This study assessed the level of community awareness and participation in ecotourism in Old Oyo National Park, Nigeria. Data were collected in communities located in four ranges (i.e. administrative and protection zones) of Old Oyo National Park, Oyo State, Southwest Nigeria. The ranges are Tede, Marguba, Sepeteri, and Oyo-Ile. Seven (7) communities out of 27 that are in Tede range were selected, eight (8) were selected from 12 communities in Marguba range, eight (8) were selected from 17 communities in Sepeteri range while eight (8) were selected from 30 communities in Oyo Ile range. The study was a questionnaire survey involving 150 respondents that were randomly selected from communities in the four (4) ranges of the Park. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Tukey’s HSD, t-test and logistic regression. Results revealed that 48% of the respondents were aware of ecotourism while 52% were not. Also, 46% participated in ecotourism while 54% did not participate. A relationship exists between ecotourism awareness and participation (p<0.01). Community type (p<0.01) was the only predictor of community awareness of ecotourism while community type (p<0.01) and awareness (p<0.01) were the predictors of participation in ecotourism in the park. Awareness, active involvement of communities in stakeholder meetings, decision-making and provision of start-up capital are important for ecotourism development in the park.
This study aimed to assess socio-demographic determinants of travel motivation and behavior of visitors in nature-based destinations in Northern Nigeria. Structured questionnaire was administered to 575 respondents at Chad Basin National Park; CBNP (69), Gashaka Gumti National Park; GGNP (165) and Yankari Game Reserve; YGR (341). Data were analyzed descriptively and inferentially. Results revealed that majority of the respondents at CBNP were males (72.5%), majority of the respondents at GGNP were females (77.6%) and majority of the respondents at YGR were males (53.1%). Visitors were majorly motivated to come to CBNP for enjoyment of nature (27.5%) while source of information about the parks revealed previous trip as the highest in CBNP (29%) and YGR (36.1%) while GGNP recorded friends and relatives as the highest (45.5%). They were majorly motivated to visit GGNP because they wanted to be away from hustle and bustle of cities (33.3%) and they were motivated to visit YGR for game viewing (33.4%). Furthermore, there is significant relationship between travel motivations and sex, marital status, education, occupation, nationality (P<0.01). The determinants of travel motivations were monthly income, occupation and nationality while the determinants of travel behaviours were the socio-demographic factors except age. Game viewing and nature attributes of nature-based destinations should be developed more as these attributes motivate people to visit the sites.
This study was carried out to examine fuelwood sellers' perception of environmental issues in Borgu Local Government Area of Niger State, Nigeria. A total of 120 fuelwood sellers supplied primary data on their socioeconomic characteristics, sources of information on environmental issues, tree species commanding high patronage and perception of environmental issues. More than half of the respondents fall within the age of 31-40 years (53%), 63.3% were females, 87.5% were married and 61% had no formal education while 51% obtained information on environmental issues from radio and television. The results further indicated that Detarium microcerpum, Vitellaria paradoxa, crossopteryx febrifuga, Pterocarpus erinaceus, Combretum nigricans and isoberlinia doka were the tree species commanding high patronage in the study area. Also, the fuelwood sellers have Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta http://www.unaab.edu.ng adequate information on environmental issues not only in their locality but globally, the study concluded that since they are fully aware of the consequences of their activities on the environment, they should be involved in the design of policies aimed at reducing the rate of extraction of fuelwood in the area.
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