Contribution of the Guassa Community Eco-Lodge to the Conservation of Wild Mammals, Birds and Woody Plants in Menz-Gera Midir District, North Shewa Administrative Zone, Ethiopia

Abstract

Despite the tremendous contribution of eco–lodges to socioeconomic development and biodiversity conservation, there is a lack of scientific information on the issue in Ethiopia. The objective of this study was, therefore, to examine how socioeconomic and cognitive variables affect and predict the attitudes of local people towards ‘eco–lodge and its conservation’ and ‘an increase in number of eco–lodges’. We hypothesized that: (i) socioeconomic variables, such as sex, age, occupation type, income, level of education, livestock and land ownership help to predict the attitudes of local people towards the ‘eco–lodge and its conservation’ and ‘an increase in number of eco–lodges’ and (ii) cognitive variables, such as knowledge and beliefs affect the attitudes of local people towards ‘eco–lodge and its conservation’ and ‘an increase in number of eco–lodges’. A structured questionnaire comprised of closed– and open–ended questions was developed and administered to examine the attitudes of the respondents. The questionnaire survey was administered to a total of 165 households. Households for the questionnaire survey were randomly selected through a lottery system based on house identification numbers. Descriptive statistics and multiple linear regressions were used to analyze the data. Generally, the results revealed that local people had positive attitudes towards ‘eco–lodge and its conservation’ and ‘an increase in number of eco–lodges’, which is consistent with our predictions. For example, a greater percentage of the respondents had positive (68%) rather than negative (32%) attitudes towards ‘eco–lodge and its conservation’. Moreover, the larger proportion of the respondents had positive (67%) rather than negative (33%) attitudes towards ‘an increase in number of eco–lodges’. Overall, the multiple linear regression model revealed that several socioeconomic and cognitive variables significantly affected the two groups of the dependent variables, i.e. attitudes towards ‘eco–lodge and its conservation’ (27% variance explained), and attitudes towards ‘an increase in number of eco–lodges’ (31% variance explained). Promoting the direct participation of the local people in decision–making and implementation of eco–lodge management can mitigate potential conflicts and assure long–term public support. By comparing attitudes quantified in the baseline study presented here and results from future replication of such kind of studies, researchers may provide relevant information for eco–lodge managers to deal with potential conflict of interests between eco–lodges and the needs of the local people.