Rodéric Roland Singbénou Sagbo^{1, 2,}, Sedjro Gilles Armel Nago^{1, 3}

In Sub-Saharan Africa, rural communities depend heavily on forests for their livelihoods, yet natural forests are under increasing pressure from socioeconomic factors. While large-scale plantations are proposed as a solution, their impacts are controversial, often creating land disputes and unequal benefit sharing. This highlights the need for an in-depth understanding of how local communities interact with forest resources to ensure sustainable management. This study aimed to analyze how sociodemographic and sociocultural characteristics influence wood use patterns in a co-managed Reserve like Lama Forest Reserve in Benin, where access to forest resources is limited. We hypothesized that these characteristics significantly affect wood use. Using a structured questionnaire with 208 respondents and a Bayesian logistic regression model, we found that gender and village membership are the primary factors influencing wood use. Men were less likely to use firewood but more likely to use construction and craft wood, reflecting distinct gender roles. Village of residence significantly influenced firewood and commercial wood use, suggesting that local contexts like resource accessibility play a crucial role. In contrast, age, education level, and sociocultural group did not have a significant influence on any type of wood use. These results underscore that a one-size-fits-all approach to forest management is ineffective. Future research should use qualitative methods to explore the specific reasons for these local variations and analyze the economic value chains of wood. It should also investigate the effects of formal and informal regulations on wood use and further examine gender-specific roles to propose equitable and effective conservation strategies.

wood use, plantation, forest management, local community, tropical protected area