The Forest Resources Use and its Determinants among the Pastoralists in Itang Special District, Gambella, Ethiopia

Background: The forests products play a significant role in the rural livelihood of pastoralists. The extractions of subsistence-based forest products were used as coping strategies and activities. Objectives: The main aim of this study was to assess the forests resources use and it is determinants among the pastoralists in the study area. Methods: The purposive and simple random samplings techniques were used to select the study respondents and locations. Similarly, the quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 156 respondents through Focus group discussion, observation, and interview schedule. In the meantime, the mean, standard deviation, percentage, frequency, chi-square, t-test, and binary logit model were used to analyze the data. Results: The result showed that about 64.7%, 49.4%, 66%, 67.9%, and 57.7% of pastoralists were used forests for fuel woods, construction materials, food items, livestock fodders, and medicines respectively in the study area.  The result also showed that the market access, forests access, employment status, education status, income, and livestock size contribute to forests resources use in the study area. Conclusions: The various forests resources were used by the pastoralists in the study area. And then, several factors determine the forests resources use among the pastoralists in the study area. The pastoralists, civil society organizations, governmental organizations, and NGOs should create job opportunities through the development of various livelihood activities, strengthen the capacity-building strategies, increase the infrastructure services, provide improved forage and livestock and conduct the longitudinal regional study