1. Estimating Local Values of Vegetable Non-Timber Forest Products to Pendjari Biosphere Reserve Dwellers in Benin VODOUHE G. Fifanou, PhD Candidate Accra, Ghana, 15-17 October 2008

2. Context of the study Conservation and sustainable resource use will not be successful without the full participation of indigenous people and the application of their ethnobotanical and ecological knowledge (Gemedo-Dalle et al., 2005)

3. Context of the study 3 That's absolutely true in Africa where people depend on natural resources for their livelihood for centuries (Gemedo-Dalle et al., 2005; Törn et al., 2008)

4. Context of the study For many authors, the non consideration of this reality is the reason of the failures of many efforts undertaken to conserve biodiversity in developing countries (Gopalakrishnan et al., 2005; Gemedo- Dalle et al., 2005; Törn et al., 2008)

5. Need for information This integration of people need in conservation program can’t be done without good understanding of links between useful plants and local people

6. Study area  North West of Rep of Benin (10°30’ to 11°30 N; 0°50’ to 2°00’ E)  Area: 281,359ha  Pop: 30,000 inhabitants  NPP was upgraded Biosphere Reserve in 1986 Bénin National Park of Pendjari

7. Objective This study aimed at felling this gap of information and will permit better understanding of the use-values of plants for people living around the PBR and the socio- economic and contextual factors that may influence these values.

8. Methods  Data were collected from individual using questionnaires  186 respondents (105 men and 80 women) make up the research sample  Respondents were asked to rank by importance the 10 most important species that they had harvested over the last 5 years  Data were analyzed using the Linear Mixed Model and descriptive statistics

9. Effect of use on species values Category of uses Total value of all species Number of species used Food43.6648 Medicine44.0760 Construction29.4421 Ceremony28.178 Firewood37.4130 Other uses24.684 Value of species used per category of use → Values assigned to species by respondents vary according to the type of use

10. Effect of socio-economic factors on species values Importance accorded to species was significantly affected by factors such as type of species, gender/species and the socio-cultural group/species of the respondent Sourcedf N df D F Type species751026.225.01 **** Gender21019.690.047 NS Group31127.8226.58**** Species * Gender341100.931.95*** Species * Group581124.684.33**** Parameter Residual Respondent variance Estimate 0.27266 0.00230 WaldZ 23.066 0.720 Sig **** NS Linear mixed model analysis of variance summary

11. Most valued species in PBR  Most valued botanic families are: Bombacaceae, Mimosaceae and Sapotaceae  PBR people value trees more than herbaceous species (Student t test, d.f. = 67, P=0.001)

12. Gender effect on species values  We consider gender at the level of relation between men and women because it’s the more striking gender aspect in the study area  Women valued species used for food more than men whose interest relates to species used as construction material and medicine

13. Socio-cultural groups and species values  People from historically hunters groups valued more useful species than any other socio-cultural groups Linear Mixed Model, F=4.33; P<0.001  Land availability is the 2 nd reason which explain the difference in values accorded to species by socio-cultural groups

14. Determinism of values assigned to species by PBR surrounding people  PBR people acquired, learned and taught species use by doing  The species knowledge is transmitted vertically through family dissemination  Variation in values attributed to species could be explained by the transmission of ethnobotanical knowledge in the PBR communities

15. Conclusions  Although PBR people have access to a wide range of species, results found that only a few species are highly valued.  NTFPs are used in a wide range of categories, which indicates the close links between livelihoods and natural resources in the area.  Women have at least as much diversity of knowledge as men and show that they are also important stakeholders and merit consideration in reserve biodiversity conservation management.  Biodiversity conservation strategies will successfully teach to people using learning by doing strategy and focused on the most important species used in the area.

16. Acknowledgments

17. THANK YOU