Forest degradation and livelihood: a case study of government forest reserves of Ogun State, Nigeria

This study examined the effect of forest degradation on livelihood returns in Government forest reserves of Ogun State. Primary data used in the study were obtained in a multi-stage random sampling procedure across non-degraded and degraded forests. Both qualitative and quantitative analytical methods were employed for data analysis. Different forest based livelihood and returns were investigated in this study and the Levene’s test results showed that there is disparity in the livelihood returns across the non-degraded and degraded forests. Logistic regression results revealed that gender, number of household members working and earning income, number of children in the household, earning income from tree crops and earning income from hunting were statistically significant factors influencing forest degradation within the study area. Therefore, the study recommends that strong and participatory forest management practices should be encouraged to ensure that tree crop farming and hunting are monitored and done without hurting the forest.Keywords: Forest degradation, Livelihood returns, Government Forest Reserve, Ogun Stat