Public perception towards urban forest restoration: A case study of Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study assessed the perception and attitudes of the urban dwellers of Benin City, Nigeria towards forest restoration. A fifty percent  sampling intensity was used to select 16 wards out of the 32 wards in the Local Government Area of Benin City using picking without  replacement method. A total of 304 questionnaires were distributed and 287 retrieved (87 from Ikpoba-Okha, 95 Egor and 105 Oredo Local Government Areas) respectively. Results showed that the respondents were people of all age groups who are married and  educated (61.1%). Some of the respondents (Egor (46%); Ikpoba-Okha (44%); Oredo (49%) LGAs) were not aware of its purpose of forest  restoration program. The highest responses were recorded in Egor LGA, were the respondents agreed that the forest provides benefits such as sources of fish varieties, wildlife and plants (97%); timber and tourism opportunities (83.1%); soil and water health (80%); scenery,  sounds and smell in the forest (79%); platform for scientific observation and experimentation (64.2%) while 55.8% were of the  opinion that forests held ancient traditional beliefs. The study revealed constraints faced were lack of funds, lack of access to road, forest  organization staff, fragmentation and connectivity and land use change. It was evident that certain individuals (in Ikpoba-Okha and Oredo) had a limited understanding of the benefits of forest restoration, leading to resistance towards these programs. Also, there was a perception that forest restoration activities were time-consuming, costly and would not yield immediate results which discourage participation. Community-based forestry, urban forestry initiative campaigns should be included in forest restoration programs.