| Sumario: | Even though many communities in Tigray have developed their own institutions and methods of environmental management that enjoy great local legitimacy, the interventions by government and numerous projects in the name of development and environmental protection have generally failed to recognize this. Hence, a study on understanding the local forest management institutions and their role in conserving biodiversity of woody plants were carried out in Alamata woreda, southern zone of Tigray Region, Northern Ethiopia. This study attempted to compare vegetation composition of three communal forests with adjacent free grazing lands. Investigation of vegetation parameters was undertaken from 84 plots with size of 20m x 20m laid systematically along transect lines. Data from group discussion and 120 household surveys was also collected in order to understand their institutional arrangements and the perception of the local community towards communal forests. A total of 30 species of woody plants of trees were recorded in the three communal forests and six in the three free grazing lands. Comparing the diversity of woody species of trees, all the 3 communal forests are significantly different (P<0.01) from the free grazing lands. The local forest management institutions in the three study sites had clear boundary of forests, defined users, use rules, monitoring procedures, sanctions and conflict-resolution mechanisms among users. Ninety five of the respondents prefer the communal forests to continue under the control of the local people. All of the informants are happy about the way local institutions manage the communal forests. In addition, all agree with the rules and penalties. The Pearson chi-square test reveals that the educational level, age, sex, wealth, oxen possession and occupation of the respondents and their attitude and perception towards the communal forests are not significant at p<0.05. However, the survey proved that there is difference among the female household heads and male household heads in their participation in the meetings of the forest management.
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