AGBAJE, TOLULOPE THERESA2022-12-232022-12-232021https://nerd.ethesis.ng/handle/123456789/706This study assessed community participation in forest conservation in Ondo State, Nigeria. The study specifically described the socio-economic characteristics of respondents in the study area; evaluated the perception of the respondents about forest conservation; determined the awareness of any forest conservation programme among the respondents; identified different forest conservation association among the respondents; examined the perceived benefits derived by the respondents from the forest reserves; assessed the level of willingness of the community to accept a premium for conservation of forest; and identified factors that influenced the respondents willingness in forest conservation in the study area. A multi-stage sampling technique was employed to select 200 respondents. Stage one involved purposive selection of two Agricultural zones out of the four zones in the State for occupying the largest sqkm2 of forest reserve. Stage two involved purposive selection of two Local Government Area (LGAs) from each of the selected Zones that are identified as having forest reserve in the State. In the third stage, five rural communities around the forest reserves were selected randomly from each LGA. The last stage involved random selection of 10 respondents from each community. Data obtained were analysed using descriptive statistics, Likert Scale, Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) and Doublebounded Logit Model. The findings of the study revealed that average age of the respondents were 41.90 years which indicate that they were in their active age and most (49.5%) of them had secondary school completed. Also, larger proportion (63.0%) of the respondents were indigene of the villages around forest reserve and some (35.0%) of them had lived in the area for more than 21 years. On the average, the distance of the respondents from their home to forest was 2.68km while their mean income earned on monthly basis was ₦27,580. All the respondents have no access to social amenities. From the respondents’ perception, it shows that they strongly agreed that forest protection programme is necessary to sustain the forest reserve with mean score of 4.7. Larger proportion (65.0%) of the respondents were aware of forest degradation while some (29.0%) of them got their information on forest degradation from community leaders. From the result, it also shows that 49.0% of the respondents were aware of forest conservation programme (FCP) and 40.5% of them identified REDD+ (Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) programme as their FCP. 44.9% of the respondents are fully involved in planning stage on how to control illegal logging in REDD+ programme. Most (85.0%) of the respondents harnessed fuel wood from the forest reserve while 81.0% of them were using the reserve for agricultural production. Furthermore, larger proportion (95.0%) of respondents were willing to accept a premium to conserve forest reserve and the exact mean of WTA monthly was ₦42,325.00. The double-bounded logit regression model showed that bid amount, age, marital status, income and forest distance were factors that significantly influenced the respondents WTA premium for forest protection. This study concluded that the respondents` were aware of forest degradation, and the importance of maintaining, conserving and sustaining forest reserve. In addition, the respondents` were willing to accept a premium for forest conservation. The study recommended that since they are willing to accept premium, Government and other Stakeholders should use the opportunity to involve the rural dwellers in conservation program so that forest management will be participatory in nature.