Comparative analyses of stakeholders’ perceptions of participatory forest management success in Benin

The Participatory Management Designs (PMD) of forest reserves under various ecological, economic and socio-cultural contexts in Benin were assessed using a multicriteria analysis. The three main criteria used for selecting the targeted forests were: (i) natural forest stand, (ii) ongoing participatory management designs and (iii) experience of local people of the forest in its joint management. Using these criteria, the management designs of nine forest reserves were assessed. This was done on the basis of nine secondary criteria whose indicators were submitted for approval by the stakeholders involved in the implementation of the designs. For each criterion, the sampling distribution of the performance scores was empirically established using the language Matlab. This technique helped to estimate the theoretical threshold value beyond which a participatory management design could be considered as successful for each criterion. Results revealed no significant difference in scores between all the criteria considered in the study. However, with the threshold being equal to 60, the forest reserves of Pénéssoulou, Monts-Kouffé and Wari-Maro had the best management designs scores ranging from 88 to 99 considering their overall performance. Two other forest reserves fell in the worse management designs.

Source de publication: International Journal of Biodiversity and Conservation 2010, 2(12) pp. 395-404.