54 Degree and Determinants of Host Communities’ Socio-Economic Dependence on Forest Products of Pendjari National Park, Benin Republic: Automatic Linear Modelling Technique O.E. Olaniyi1,4*, B.G. Ogunjemite1, O.S. Akindele2, E.A. Sogbohossou3, M.H. Zakaria4 1Department of Ecotourism and Wildlife Management, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria 2Department of Forestry and Wood Technology, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria 3Laboratory of Applied Ecology, University of Abomey-Calavi, Abomey-Calavi, Benin 4Department of Forest Management, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia Date Received: 17-03-2018 Date Accepted: 01-11-2018 Abstract The study aimed at determining the degree and determinants of host communities’ socio-economic dependence on forest products of Pendjari National Park, Benin. Four hundred households in fourteen host communities of the Park were subjected to direct household survey through multistage sampling technique. Forest Dependency Indices were computed to determine the households’ dependence on forest products. An automatic linear modelling algorithm through forward stepwise model selection method was employed to model the main determinants to host communities' socio-economic dependence on forest products. Household age category (5-14 and above 60 years), total monthly income, education level of the household members (junior/senior high school, bachelor’s degree), place of birth, and religion were the main determinants. Most host communities were observed to be dependent on the park in varied forms and degrees, while Tanguieta and Sangou had the least and highest degree of dependence, respectively. Thus, the findings had provided a template for relevant authorities to rightly allocate resources for alternative livelihood means to the ranked host communities. However, a monitoring indicator had been developed to quantify and safeguard the harms of indigenous people to the biodiversity base. This is believed to create a synergy between sustainable development and indigenous peoples. Keywords: livelihood, automatic linear modelling, forest products, sustainable development, Benin Republic 1. Introduction Socio-economic characteristics of host communities to protected areas are usually believed to have a significant influence on determining the types of activities and interactions toward their natural resources (Mehta and Heinen, 2001; Shibia, 2010; Al-Subaiee, 2015). They are directly or indirectly related to rural livelihood, and highly determine their forest consumption and degree of forest dependence. Over the past years, the recognition of the prevalent dependence of host communities on forest products and the poverty-forest use relationships have generated an increasing scientific concern in demonstrating their socio-economic dependence on forest products and understanding its drivers (Mamo et al., 2007; Thondhlana et al., 2012; DOF et al., 2014; Lawry et al., 2015). The dependence of rural households on biodiversity base and their diverse use pattern have become an important topical issue in developing economies (Sapkota and Oden, 2008) such as Benin Republic. This interest was due to the need to resolve the devastating trend of forest depletion and poverty amidst inhabitants of host communities to protected areas. *Correspondence: oeolaniyi@futa.edu.ng Tel: +234 8038555487 ISSN 2235-9370 Print/ISSN 2235-9362 Online ©2017 University of Sri Jayewardenepura mailto:oeolaniyi@futa.edu.ng Olaniyi et al. /Journal of Tropical Forestry and Environment Vol. 8, No. 02 (2018) 54-68 55 According to Meijaard et al. (2013), knowing more about local people usage of forests (such as fuel, medicine, food and food additives, building construction, etc) is an extremely important factor that could enhance planning of land use and minimise the conflict with them. However, the planning and management framework of Pendjari National Park, Benin Republic had evolved over the years. Specifically, the park was governed by the 1987 law 87-014 and coercion approach was employed until 1993 (CENAGREF, 1997; Tiomoko, 2007). Conservation strategies and management of the park resources did not include host communities in coercion approach, which resulted in situations of conflict between communities’ inhabitants and park authority (Tiomoko, 2007; Belem et al., 2007). Currently, the planning and management framework is governed by the law no. 93-009 of 2 July 1993, park zoning (core area, controlled access, habitation and hunting zones) according to UNESCO (2013) and community conservation approach adapted to accommodating local peoples' needs, empowering their aspirations, promoting their active participation in local resource management, and improving their economic welfare (Songorwa, 1999; Mehta and Heinen, 2001; CENAGREF, 2005). Despite the community conservation approach, the socio-economic characteristics of host communities usually have a significant influence on determining the types of activities and interactions toward their natural resources (Mamo et al., 2007; Vedeld et al., 2007; Babulo et al., 2008; Koenig et al., 2011; Al-Subaiee, 2016). Improper knowledge of the interrelationship between the households’ socio- economic characteristics and their dependence on forest products could hinder the management effectiveness of the park authority in rightly allocating resources for alternative means of livelihood to most dependent communities. This had hindered the rational use of these protected areas’ resources due to the host communities’ over-dependence (Igu, 2017; Ofoegbu et al., 2017; Shrestha et al., 2017; Suleiman et al., 2017) and poor protected area planning (FAO, 2016). Forest dependency indices can be computed to determine the households’ dependence on forest products and it is referred to the average index value of food and food additives, fuel, housing, medicinal and income dependencies (Anitha and Muraleedharan, 2006). Moreover, several methods could be employed to determine the socio-economic determinants of forest dependence. Amidst these methods, several studies had recognised the significance of a logistic model over an Ordinary Least Square (OLS) linear regression model to deal with socio-economic determinants of forest dependence (Lepetu et al., 2009; Tieguhong and Nkamgnia, 2012). Ratner (2012) opined that the challenge of making a decision on which subset(s) of the large pool of potential predictors to include in a linear regression model is very common and arguably the hardest part of regression modelling (Miller, 2002; Kutner et al., 2004; Weisberg, 2005; Yan and Su, 2009). Therefore, the automatic linear modelling algorithm through forward stepwise model selection method (Yang, 2013) was employed in this study. In contrast to previous studies, the novelty of the modelling technique is the potential to rank the host communities according to their degree of dependence. This will provide a template for relevant authorities to rightly allocate resources for alternative livelihood means to the ranked host communities. However, it will develop a monitoring indicator to quantify and safeguard the harms of indigenous people to the biodiversity base. Thus, the research aimed to rank the host communities based on their dependence on forest products, and determine the determinants of host communities’ socio-economic dependence on forest products of Pendjari National Park, Benin Republic. 56 2. Methodology 2.1 The study area Pendjari National Park is located between latitude 10°30’N and 11°31’ N, and longitude 00°50’E and 2°00’ E (Figure 1) and covers a land mass of 2,755 km². It is situated in the north-west of Benin Republic and declared a Game Reserve in 1954, then upgraded to a National Park in 1961. It is bordered to the North by Burkina Faso (Cheke, 2001; Nago et al., 2006; Assédé et al., 2012). The mean temperature of Pendjari National Park ranges from 18.6oC to 36.8oC and is characterised by rainfall which varies from 800 mm in the North to 1,000 mm in the South. The park's dry season occurs from November to April and the wet season lasts from May to October (Sogbohossou et al., 2014). Figure 1: Location of Pendjari National Park in Benin Republic. 2.1 Data collection Preliminary surveys were conducted at the study area to ascertain the type of sampling techniques to be used and host communities/households to be sampled according to Anitha and Muraleedharan (2006). The sampling populations were households’ heads from the host communities of Park. A purposive sampling technique based on the host communities’ proximity to the park’s boundary and direct influence on the park was used to select 14 communities from 28 communities that were close to the park. Sample size for the study was 400 households Daga (40), Porga (40), Dassari (40), Tounsega (32), Pouri (32), Tiele (16), Wantehoun (16), Kani (16), Nagassega (24), Tanguieta (40), Tanougou (40), Sangou (32), Kolegou (16), and Batia (16). The computation was based on the population size of 38,250 households and average household size of 7.4 in the host communities of the study area (INSAE, 2002; INSAE, 2013; Kassa, 2008; CENAGREF, 2016). The method employed by Yamane (1967) was adopted to determine the sample size of the sampled households in each study sites at 95% confidence limit i.e. (1) Where; Olaniyi et al. /Journal of Tropical Forestry and Environment Vol. 8, No. 02 (2018) 54-68 57 n = Sample size N = Population size (Number of households) E = Error estimate (0.05) A semi-structured questionnaire was designed to retrieve information from the target population. The instrument consisted of two sections (Section A–Socio-economic characteristics of household; Section B–Dependency of host communities on the park) with a total of thirty-four items. Prior to the study, the questionnaires were validated and Cronbach Alpha was used to determine the reliability coefficient of the instrument, which was found to be 0.87. 2.3 Data analysis For analysis of the questionnaires, descriptive statistics were used and responses of the respondents were converted using Likert’s scale. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS Version 21) software and Microsoft Excel 2010 spreadsheet were employed to compute the following indices and socio-economic determinants: Forest Dependency Index (FDI) This index was adopted to determine the socio-economic dependence of host communities on the study area. The following Forest dependency indices as compounded by Anitha and Muraleedharan (2006) were computed namely; (1) Where; X = 1, If the park is a food and food additives source X = 0, If park is not a food and food additives source Xi = Number of other food and food additives sources apart from the park (2) Where; F = 1, If park is a fuel source F = 0, If park is not a fuel source Fj = Number of other fuel sources except for fuel from the park (3) Where; hi = number of parts of the ith house constructed by using the park’s products H = Total number of parts that can be constructed by using park’s products (4) Where; M = 1, If the household is using medicine from the park, M = 0 otherwise Mi = Number of other alternative medicinal options used by the household (5) 58 Where; yi = income from the park acquired by the ith family Yi = Total income of ith family Thus, the Forest Dependence Index (FDI) of individual household (6) Determinants of host communities’ socio-economic dependence on forest products The automatic linear modelling algorithm (Equation 7) through forward stepwise model selection method (Yang, 2013) was employed to know the households’ socio-economic characteristics that determine host communities dependence on forest products. Thus, the statistically irrelevant households’ socio-economic characteristics to the model were determined and removed using the automatic linear modelling algorithm. Also, if all the categories of a variable significantly influenced the host communities’ dependence on forest products, the algorithm generated a single significant value for the associated variable. Thereafter, the statistically relevant households’ socio-economic characteristics were ranked using the computed importance ratio to determine the degree of host communities’ socio- economic dependence on forest products. The description of the explanatory variables as used in the modelling are stated as follows: Age in years (0–4=1, 5–14=2, 15–60=3, Above 60=4), sex (Male=1, Female=2), place of birth (Yes=1, No=0), ancestral home (Yes=1, No=0), education level (Non-formal=1, Primary=2, Secondary=3, OND/NCE=4, HND/BSc=5, MSc/PhD=6, Others=7), religion (Islam=1, Christianity=2, Traditional worshipping=3, Others=4), total monthly income (Less than N7, 500=1, N7, 500-N24, 000=2, N24, 000 and above=3) (7) Where; yi = Forest Dependency Index βo = Constant term β1 to β16 = Coefficients relating to the households’ socio-demographic characteristics ei = Error term with mean value of 0 x1 = Age0 – 4 x2 = Age5 – 14 x3 = Age15 – 60 x4 = AgeAbove 60 x5 = House composition of male x6 = Household composition of female, x7 = Place of birth, x8 = Ancestral home, x9 = Education level of Non- formal, x10 = Education level of Primary school, x11 = Education level of Junior/Senior high school x12 = Education level of Bachelor, x13 = Education level of Masters, x14 = Education level of Others, x15 = Religion, x16 = Total monthly income Olaniyi et al. /Journal of Tropical Forestry and Environment Vol. 8, No. 02 (2018) 54-68 59 3. Results Demographic characteristics of sampled households in the host communities of Pendjari National Park, Benin Republic are presented in Table 1. Table 1: Demographic characteristics of sampled households in the host communities of Pendjari National Park, Benin Republic. $1 per cfca 603 as at November 2016 Characteristics Frequency Percentage Sex Male 2,101 49.11 Female 2,177 50.89 Average household size - 11 ± 5 - Age 0 - 4 833 19.47 5 - 14 1,312 30.67 15 - 60 2,032 47.50 > 60 101 2.36 Place of Birth Inside the village 316 79.00 Outside the village 84 21.00 Ancestral home Current village 350 87.50 Not current village 50 12.50 Level of education Non- formal 2,017 47.15 Primary school 1,397 32.66 Junior/Senior High School 846 19.78 Tertiary 18 0.42 Religion Islam 69 17.25 Christianity 226 56.50 Traditional worshipping 101 25.25 Others 4 1.00 Total monthly income Less than 22, 615 cfca 68 22.67 22, 615 cfca – 72, 360 cfca 124 41.33 72, 360 cfca and above 108 36.00 Occupation Farming 310 77.50 Tour guiding 6 1.50 Teaching 17 4.25 Civil service 6 1.50 Trading 52 13.00 Fishing 8 2.00 Herding 1 0.25 60 It was noticed that 2,101 (49.11%) of the sampled household composition were males, while females were 2,177 (50.89%). However, the mean household size was 11±5. Household age category (above 60 years) had the least occurrence of 101 (2.36%), while household age category (15–60 years) had the highest occurrence of 2,032 (47.50%). Furthermore, it was noticed that 316 (79.00%) of the household heads were born inside the sampled community, while 84 (21.00%) of the household heads were born outside the sampled community. Although, 350 (87.50%) of the household heads had their ancestral home situated in the current community, while 50 (12.50%) of the household heads had their ancestral home situated outside the current community. Also, 2,017 (47.15%) of the household members had non-formal level of education, 18 (0.42%) of the household members had tertiary education, while none had University postgraduate education. Thus, 308 (77.00%) of the households were predominantly involved in the farming occupation. Households that are involved in Christianity had the highest frequency of 226 (56.50%), followed by Traditional worshipping [101 (25.25%)], then Islam [69 (17.25%)], while households that are involved in no religion had the least frequency of 4 (1.00%). Most of the households had total monthly income of less than 22, 615 cfca [295 (73.75%)], 102 (25.50%) had total monthly income between 22, 615 cfca and 72, 360 cfca while 3 (0.75%) had total monthly income of above 72, 360 cfca. Forest dependency indices of host communities to Pendjari National Park, Benin Republic are presented in Table 2. The data revealed that Porga and Kolegou communities were the most dependent on food and food additives with dependency index of 100±0.0 each, while Tanguieta community was the least dependent on food and food additives with dependency index of 36±45.3. Also, it was observed that Kani and Kolegou communities were the most dependent on fuel with dependency index of 100±0.0 each, while Tanguieta community was the least dependent on fuel with dependency index of 60±44.1. Moreso, it was observed that Kani community was the most dependent on housing with dependency index of 86±5.2, while Tanguieta community was the least dependent on housing with dependency index of 22±32.4. The data revealed that Porga, Tanougou and Kolegou communities were the most dependent on trado-medicinal with dependency index of 100±0.0 each, while Tounsega community was the least dependent on trado-medicinal with dependency index of 43±24.6. It was observed that Sangou community was the most dependent on income with dependency index of 73±42.5, while Tanguieta community was the least dependent on income with dependency index of 5±22.1. The data revealed that Sangou community were the most dependent on the forest products of Pendjari National Park with dependency index of 84±9.6, while Tanguieta community was the least dependent on the forest products of Pendjari National Park with dependency index of 39±26.8. Determinants of the host communities' socio-economic dependence on forest products of Pendjari National Park are presented in Table 3. The result indicated that the automatic linear modelling method presented five predictors to be determinants to host communities’ socio-economic dependence on forest products. Age classes of 0–4years (p=0.05), 5–14years (p=0.00), above 60years (p=0.00), religion (p=0.00), total monthly income (p=0.00), education level of junior/senior high school (p=0.00), bachelor’s degree (p=0.00), place of birth (p=0.00) had significant influence on the forest dependency index of the Park. Moreover, household members with age group of 5–14years had the highest degree of importance (0.288) to determining host communities’ socio-economic dependence on forest products followed by place of birth (0.174), while household members with non-formal education had the least degree of importance (0.024). Olaniyi et al. /Journal of Tropical Forestry and Environment Vol. 8, No. 02 (2018) 54-68 61 Table 2: Fores t depen dency indice s of host com munit ies to Pendj ari Natio nal Park, Benin Repu blic. Table 3: Determinants of host communities’ socio-economic dependence on forest resources of Pendjari National Park, Benin Republic. Host communities Food and food additives Fuel Housing Medicinal Income Forest Dependency Index Rankin g Daga 55±27.3 65±26.6 84±1.8 61±21.2 24±40.81 58±21.8 10 th Porga 100±0.0 89±21.2 81±19.3 100±0.0 46±47.21 83±22.2 2 nd Dassari 45±43.6 61±44.6 65±35.7 65±41.1 36±45.27 54±13.2 12 th Tounsega 38±25.4 61±33.0 68±24.3 43±24.6 8±18.45 43±23.5 13 th Pouri 58±31.4 67±27.3 70±24.8 68±30.5 11±20.49 55±24.6 11 th Tiele 81±25.0 78±25.6 81±4.8 97±12.5 11±27.70 70±33.4 8 th Wantehoun 56±17.1 63±22.4 85±3.7 72±25.6 63±50.00 68±11.4 9 th Kani 84±35.2 100±0.0 86±5.2 76±28.5 22±36.37 74±30.2 6 th Nagassega 90±25.5 92±19.0 82±15.3 89±22.3 27±41.65 76±27.5 5 th Tanguieta 36±45.3 60±44.1 22±32.4 70±39.1 5±22.07 39±26.8 14 th Tanougou 88±33.5 78±33.9 70±28.7 100±0.0 34±51.13 74±25.0 7 th Sangou 88±33.6 91±23.6 74±25.8 94±16.8 73±42.47 84±9.6 1 st Kolegou 100±0.0 100±0.0 83±0.0 100±0.0 19±40.30 80±35.2 3 rd Batia 75±40.8 91±20.2 83±0.0 88±34.2 56±72.70 79±13.8 4 th Socio-economic characteristics Automatic Linear Modeling Degree of Importance Coefficients Significance Importance ratio Age (years) 0-4 1.89 0.05* 0.031 8 th 5-14 3.20 0.00* 0.288 1 st 62 Above 60 7.55 0.00* 0.077 5 th Religion -7.92 0.00* 0.119 4 th Total Monthly Income 7.15 0.00* 0.073 6 th Education Non–formal 0.73 0.09 ns 0.024 9 th Junior/Senior High School 1.31 0.01* 0.067 7 th Bachelor 22.51 0.00* 0.147 3 rd Place of Birth 11.13 0.00* 0.174 2 nd Constant 10.32 0.10 ns - - Olaniyi et al. /Journal of Tropical Forestry and Environment Vol. 8, No. 02 (2018) 54-68 63 4. Discussion The study revealed that the host communities depended on the forest products at varying degree and different forms. It supported the view of Babulo et al. (2008), Bwalya (2013) who stated that the importance of forests as a source of livelihood varies geographically, over time and across households. The composition of the sampled host communities’ households in Pendjari National Park were mostly females. The finding was in consonance with the report of INSAE (2015) that the proportion of women within the Beninese population and Atacora department remained practically 51.2% and 50.7% respectively in 2013. But the insignificance of gender in the host communities’ socio-economic dependence on the Park negated the assertion of Mehta and Heinen (2001), that gender remained one of the factors that influenced the perception of host communities on their immediate protected areas. However, the vast majority of the household composition was observed to fall within the age bracket between 15 years and 60 years. It is believed that the host communities of Pendjari National Park were most active and productive with greater tendency to exert their energy into natural resources exploitation or conservation in the protected area. Contrary, the result revealed that the age class had no statistical significance on the host communities’ socio-economic dependence on forest product despite its dominance. The exerted pressure on natural resources of the park emanated from the age classes 5-14 years and above 60 years. This can be attributed to the rural-urban migration-drift by the age category of 15–60 years for education and business purposes, which reflected the inadequacy of basic educational and social amenities towards improving the social and economic well-being of the communities. Although, the drift is usually temporary and short-stay in nature because most age group members unite with their households daily or weekend. The International Organisation for Migration (2011) and Blum (2014) corroborated the existence of the rural-urban migration attitude in Benin Republic among the age group of 15–60 years from rural areas in order to meet their daily needs. Their reports revealed an increased number of Beninese nationals migrating to other West African countries due to demographic growth, poverty, unemployment, increased living costs, difficult climatic conditions and dwindling natural resources though, no mention of age class of Beninese nationals involved. Hence, the result was in consonance to the findings of Ofoegbu et al. (2017) and Igu (2017) who believed that youths depended more on the forests of South Africa and Niger Delta region of Nigeria. It implied that the involvement of the older population in the forest products utilisation ensures the park’s sustainability due to the linkage between their adequate knowledge in the forest resources management/utilization and optimal usage of forest products (Mamo et al., 2007). Household heads’ place of birth played a significant role that determined the socio-economic dependence of host communities on the forest products of the park. Most household heads were born inside the host communities, which implied that the provided information could be reliable due to their adequate knowledge and experience of the happenings in their respective communities. Much more, the study revealed that majority of the households were illiterate with little or no formal education which fell in line with IUCN (2002) report that the literacy rate in Pendjari National Park is very low. Although, no formal education level had no statistically significant influence on host communities’ socio-economic dependence on forest products of the Park. Despite this, higher education levels such as junior/senior and bachelor’s degree education had a significant influence on the host communities’ forest dependency indices. It supported the assertions of Malleson et al. (2014), Widianingsih et al. (2016) and Fikir et al. (2016) that higher education level of household members played a significant influence on their forest resources dependence in Cameroun, Ghana, Nigeria, Indonesia, Hammer District of Southeastern Ethiopia. This implied a higher understanding and alignment to re-orientation of value system through 64 conservation awareness programs as substantiated by McClanahan et al. (2005) and Satyanarayana et al. (2012). This finding contradicted the views of previous authors on the positive link between awareness on the availability of forest products and education (McClanahan et al., 2005; Anthony, 2007). Moreover, the majority of the households fell within the poor income group due to their total monthly income below the poverty line limit of less than $1.25 daily. This could affect the dependence of host communities on the park’s forest products which supported the views of Bwalya (2013), Malleson et al. (2014), Ofoegbu et al. (2017) and Igu (2017) who observed that household income significantly linked with their likelihood of engaging in forest resources utilisation and management. However, the situation in Pendjari National Park was such that the planning framework and management strategies employed by the park authority encouraged host communities to gain benefits from the park-cheaper sales from hunters’ and poachers’ kill, free accessibility to non-timber forest products (medicinal plants), cultural integration with tourists for further assistance, access to farmlands, provision of employment (eco-guard, park staff), gifts to schools by foreign tourists, fishing in free zone and Pendjari River, food and food additives (such as fodders for animals, food spices, etc), housing materials, and so on. The participatory management strategy allowed the host communities to harvest medicinal plants and tangible fruits from the controlled access and hunting zones, once they received authorization from Village Associations for the Management of Wildlife Reserves (Vodouhe et al., 2010). According to (IUCN, 2002) and Vodouhe et al. (2010), most of the villages adjacent to the park formed “Village Associations for the Management of Wildlife Reserves” (AVIGREF), which enabled villagers to participate in decision-making process about the park and to share the benefits from park entry fees for tourism, hunting licenses and fines imposed for illegal activities. Much more, some communities had benefitted from other various initiatives of AVIGREF such as the provision of Donkey’s cart/trolley, skills training on compost production, repair of boreholes, repair, and supply of chairs/tables, and employment of teachers to schools. This is believed to reduce undue pressure on the forest products of the core area (i.e. Pendjari Biosphere Reserve). Population size, urbanisation and proximity of a host community to a protected area could positively influence their socio-economic dependence on forest products (Jimoh et al., 2013; Zeng et al., 2016; Igu, 2017; Suleiman et al., 2017; UNESCO, 2017). This was evident in Tanguieta with the lowest dependence on food and food additives, fuel, housing materials, trado-medicinal products, and forest income. Indeed, the availability of other alternatives for survivability and improved livelihood such as animal feeds for fodder; gas, kerosene, and charcoal for fuel; various clinics, hospitals, pharmacy, drug stores, few business opportunities could be a better explanation towards their low forest dependence. Also, coupled to the fact that Tanguieta is strategically located at the park’s periphery along the expressway linking Cotonou (the commercial hub of Benin Republic) and Burkina-Faso, most households can be socio-economically sustained without forest products from the park. Geographical location in terms of close proximity to the park’s boundary and nature of animal husbandry of Porga and Kolegou communities contributed to their most dependent on food and food additives. However, remoteness of the host communities influenced the overall dependence of each host community on the park’s forest product. 5. Conclusion The forest dependency indices revealed that most host communities in Pendjari National Park were dependent on the park in varied forms and degrees. The determinants of host communities to their socio-economic dependence on forest products of the park were household members’ age, religion, total monthly income, education and household head’s place of birth. Despite the households’ socio-economic determinants to forest dependence, downward trend in the perceived availability of forest products over time, and the adopted management strategy in the current planning and management framework which allowed host communities’ involvement and benefit gains from biodiversity conservation in Pendjari National Park, community advocacy programmes should be initiated to involve relevant stakeholders. Olaniyi et al. /Journal of Tropical Forestry and Environment Vol. 8, No. 02 (2018) 54-68 65 Stakeholders such as the authority of Reserve de Biosphere de la Pendjari, community leaders, household heads, youth representatives, market women leader, tour operators and relevant government officials. This initiative becomes necessary in order to identify and prioritise the social and economic needs of each host community. It will provide useful information to improving the livelihoods and well-being of the host communities’ inhabitants. And, the livelihood/well-being improvement can be achieved through forest products’ value addition (i.e. processing, preservation), and provision of alternative means of survival and social amenities (i.e. health centres, accessible roads, market stalls, kerosene and/or gas stations, modern cooking kiln, animal feed sales point, hay and silage production centre, well equipped primary and secondary schools, good transportation system, electricity, subsidy in fertilizer and other agricultural inputs supply, etc). These will provide a template for sustainable development and better co-existence between protected areas and their host communities. Acknowledgment The authors appreciate the financial support of the A.G. Leventis Foundation, Zurich, Switzerland under Grant Numbers (5982, 10342, 12108) for the PhD program of the corresponding author. 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