Indigenous communities' perceptions of ecosystem services of a montane forest ecosystem in Nigeria: Implications for restoration planning

Indigenous communities around a Nigerian forest reserve with a 700 m elevational gradient recognize 6–20 ecosystem services, with provisioning services ranked highest in most settlements.

• Why it matters: Restoration planning in rural Africa must align biodiversity goals with local livelihoods, but local ecosystem-service perceptions are often missing for guiding community-centred conservation.
• What they did: The study used semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and species-use inventories across eight communities within 5 km, plus an ethnobotanical assessment classifying plants as savannah or forest species.
• The result: Provisioning—especially food—was prioritized over regulating, cultural, and supporting services, and most provisioning services came from savannah rather than forest species, informing mosaic restoration and co-designed objectives.

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