Benefit Sharing Schemes' As A Means to Enforce Forest Legislation: With Particular Focus on Sheka Forest, South West Ethiopia

Abstract

Forest is among the precious resources which is vital for human beings and other living creatures. As forest degradation has a global effect, every nation’s forest law implementation has also a global importance. Most countries’ constitutions, including the FDRE Constitution recognize the right of every citizen to live in a `clean and healthy` environment. But, its implementation is encircled with various challenges. Sheka Zone is among the high potential corridors for forest development, conservation and utilization. But, nowa days, the Sheka forest is dwindling with alarming rate mostly because of man-made factors. Thus, the focus of this article is on one means of enforcement of forest legislation: the need for developing `benefit sharing` schemes to conserve Sheka Forest which is registered as biosphere reserve by UNESCO. The findings of the article vividly show that benefit sharing scheme, a vital tool of forest law enforcement mechanism, is totally ignored in the research area. Thus, the article argues that devising effective benefit sharing schemes for the local community and its effective implementation is one of the means of enforcing forest legislation. Endeavoring to enforce the law with positive participation and thereby visible benefits for the stakeholders has a tremendous value. In order to write this article, the authors employed literature reviews, legal analysis, observations, focus group discussions and intensive interviews.