CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES OF WILDLIFECONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, ETHIOPIA OROMIYA REGION ARSI ZONE DODDOTA WOREDA

ABSTRACT An investigation on the challenges and opportunities of wildlife conservation and management was carried out on , Dera Dilfaqar Block, AMNP in Doddota woreda Arsi Zone in three purposely selected kebeles bordering the park. The study objectives was to identify the major causes of wildlife disappearance in the park, examine nearby communities’ attitude and perception towards wildlife conservation, assess socio economic importance of the study area and explore the factors for land use and land cover changes in the park. Human-wildlife conflict, deforestation, livestock overgrazing, wild fire, illegal hunting and so on are the main challenges. The researcher was used mixed research approach. Purposive and simple random sampling methods were employed to select sample kebeles and sample households respectively. The data were collected from 351 respondents from three kebeles in Doddota woreda. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS, descriptive statistics analysis such as frequency, percentages, Chi-square (χ²) test and P- values were used. The result of the study indicated (80.34%) of respondents were engaged in mixed farming, while (13.67%) livestock rearing and (6.1%) in other business activities. Livestock grazing (37.32%), forest fire (29.1%), deforestation (13.1%), agricultural expansion (9.12%), settlement (1.4%) and hunting (5.1%) were identified as the major problems of the park. Among the respondents, lack of co mmunity awareness (45.%), followed by lack of law enforcement (23.9%), Lack of patrolling and monitoring (19.6%), Lack of security (4.3%), and issues of boundary (2.7%) were the main causes for improper wildlife conservation and management. In conclusion the human, livestock and wildlife interactions will continue to destroy the park unless urgent management action is taken to solve the problems through full participation from the local people. Therefore, stakeholders shall work together and reduce forest fire and overgrazing out of wildlife habitat through commitment and introduce community-based conservation approaches.