Does Land Tenure Insecurity Affect Forest Cover Change? Evidence from Gerejeda State Forest in Ethiopia

Literature shows that most evidences on the link between land tenure and land cover change come either from theoretical models or isolated tenure regimes. Specific to Ethiopia, the existing literature is limited to the investigation of these pertinent issues in isolation. This research aimed to investigate the effect of different tenure regimes on forest cover changes in Ethiopia. Three tenure regimes are experienced in Ethiopia from 1973 to 2015. Both social and spatio-temporal data analyses are carried out. The spatial results demonstrated that the forest cover has declined across time. This study reveals that tenure security is necessary to prevent mismanagement of forest cover, and its effect becomes more visible when it is integrated with measures that halt the direct and underlying drivers of forest cover change. Thus, tenure security should be considered as one important attribute in realizing sustainable forest management in particular and rural development in general.