Salt forests and their people: stakeholders’ perspectives on community management of mangroves’ ecosystems in Benin.

Community management of natural resources faces various challenges that require the recognition of a plurality of perspectives among stakeholders. We used the Q methodology to investigate stakeholders’ perspectives on the management and conservation strategies for the Bouche du Roy Community Biodiversity Conservation Area (CBCA), an area mainly made up of mangrove ecosystems. Our results highlight three main perspectives explaining 70% of the total variance. The optimistic perspective contends that the creation and management of the CBCA are lifesaving and essential, the restrictive perspective maintains that its creation and management restrict the activities of local residents, while the alternative perspective asserts that the CBCA is well managed, but that some aspects need improvement to meet the needs of the community. Despite differences between perspectives, participants’ responses also highlighted several aspects of consensus and opportunities for a constructive debate on the management of the CBCA. Nevertheless, the management of the CBCA is confronted with complex socio-ecological interactions that adversely affect the livelihoods of certain stakeholders. The development of alternative incomes by and for these stakeholders, especially the diversification of sustainable livelihoods, can both achieve conservation goals and respond to their needs. Our findings can help provide stakeholders and decision makers with a mapping of social perspectives that can be used to promote inclusive CBCA management and conservation strategies.Highlights: Conservation of coastal ecosystems can involve communities and local knowledge. Community management requires the recognition of a plurality of discourses. Using the Q method, three social perspectives were identified. Consensus and divergence provide an opportunity to increase dialogue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]