TITLE:
Applying Sustainability and Ethics in Forest Management and Community Livelihoods: A Case Study from Arabuko Sokoke Forest, Kenya
AUTHORS:
Musingo T. E. Mbuvi, Leila Ndalilo, Aden Hussein
KEYWORDS:
Forest, Equitable, Livelihoods, Sustainability and Ethics
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Forestry,
Vol.8 No.4,
October
23,
2018
ABSTRACT: Efforts to manage forests continue to be enhanced equally as emergence of investments in community livelihoods whose benefits are inequitable. Lit-erature review, focus group discussion and key informant interviews showed that Arabuko Sokoke Forest has been managed under different management regimes; stakeholders have increased from singular to multiple with each stakeholder’s interests hinged on different conservation theories and ethical principles, despite that well-meaning facilitation, laws and policies, unsustainable and un-ethical scenarios abound. Extreme scenarios of a poor mother being denied firewood for lighting, warming and cooking food in order to conserve biodiversity. These are both right and wrong, a fluidity requiring situation specific sustainability and ethical justification. A discourse guided by the sustainable development goals provides a mechanism for moderating the diverse interests and helps bring harmony and synergies among all stakeholders for the common good without compromising the ecological functions of the forests thus ensuring sustainability.