Land Use Activities Among Forest Environments’ Dwellers In Edo State, Nigeria: Implications For Livelihood And Sustainable Forest Management

Abstract

Although urbanization may be increasing globally, over 75.0% of Nigerian

populations are still living in rural areas. Extensive rainfed farming used to sustain

this population is limited by loss of forest biodiversity, climate change and exposure of

fragile soil. This study reports the socio-economic background of Edo State forests

environments dwellers in relation to their land use activities with a view to positively

harnessing the synergy of the two variables for improving human livelihood and by

extension sustainable forest management. Stratified random sampling technique was

used to select 296 rural dwellers in settlements within and around three forest

reserves: Ehor, Okomu, and Sakpoba. Information obtained was subjected to

descriptive and chi-square test statistics at p = 0.05. Results revealed that the most

popular land use activity within the forest reserves is farming (94.9%). A majority of

the respondents practice mixed cropping with multiple choices of major crops through

the taungya5 system. Socio economic status of rural dwellers affect their awareness of

forest reserves, consent to use of forest reserves, willingness to plant trees on farm

land and exploitation of forest resources. While participatory management of the

reserves is expected to impact the economy of the study area, awareness of and

exploitation of forest reserves as well as willingness to plant trees will on the whole

influence the participation of rural dwellers in the management of the reserves