Ecosystem-Based Forestry Land Use for Flood Risk Mitigation and Socio-Livelihood Supports in Southwest Nigeria

Despite huge government spending on concrete infrastructure, Nigeria still faces recurrent flooding issues. Therefore, the study was conducted to assess ecosystem-based forestry land use (EFLU) for flood risk mitigation and socio-livelihood supports in South West Nigeria. A multistage procedure was applied in this research. The initial two stages involved purposive sampling of Oyo, Ogun, and Lagos States, with two local government areas (LGAs) selected from each state, followed by a third stage of random selection of 22 communities in each of the LGA, based on past incidences of flood. In the fourth stage, households listing was used to systematically select 250 households. Questionnaire administration was adopted for data collection. Data analysis utilised descriptive statistics, ranking and chi-square test at α0.05. Findings showed extent of awareness on discouraging refuse and waste dump into drainages and rivers ranked 1st while other government’s intervention were ranked below 1.5 mean scores benchmark. In addition, for EFLU; tree planting and conservation of trees were ranked 1st and the latter ranked 2nd, respectively. This suggested that tree planting and conservation are well-promoted initiatives, but other EFLU may require more attention to increase their impacts. Furthermore, there was a significant relationship between extent of awareness and trees conservation in upland areas. Therefore, the study recommends consistent promotion and support tree planting and conservation initiatives, with effective engagement of local communities to promote environmental awareness, to curb climate change disaster.