Threats and Conservation Incentives for Sustainable Management of South West Mau Forest, Kenya

South West Mau Forests (SWMF) is an important resource to Kenya and beyond. Despite its importance, there is an imminent anthropogenic threat to its conservation which has altered its current importance. There is a need for urgent implementation of sound and feasible forest conservation strategies with a clear understanding of incentives for sustainable forest conservation. This study was therefore carried out to identify threats to SWMF conservation and to determine incentives for its sustainable management. Purposive and systematically sampling techniques were used to identify study sites. Three transects were laid parallel to forest edge from which nine sites were selected. Households were identified using simple random sampling and a total of 225 questionnaires administered. Kruskal Wallis Test as provided in SPSS Version 12 package was used to test significant differences among forest threats. Chi-square (X2) test was used to test for overall significant difference between incentives. Significant test levels were expressed at P < 0.05. Kruskal Wallis Test demonstrated that there was a significant difference (P < 0.001) between transects at different distances from the forest edge on threats to forest conservation. A pairwise analysis using the Man Whitney U Test further demonstrated that there were more significant (P < 0.05) threats to forests at transects 0-2 Km than at over 5 Km from the edge of the forest with respect to encroachment, logging, charcoal production, grazing, poaching, and poor agricultural practices. Encroachment (52%), logging (49%), poaching of forest products (40%), grazing (35%) and cultivation (27%) posed threats to the conservation of the forest. The main incentives from the forest were firewood (53%), rain (47%), grazing (46%), vegetables (22%), building materials (17%), honey (14%), and medicine (11%). The local community needs to be involved in sharing of benefits accruing from forest conservation so as to help in sustainable forest conservation.