Published Paper Details:

A Forest resource Usage to meet the demands of human being has an impact on the forest resources. Forest resources are critically declining because of population growth, environmental hazards and poverty in developing countries. The Bale Eco Region in South-Central Ethiopia has also experienced massive degradation of natural resources due to their unwise use and population pressure and agricultural livelihood strategies strongly depend on natural resources resulting in decreasing trend of forest coverage. The purpose of the study was to investigate the forest resource utilization constraints and their temporal change in Bale Eco Region, Southeast Ethiopia. Both qualitative and quantitative cross sectional study designs were employed. Data was collected using HH survey, in depth interview, focus group discussion and field observation. Data analysis, descriptive and inferential statistics were implemented by using SPSS software version 20. Chi-Square test, frequencies and percentage were used to compare differences among variables with respect to the three agro-ecologies and statistical significance was decreased at P ? 0.05. Qualitative data was first transcribed to texts in local language then retranslated to English for writing the report. Data analysis was done after categorizing the transcripts. The information obtained from quantitative and qualitative sources were triangulated to ensure the relevance of the results of the study. Based on the finding of the study trends of Forest coverage probability (p=0.00) and Forest Species diversify = (0.00), were significantly difference. Physical, technological and extension services were among the constraints that are identified to influence forest and other natural resources utilization in the three agro-ecologies of BER. Lack of technology and lack of science based knowledge were among of the critical constraints that reported by majority of the respondents that limit them from utilizing their forest resources. Almost in all agro-ecologies, low and scarcity of rainfall, Agricultural expansion , Illegal settlement, inaccessibility, Unwise utilization lack of water sources Weak laws & regulations enforcement High demand on forest products was the common constraints of. It is recommended that concerned bodies should minimize constraints of responsible forest resource utilizations and temporal forest resources degradation in BER.