natural forests in Kenya has been one of the major contributors to forest deforestation. Kenya lost about 50% of its forest covering about 300,000 hectares between 1980 and 2000 due to extensive logging, charcoal burning, and extensive clearing of forested regions for food crops plantations. Various strategies have been employed to stop and reverse this negative trend, Forest buffer zones using tea crop has been one of the approaches implemented over the years through the Nyayo Tea Zones Development Corporation. This study investigated the effectiveness of the 100-meter tea buffer zones as a management strategy for the prevention of forest encroachment and livelihood improvement in Kakamega forest reserve Kenya. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) was used to map the extent of protection attributed to the tea buffer zones for the period 1985-2022. The household survey and Focus Group Discussions were conducted among 108 forest-adjacent communities to obtain their views on the importance of the tea buffer zones and their perception of forest conservation. The results from GIS indicate that with the introduction of the tea buffer zones, a 0.7% of forest ecosystem recovery was realized between 2005 and 2015 before a decline of 4.9% between 2015 and 2022 mainly due settlement. Socioeconomic results indicate that 30% of the forest adjacent communities were employed on the buffers tea farms, additionally, the communities rated the forest as a very important natural resource (69.7%) as it provided them with key benefits including the source of food and medicine (31.2%), provision of firewood (24.8%), environment conservation (14.7%) and preservation of cultural sites (7.3%). Based on their opinions the communities rated the forest buffer contribution to forest conservation moderately at 43.1%. These outcomes show a perfect association between forest conservation strategies and livelihood improvement. The decision to place tea buffers along the forest reserves proved to be an effective tool in preventing forest encroachment and improving the livelihoods of the forest-adjacent communities through the provision of alternative income.