Abstract
Practice of agriculture and other none forestry uses in forest reserves often generates conflict owing to the former’s incompatibility with the latter. The need to identify the factors that triggers this conflict is germane to sustainable forest resources management. Thus, this paper report findings on various factors instigating land use conflicts in the high forest zone of Ondo state, Nigeria. Idanre and Oluwa forest reserves in the state were purposively selected for the study. Household counting was carried out in order to obtain a population in each settlement using participatory rural appraisal (PRA) technique. Fifty percent sampling intensity of individuals in settlements within and around the sites was used to select a total of 302 respondents for the study. Primary data were collected using both interview schedule guide and focus group discussion. Means, frequency counts and percentages were employed for descriptive analysis while factor analysis was used to identify the various factors instigating land use conflicts. Majority of the respondents were male (80.8%), married (86.1%), Yorubas (69.9%), farmers (69.6%) with a mean age of 43 ± 7.9 years. Boundary dispute (= 2.60), Resource control conflict (= 2.31), Inheritance conflict (= 2.11) as well as conflict between human/cultural and natural use (= 1.66) were the major types of conflicts identified in the study area. Four major factors that amplified the causes of land use conflicts in the forest reserves were: Cultural (settling land dispute cultural values between different ethnic group and access to land ownership); Economic (desperate for short term monetary gain , unpaid rent to landlords and unauthorised sale of common or collectively owned land); Social factors (increase in number of people and several people claiming the same land), and Political factors (breach of contract with government and changes in government policies on the use of forest).
Highlights
The importance of land—An environmental resource that includes all natural resources, cannot be overemphasized
Boundary dispute ( X = 2.60), Resource control conflict ( X = 2.31), Inheritance conflict ( X = 2.11) as well as conflict between human/cultural and natural use ( X = 1.66) were the major types of conflicts identified in the study area
It is altruism that natural resources are imperative for life and growth
Summary
The importance of land—An environmental resource that includes all natural resources, cannot be overemphasized. This was reposed by [1] who submitted land as a finite resource, which provides a multitude of goods and ecosystem services that are fundamental to human well-being. In Nigeria, land is the primary means for seeking livelihood, the main vehicle for investing and accumulating wealth as well as transferring wealth between generations [3]. This natural asset, which is vital for food, livelihood and environment security, is under intense pressure especially the one under forest covers due to conflicts pertaining to land uses
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