By: OYELEKE O. O.; AKINPELOYE F. .;
Abstract:
Communities participation in the management of Osse River Park was studied using questionnaire, interview and key informant in four communities (Ifon; Ikaro; Ido ani; Ipele) surrounding the park. Results showed that the communities participate more by passive means (51.5%). The involvement of the support zone communities in Osse River Park is low since 63.2% confirmed that they were not involved in park activities. Volunteering information is one major way through which the communities participate in the management of the Park. Results also showed that 93.4% of the support zone dwellers were willing to support the management of the park to realize the conservation objectives while 6.6% were not willing. Problems encountered from the communities by the Park staff in the discharge of their duty were in the use of park land for farming, hunting and tree felling within the park. It is important for the protected area staff to establish a good relationship and proper rapport with local communities and encourage their participation from design to implementation, monitoring and evaluation because neglecting this may have weighty and intense influence on the success of the protected area.
Keywords: Participation, Protected area, Management, Biodiversity, Osse River Park
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