RURAL RESIDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF RESTRICTIONS TO SELECTED ECOTOURISM SITES AND WELL-BEING IN NORTH CENTRAL NIGERIA

Abstract

Rural residents depend on the same natural resources on which tourism thrive for survival. However, ecotourism involves restriction of access to resources within ecotourism sites (ES). Previous studies have largely focused on conservation of resources within ES but paid scant attention to how restrictions affect the well-being of residents close to the sites. This study, therefore, investigated how restriction to selected ES affects rural residents’ well-being in North Central Nigeria, with the view to enhancing support for ecotourism development. The study was anchored to Len Doyal and Ian Gough’s Theory of Human Needs, while mixed method design was adopted. Four ES owned and operated by the governments of Plateau state (Jos Wildlife Park and Pandam Game Reserve) and Nassarawa state (Farinruwa Waterfall and Peperuwa Lake) were purposively selected for the study. The two states were selected based on the presence of ES identified for development by the Nigeria tourism development master plan. Systematic sampling was used to select a total of 331 respondents from seven purposively selected rural host communities based on their proximity to the ES. Close-ended questionnaire was used to collect data on respondent’s socioeconomic characteristics, awareness of ecotourism principles (r=0.74), benefits of ecotourism (r=0.89), perceived influence of restrictions on well-being (r=0.88) and residents’ well-being status (r=0.89). Eighteen key informant interviews were conducted with four site managers, seven community heads and seven youth leaders. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, ANOVA and linear regression at ∝=0.05, while qualitative data were content-analysed. The respondents’ age was 48.0±13.7 years and 59.1% earned below ₦20,000/month. Also, 75.3% of the respondents were married and 82.4% were literate. More than half (56.3%) were aware that hunting, farming, logging and erection of buildings are restricted in ES. Although preservation of forests (83.0%) and interaction with people of other cultures (65.2%) were identified as benefits of ecotourism, 51.4% admitted that the benefits they derived from the sites had reduced. Restriction was perceived to have negative influence on education (20.00±4.6), health and safety (19.19±3.97) and material (18.53±4.64) well-being. Overall, 52.2% of the respondents had low well-being status. Perceived influence of restriction on wellbeing domains varied significantly across ES (F(3, 243) =5.14). It was higher in Peperuwa lake ( =109.3) than Pandam Wildlife Park ( =104.4), Farinruwa Waterfall (F( =97.0) and Jos Wildlife Park ( =96.2). Non-tourism-related employment (β=0.184), monthly income (β=0.182), awareness of ecotourism principles (β=0.214) and benefits of ecotourism (β=0.157) were predictors of well-being status. Although ecotourism managers perceived that natural resources were at risk of depletion owing to poor economic state of the people, community and youth leaders believed that more residents need to be involved in the running of the sites so that they could derive more benefits. Rural residents in selected ecotourism sites in North Central Nigeria perceived restrictions to have imparted negatively on their education, health and safety, and material well-being. Therefore, government should use participatory engagement to identify possible alternative economic activities for residents close to these sites.