earticle

영어

The recurrent flood occurrence in the contiguous floodplains of South-Western Nigeria despite provisions of mitigation measures by government is an intricate issue of concern to environmental managers. Therefore, this study assessed inclination of residents to flood management interventions and forestry land use approaches (FLUA) in contiguous floodplains of South-Western Nigeria. A qualitative data using primary data collection with structured questionnaire and scheduled interview was used. A multistage (4-staged) random sampling was used for sample size selection of 250 residents. Collected data were analysed using frequencies, percentages, mean scores, and tested with chi-square and canonical correlation analysis (CCA). Most residents were inclined to access constructed canals by government (74.4%), dredging and channelisation of river (72.8%), and drainage system (35.6%) whereas utilisation of FLUA showed tree planting (mean=1.8) which ranked 1st as the most popular FLUA, followed by conservation of trees (mean=1.6) which ranked 2nd. From the chi-square test, there is significant relationship between residents’ level of use of FLUA and residents’ access to drainage system (χ2=33.22, p=1×10-4), dredging and channelization of river (χ2=106.09, p=1×10-4). Furthermore, the CCA showed significant association and positive correlation between access to dredging/channelization and tree conservation in upland area (β=0.898, p=0.00, R2=0.382), sustenance of natural environment (β=0.774, p=0.00, R2=0.399) and landscaping of the environment (β=0.810, p=0.00, R2=0.417). The low R2 values suggests that the independent variables in the regression model did not effectively explain the variation in the dependent variables. The importance from residents’ inclination to accessing flood management interventions revealed reduction in flooding despite abysmally low utilization of FLUA in the contiguous floodplains’ communities of South-Western Nigeria.