Abstract:
Indigenous Knowledge is defined as local knowledge of a community which is either generated
locally or imported and transformed to be incorporated in the way life of the community. Forest is
the major source of livelihood and a sign of the identity of the indigenous people. Indigenous
conservation practices play a critical role in forest management especially outside protected areas.
Perceptions of forest value are a valuable source of information on local perspectives, knowledge
and beliefs. The forest cover in the Guda forest has been declining in terms of coverage and quality
due to different threats.The main objective of this study is to assess and explain indigenous
knowledge of the people related to practice of forest conservation among forest dependent
community, challenges and the main threats to forest conservation in Dawuro Zone, Mari-Mansa
District. During study both primary data and secondary data was used. The data gathered was
entered into Spread Excel sheet and then results were described in tables, graphs, and chart. Most of
the respondents 95 (89%) believes by the roles and function of indigenous knowledge and the day to
day life with respect to environmental protection even though most people does not have enough
knowledge and experience in documenting indigenous knowledge while 68.9% of the respondents
are neutral in documenting indigenous knowledge. On the other hand there is more tendency to
scientific knowledge on forest conservation than indigenous knowledge on forest conservation as
82.2% and 61.64% respectively as the results of study indicates so combining scientific knowledge
with indigenous knowledge is better to forest conservation but it is needed to educate the community
about conserving the forest by indigenous knowledge since the level of indigenous knowledge in
forest conservation is not significant when we compare to the level of scientific knowledge. Finally;
since the life style of the community 100% depends on forest while they use the forest they have to
plant the tree or reforest.
