Is Pro-Sustainability Orientation Related to Non-timber Forest-Product Exploitation? Evidence from Communities Adjoining Onigambari Forest Reserve, Southwestern Nigeria

ABSTRACT In forest communities of the developing world, reconciling the need to exploit non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and the concurrent need to preserve the same is a classic hallmark of sustainable development. Hence, the influence of pro-sustainability orientation on the exploitation of NTFPs in communities adjoining a forest reserve in the tropical rain forest region of southwestern Nigeria was examined. Proportional representation influenced the process of selecting 190 respondents from eight communities. Spearman rank correlation coefficient (r) was used to analyze data. Results indicate that an overwhelming majority (83.7%) of respondents exploited firewood. Edible foods (75.8%), fodder (67.4%), medicinal plants (65.8%), small animals (62.1%) and food wrappings (66.3%) were among the NTFPs that respondents exploited the most. The exploitation of 9 of 13 NTFPs yielded an inverse relationship with pro-sustainability orientation, suggesting that these relations are sustainability-enhancing. The exploitation of 4 of 13 NTFPs yielded positively significant relations with pro-sustainability orientation, which is not in favor of sustainability. These NTFPS includes firewood, edible foods, medicinal plants, and food wrappings. The exploitation of subsistence-required-NTFPs is a huge limitation to sustainable exploitation. This populates a subsistence-exception theory of NTFP exploitation that embosses the need-for-sustenance determinism of unsustainable natural resource use.