Multi-layered influence of social-ecological contexts, forest governance types, and sociodemographic factors on perceptions of forest ecosystem services across Western Africa

Understanding how local stakeholders perceive forest ecosystem services (FES), particularly when considering sociodemographic factors and forest governance types, can inform sustainable forest use and management. However, such evidence on the ecosystem services provided by forest patches in Western Africa is limited. We conducted 2,621 household surveys across nine forest patches in four Western African countries: Togo, Benin, Nigeria, and Cameroon. Provisioning services were the most perceived forest benefit (83.5%), followed by regulating (12%), cultural services (1.6%), and 2.9% of no benefits. A logistic regression model showed that age group, education level, residency, main occupation, and marital status explain the variation in FES perceptions. However, main occupation and marital status exert a weaker influence on the probability of change in perceptions. The Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric H test revealed significant differences in FES perceptions across sociodemographic factors. While FES were generally considered important, perceptions of their changes over time vary across forests. Moreover, the forest governance type plays a significant role in these perceptions, especially among residents living near community-based forests and family-owned forests. The identified perception gaps between provisioning, regulating, and cultural ecosystem services constitute a governance and policy risk. The findings show that integrating social-ecological contexts, sociodemographic factors and forest governance status together and individually in examining FES perceptions reveals the extent to which the multi-layered mechanisms shape decision-making on sustainable forest management. Ignoring them can hinder the legitimacy and effectiveness of policies aimed at sustainable forest management.