Urban Ecosystem Services and Determinants of Stakeholder’s Perception for Sustainable Cities Planning: Case of Cotonou City in Benin

Anarchic urbanization and land artificialization expose urban ecosystems and Ecosystem Services (ES) to the threat. Urban ecosystems and trees play a crucial role in improving urban environments, and their management depends on the perceptions and preferences of urban residents. An assessment of the socio-ecological factors determining the perception of the actors allows for the proper design and planning of ecological urban policies and urban adaptation to climate change. In this study, we assessed the perception and discriminating variables of the different stakeholders of urban ES provided in the city of Cotonou. Thus, 381 city dwellers were individually interviewed after statistical sampling. Focus group discussions with the stakeholders also made it possible to highlight the ES provided in the different Land Use Units (LU). The results show that 73.23% of the city dwellers agreed that they were aware of ecosystem services. The hierarchical classification shows two homogeneous groups of perceivers with ethnicity, age and education as statistically discriminating sociological variables (pv˂0.001). Urban dwellers in the city of Cotonou perceived more SEs in the cultural and regulatory services category significantly (pv<0.001; v-test>3). The principal component analysis (PCA) reveals the varying availability of ES according to the different LU in the city. This study adds scientific value in the application of urban ecology to decision-making in climate and environment policy planning for sustainable cities in Africa and all over the world.

Keywords:

Subject: Environmental and Earth Sciences - Ecology

1. INTRODUCTION

Anarchic urbanization and land artificialization expose ecosystems and urban ecosystem services (ES) to the threat of dysfunction and disappearance [1,2] (Mensah et al., 2020, United Nations, 2018). African cities are particularly affected with spontaneous, uncontrolled, and environmentally damaging urbanization, making it difficult to sustainably manage large African cities today [3]. In Benin, a West African country, the urbanization rate galloped from 11% in 1960 to 40% in 1990, then from 42% in 2005 to 44% in 2015 [4]. Moreover, in future projections, more than half of Benin's population will live in cities by 2025, with an estimated urban population rate of 56.2 percent. This situation will lead to more sanitation problems, pollution, and congestion of public spaces. While balancing the need for urban growth with the functioning of biodiversity in addition to the provision of ES remains a major concern in an approach to perpetually improving the quality of the living environment in high concentration areas [5,6]. Urban ecosystems and trees play a crucial role in improving urban environments, and their management depends on the perceptions and preferences of urban residents [7,8], that’s why the notion of a green city has become a shared ideal nowadays and the availability of socio-ecological data is very important in urban climate change mitigation and adaptation planning and city management for sustainable urban development.

Urban ecosystems in some cases facilitate societal needs through exchanges of goods and services classified into four categories: provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural services [9,10]. Their function of conserving biological diversity and maintaining ecological balance across regions of the world, forests and urban trees contribute to human development in the current context of climate change and sustainable development through the provision of goods [11,12,13]. Urban trees also offer a variety of social and cultural benefits, including recreational opportunities, aesthetic value, and potential inspiration for the arts and other creative endeavors [14,15]. Furthermore, urban trees ameliorate the thermal environment of surroundings, and provide cooling. Ecosystem Services (ES) is a conceptual tool that integrates the relationship between humans and nature [16,17] and contributes to the implementation of concrete policies and practices for the sustainable use of all ecosystems [18,19], an assessment of the socio-ecological determinants of stakeholders' perceptions enables the proper design and planning of green urban policies, ensuring sustainable urban development. Every SE assessment should be initiated by a social approach to take into account the perceptions of local stakeholders [21], to ensure optimal provision of ES on which humans depend, it is essential to integrate the perceptions of all stakeholders into strategies and decisions for sustainable management of social-ecological systems. Sociocultural SE assessment uses research methods from the social sciences (e.g., interviews), values SE in non-monetary terms (e.g., perceptions), and explicitly makes stakeholders the focus of the research [23,24]. Sociocultural valuation of ES also identifies differences in perceptions among stakeholder groups and prioritizes ES to facilitate provider ecosystem planning and ensure policy relevance [25,26].

A few studies on urban forestry and ecosystem services in Benin have addressed stakeholder’s perception of ES in recent years, however, the collection and analysis of information on the determinants and discriminants of perception and specific ES present in urban land use units is scarce and remains a priority in terms of availability of data on urban socio-ecological systems that are conducive to urban environment policy planning. In a context where extreme weather conditions and global warming impacts are sabotaging economic, social and environmental development efforts in cities, nature-based solutions or Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) integrating ecosystem services are the go-to recourses in urban planning. Therefore, the determinant variables of perception and the specific ES preferred by urban actors need to be investigated so that their contributions to ecological policy planning catalyzing climate change adaptation in urban societies are fully recognized. This study is part of the framework generating socio-ecological information for planning and preservation of ecosystems and urban ES in Cotonou municipality. More specifically, the study is positioned under the evaluative angle of the perception of ES and the associated social determinant variables (a), the different ES present in each Land Use Unit which are perceived by citizens in the city of Cotonou (b).

2. MATERIALS AND METHODS

2.1. Study area

The city of Cotonou is in the South of the Republic of Benin between 6°20' and 6°23' North latitude and 2°22' and 2°30' East longitude. It is bordered to the north by Lake Nokoué, to the west by the Commune of Abomey-Calavi, to the east by the Commune of Sèmè-Kpodji and to the south by the Atlantic Ocean (Figure 1). The city covers an area of 79 km² [27].

Administratively, the city of Cotonou comprises, 13 arrondissements subdivided into 144 neighborhoods. Its population is 679,012 inhabitants according to the general population and housing census [4].

The climate is humid subequatorial, with two dry seasons (mid-November to mid-March and mid-July to August) and two rainy seasons (mid-March to mid-July and September to mid-November). The average annual rainfall is 1,200 mm, with 700-800 mm in the long rainy season and 400-500 mm in the short rainy season [28]. The average temperature in the coastal zone is 26.8°C with extremes of 36.6°C and 16.5°C. The average relative humidity in Cotonou is 84%. The hydrographic network consists of Lake Nokoué and the Atlantic Ocean. The types of soil encountered include sandy soils, ferruginous soils, and hydromorphic soils [11]. All these characteristics favor plant development. The current urban matrix of the city offers a wide range of types of artificial and natural environments and vegetation ranging from totally unvegetated environments in the city centers to wooded private parks in residential areas to spontaneous vegetation in abandoned estates in the neighborhoods to fallows, plantations, ponds, marshes, and swamps in the peripheral areas of the city [29].

2.2. Sampling and data collection

2.2.1. Sampling

For the exercise of understanding the levels of perceptions and knowledge of the various stakeholders (city dwellers, authorities and executives of the Ministry of the Living Environment and Sustainable Development, urban planning and forestry departments, municipal agents, etc.) on ecosystem services, qualitative data were collected through techniques based on surveys and interviews (focus group) with the targets mentioned above in the city of Cotonou. Questionnaires and interview guides were developed and used for this purpose. The data was collected over a period of four months (March-June 2022). The interviews were conducted in the 13 districts according to the sampling method based on [30] and are shown in Table 1.

n = \frac{U^{2} x P (1 - P)}{d^{2}}

n is the number of respondents for each borough; P is the proportion of individuals in each borough calculated from the headcount of each borough and the headcount of the entire city; U (0.975)2 ≈1.96 is the quantile of a standard normal distribution for a probability value of 0.05; and d is the marginal error set at 8%.

2.2.2. Data collection

A total of 381 people were surveyed in the city of Cotonou according to the number of people in the different districts. To achieve this, the verbal agreement of the respondents was obtained before the start of each interview. Respondents who did not speak French were listened to with the help of local translators, each respondent was subjected to a semi-structured interview at the level of the respective districts and focus group interviews were conducted in the administrative services and in the residences of municipal councilors (chefs quartiers). The main headings of the data collected for this purpose were:

Socio-cultural characteristics (socio-cultural group, gender, age, activities and level of education);
Knowledge of the concept of ecosystem services and the different categories and sub-categories according to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment [31] classification (provisioning services, regulating services, supporting services and cultural services).

In addition, focus groups were held with the different stakeholders in charge of urban area management. This focused on the identification of ecosystem services offered in the different Land Use Units (LUs) defined with these stakeholders according to the objective to be achieved.

2.3. Data processing and analysis

Using Excel 2016, the collected data were formatted in accordance with the format and R.4.1.2. software was used to perform all the processing and analysis. The axes of these statistical treatments were the descriptive statistics of the socio-demographic parameters (ethnic group, level of education, age and gender), the hierarchical classification on multivariate component analysis to group the respondents on a similar perception of the Ecosystemic Services, the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to describe the relationship between the Ecosystemic Services and the units of land use (US) and the Generalized Linear Model (Poisson type binomial errors) and the descriptive statistics of the groups obtained (Me : Mean, CV: Coefficient of Variation) respectively to test and describe the variation in the number of services cited by user group.

3. RESULTS

3.1. Socio-demographic profiles of respondents

Analysis of Table 2 reveals that the Fon (32.63%), Adja (17.63%) and Goun (13.68%) ethnic groups are respectively the most represented, while the Peulh (2.10%) and Betamarides (2.63%) are the most underrepresented of the urban population interviewed in the city of Cotonou. Men are almost three times (72.37%) the number of women (27.63%) interviewed and Adults 75.53%, followed by the elderly (17.37%) and youth (7.11%). As for the level of education, 34.21% and 32.89% of the urban residents surveyed had respectively reached secondary and higher education levels, while 13.68% had no level at all.

3.2. Local perception of ecosystem services by the populations of Cotonou

3.2.1. Degree of perceptions of ecosystem services as a function of sociological variables

Table 3 illustrates the assertions of the 381 sampled city dwellers on their knowledge of ES in the city of Cotonou. From this illustration, 73.23% of respondents claim to have significant (<0.001) knowledge of ES in the city of Cotonou. In the lot, 79.84% of those with higher education level, 26% of those with secondary education level declared to be significantly aware of the ES offered. The same response was also significant for 66.67% of the elderly and 51.40% of adults. Older people perceive SEs better than younger people. The perception is significant among 80.00% of Fon, 20.00% of Yoruba, 51.32% Adja, 18.56% Bariba and 19.64% Mahi. Approximately half of the men and 32.23% of the women, while acknowledging the existence of SE, did not make a significant statement.

It is clear from this analysis that the reception of ES in the city of Cotonou is influenced by the level of education, ethnicity, and age class. Sex or gender did not significantly influence this perception.

3.2.2. Socio-ecological analysis of perception of categories and subcategories of ecosystem services

The analysis in Table 4 reveals the relationship between the socio-demographic variables (gender, age, ethnic group and education) and ecosystem services (provisioning, regulating, cultivating and supporting) perceptions used for the discrimination of parameters and the description of different homogeneous groups of respondents. This highlights the correlations between the socio-demographic variables and the perception of ecosystem services with sufficient precision on the two groups of perceivers.

The first group of perceivers is made up of 79.84% of the literate (higher level), 66.67% of the elderly and 80.00% of the Fon ethnic group. The procurement services most significantly (pv<0.001; v-test>3) recognized by individuals in this group are: Food, Wood Bioenergy, Medicinal use. Within this category, Wood Bioenergy (65.53%), is the most cited subcategory of services. The most significantly (pv<0.001; v-test>3) recognized subcategories of regulatory services are: Air purification, Reducing extremes, CO₂ assimilation, shading and Temperature.regulation. The subcategories of services such as shading (81.08%) and Temperature.regulation (71.36%) are respectively the most rendered services according to the citizens of this homogenous group. The same table shows the different subcategories of cultural services that are significantly recognized by the citizens of the group. These are Inspiration, Natural beauty visit, Relaxation, Entertainment, among others. Natural beauty visit (65.71%) is the most cited service in this category. For support services, it is Refuge for species (71.26%) and Species.evolution.maintenance (72.80%).

The second group of respondents, which is quite different from the first, is made up of 80% Yoruba, 55.40% adults, 86.92% city dwellers with no education, 78.88% with primary education, 64.00% with secondary education and 68.00% youth. This group reflects mostly younger urbanites (many youths and adults) with very low levels of education (none, primary and secondary). The city dwellers in this homogeneous group have a rather limited knowledge of the categories and subcategories of services mentioned. The services significantly (pv<0.001; v-test>3) recognized by individuals in this group are: Food (47.06%), Medicinal use (41.88%), Reducing extremes (23.65%), shading (42.00%), Temperature.regulation (31.67%), Inspiration (44.52%), Relaxation (39.00%) and Refuge.animal.species (36.64%).

In a synthetic way, this socio-ecological analysis reveals that most of the interviewed city dwellers perceive the provisioning services of which Wood Bioenergy is the most cited, the regulation services of which, shading and Temperature.regulation are the two most represented. As for the cultural services category, Natural.beauty.visit is the most cited. Two services of the support services category are widely cited by the citizens. The discriminating parameters of the perception of the different categories and subcategories of ecosystem services offered by plant biodiversity are literacy level, age and ethnicity. Sex/gender has no influence on the perception of the populations of the studied municipality.

3.2.3. Averages of the sub-categories of services cited and homogeneity in the response of the groups of respondents in the city of Cotonou

Across Table 5, the average number of ES cited varies statistically significantly between groups of perceivers (pv<0.001). Individuals in Group 1 recognized an average of 2 support services, 5 cultural services, 3 provisioning services, and 6 regulatory services. In contrast, Group 2 city dwellers cited 1 support service, approximately 3 cultural services, 3 regulatory services, and 2 provisioning services. The values of the coefficient of dispersion (CV) show that the perception is homogeneous in group 1 than in group 2. Thus, at the level of the city dwellers in the first group, there is a certain homogeneity (CV<50%) in the way of perceiving the four categories of ecosystem services (support; cultural, regulation and supply). On the other hand, at the level of the citizens of the second group, this homogeneity is scattered. From this socio-ecological analysis, it appears that regulatory and cultural services are the two categories of ecosystem services frequently encountered by the citizens of the city of Cotonou.

The results of the principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that 86.1% of the input information is explained by the first three dimensions (axes), which is sufficient to ensure accuracy in the interpretations. On the one hand, ecosystem services such as temperature regulation (SE4), area purification (SE5), shading (SE6), moderation of climate extremes (SE7), inspiration, art/aesthetics (SE8), recreation/relaxation (SE9) and social cohesion (SE11) are positively correlated with the first dimension (axis1) of the PCA (Figure 2). It is found that Land Use Units (LUs) in which vegetation provides shade, social cohesion, relaxation, and inspiration for the arts, and those in which climate extremes are moderated, temperature is regulated, and the area is purified. These ecosystem services in the category of regulating and cultural services are more offered in the Land Use Units (LU) such as administrative zones (LU2), wooded areas, green spaces, urban forests and cemeteries (LU4) as well as commercial zones including sometimes markets (LU6) in the city of Cotonou. On the other hand, food (SE1), wood, bioenergy (SE2), traditional medicine (SE3), inspiration, art/aesthetics (SE8), spiritual (SE10) and biodiversity maintenance (SE12) services are also positively correlated to the first dimension (axis2) as well as the Land Use Units US1, US3 and US5. This implies that plantations along roads and alleys (US1), plant species in residential areas (US3), and training and learning centers (US5), contribute mainly to the provision of ecosystem services in the category of provisioning, cultural and support services such as maintenance of biodiversity, provision of medical materials, bioenergy and spiritual and arts services in the city of Cotonou (Figure 2).

4. DISCUSSION

In this study, socio-demographic parameters such as level of education, ethnicity and age are determining variables for the perception of urban ecosystem services in the city of Cotonou. Among these parameters, the “higher and secondary level of education” and the “ethnic groups” (Fon, Yoruba, Adja, Bariba and Mahi) are the significant variables which imply the perception of ecosystem services. These results support those of [7] and [32], who revealed that the value of ES to stakeholders varies due to a complex set of factors, including (i) stakeholders' personal (e.g., age, gender, education, place of residence) and social values (e.g., culture, social network) but also (ii) interactions between stakeholders and ES associated with use, perception, and knowledge of ES. However, our results did not reveal the influence of gender in the way citizens perceive ES. [33]; [24]; [23] argued that sociodemographic variables such as: 'gender', 'age', 'ethnicity', 'social condition' 'experience and historical relationship with nature' and 'main occupation' significantly influence an individual's perceptions of ES. In the same way [1] found in Benin that the perception of ES by urban residents of the historic city of Abomey is more correlated with the level of education and ethnicity and social status than other factors. These findings of [1] are reinforced by our research, as social affiliation refers to the different ethnic groups and was found to be a significantly discriminating variable in this study work. In southwestern Ethiopia, men recognized more forest ES than women [26]. In Rwanda, long-term residents identified more forest ES than newcomers [16]. Furthermore, the level of knowledge, education of stakeholders is also important according to [21]. In contrast, the results from research of [11] noted the living environment as the factor influencing the perception of Ecosystem Services offered by the green spaces installed in the city, Abomey-Calavi, Allada and Cotonou. This suggest that there are so many factors contributing in urban ES perceptions, and this is the sources of good preservation and management of urban green spaces.

The individuals of the two homogeneous groups perceive significantly in the city of Cotonou the provisioning services (Food and Medicinal use), the regulation services (Reducing extremes weather, shading, and Temperature regulation); the cultural services (Inspiration, Relaxation) and the refuge support service for animal species. These same services have been found in urban environments by [11,15]. Cultural and regulatory services are two categories more perceived with some homogeneity by urban residents in both groups. From the latter, regulatory and cultural services are the ecosystem services most frequently encountered by Cotonou city residents. It has been argued that rural populations perceive provisioning ES more frequently than in urban societies, due to a cognitive disconnect of human well-being from the environment in cities [8,13]. These outcomes in urban social-ecological settings are reinforced by our results. At the same time, other researchers find that rural residents mention that regulatory and cultural ES are more frequently perceived than provisioning ES, because they have an ecological knowledge of the importance of the environment and forest ES [20]. It should be rightly emphasized that the perception of ecosystem services depends on the perceiver and several socio-cultural and ecological dimensions.

From the principal component analysis (PCA), it appears that the Land Use Units (LUs) in which plants serve as shade, there is more social cohesion, relaxation, inspiration for the arts and that those in which climate extremes are moderate, the temperature is regulated as well as the purification of the area. These ecosystem services of the category of regulating and cultural services are more offered in the Land Use Units (LU) such as administrative zones (LU2), wooded areas, green spaces, urban forests, and cemeteries (LU4) as well as commercial zones including sometimes markets (LU6) of the city of Cotonou. Since it is known to all today that climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme environmental events; this poses increasingly important sustainable adaptation challenges to cities, especially those located in coastal areas [24]. Our results, while reinforcing the TEED guidelines, raise how nature-based solutions or ecosystem-based adaptation can facilitate city resilience via sustainable urban adaptation planning that integrates the urban ecosystem services offered by urban plant diversity that our results revealed. Going in the same direction, [15] had argued that ecological infrastructures such as urban forests, green screens, trees planted in administrative areas, commercial areas etc. in cities sustainably regulate local temperatures and mitigate the effects of urban heat islands, better they go further by pointing out that the reduction of the city's heat load is one of the most important regulating ecosystem services that trees provide to cities. Similarly, [9] found that urban trees reduce temperature during the hottest months by providing shade and absorbing heat from the air through evapotranspiration, especially when humidity is low. In the same vein, for [34], water from urban plants absorbs heat by evaporating, cooling the air in the process. The multivariate analyses from our work also show that plantations along lanes and alleys (US1), plant species in residential areas ((US3), and training and learning centers (US5), contribute mainly to the provision of ecosystem services in the category of provisioning, cultural and support services such as maintenance of biodiversity, provision of food, medical materials, bioenergy and spiritual and arts services in the city of Cotonou. These results are consistent with the work of [6], who report that wood production, bioenergy, and pharmacopoeia services are highly valued by the populations of the city of Grand-Popo in Benin. Biodiversity, ecosystems, and natural landscapes have been the source of inspiration for much of our art, culture and increasingly for science [20]. The role that greens spaces play in maintaining mental and physical health is increasingly recognized, despite measurement challenges, according to [27]. The results of our work expose the role of maintaining biodiversity as a support service reported by citizens in the city of Cotonou. These results are supported by the findings of [19] in that urban systems can play an important role as a refuge for many species of birds, amphibians, bees, and butterflies during their movements.

5. CONCLUSION

Anarchic urbanization and land artificialization expose urban ecosystems and ecosystem services (ES) to the threat of dysfunction and disappearance. An assessment of the socio-ecological factors that determine the perception of the actors not only allows urban adaptation to climate change but also the proper design and planning of ecological urban policies, which is a guarantee of sustainable urban development in Africa. The results of this research expose the determining variables of the perception of ES by identifying two groups of perceiving stakeholders and reveal the different ES offered by the plant diversity in each occupation unit of the city of Cotonou. The significantly discriminating variables are education level, age and ethnicity. The two categories of urban ecosystem services most frequently encountered and cited by Cotonou residents are regulatory and cultural services, followed by provisioning and support services. The multivariate analyses show how the occupancy units present in the city offer various goods and services to not only facilitate the urban adaptation of the citizens and infrastructures of the city of Cotonou in the face of climatic extremes and hazards, but also to reinforce the production of data for urban planning of green and ecological cities, a guarantee of sustainable urban development in Africa.

These outcomes, while reinforcing the TEED guidelines, highlight how nature-based solutions or ecosystem-based adaptation can facilitate the resilience of cities through urban adaptation planning that integrates the urban ecosystem services offered by urban plant diversity. Our recommendations point to the need to integrate the ecosystem services assessment tool with urban planning in Africa given the holistic approach that ES promote for urban resilience to weather extremes. There is also a need for future research to broadly consider, beyond adaptation, the mitigation potentials of climate change through green infrastructure in African cities.

Notes on contributors

Assouhan Jonas ATCHADE, is a Beninese national and a doctoral student at the Center of Excellence on Sustainable Cities in Africa (CERViDA_DOUNEDON), University of Lomé. He had done a master's degree in climate change and sustainable development at the AGRHYMET Regional Center in Niger and another in natural science at the UAC in Benin. Madjouma KANDA, is of Togolese nationality and holds a PhD in botany and plant ecology. Her work in the field of ecology and urban and peri-urban agriculture is not negligible in the region. Currently, she is a teacher researcher and lecturer. She is part of the researchers of the Laboratory of Botany and Plant Ecology (LBEV) at the Faculty of Science, University of Lome. Fousséni FOLEGA, is of Togolese nationality and holds a PhD in botany and plant ecology. His work is in the field of ecology and management of ecosystems and ecosystem services. Currently, he is a teacher researcher and lecturer. She is one of the researchers of the Laboratory of Botany and Plant Ecology (LBEV) at the Faculty of Science, University of Lomé. She is a lecturer at CAMES, Laboratory of Botany and Plant Ecology (LBEV), Faculty of Science, University of Lomé. Dr. Marra DOURMA, Togolese nationality and Full Professor at CAMES. He is Head of Botany Department at the Faculty of Science, University of Lome. Dr. Kperkouma WALA, Togolese national and Full Professor at CAMES, he is a teacher-researcher at the Laboratory of Botany and Plant Ecology (LBEV), Faculty of Science, University of Lome. He teaches on ecosystems and ecosystem services. Dr. Koffi AKPAGANA, Togolese nationality, and Full Professor at CAMES. Trained as a systematist, he is a teacher-researcher at the Laboratory of Botany and Plant Ecology (LBEV), Faculty of Science, University of Lomé. He is a former Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research of the Republic of Togo.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Acknowledgement

We are grateful to the Regional Centre of Excellence on Sustainable Cities in Africa (CERViDA_DOUNEDON) and the World Bank for providing the necessary funding that facilitated our research work leading to these results.

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Figure 1. Location map of the research area.

Figure 2. Description of the relationships between Ecosystem Services (ES) and Land Use Units (US) on the three main axes.

Table 1. samples of people surveyed by district of Cotonou.

Districts of Cotonou	Number of people	Proportion P	Sample (n)
1er Arrondissement	59962	0,085362262	30
2e Arrondissement	61668	0,090820192	37
3e Arrondissement	69991	0,103077707	35
4e Arrondissement	36357	0,053543973	19
5e Arrondissement	20039	0,029511997	17
6e Arrondissement	75336	0,110949438	40
7e Arrondissement	27535	0,040551566	31
8e Arrondissement	32420	0,047745842	19
9e Arrondissement	57691	0,084963152	30
10e Arrondissement	38728	0,057035811	26
11e Arrondissement	34879	0,051367281	19
12e Arrondissement	97920	0,144209528	47
13e Arrondissement	68486	0,100861251	41
Total	679012	1	381

Table 2. characteristics of socio-demographic parameters.

Variables	Modalities	Numbers	Frequence (in %)
Ethnic's group	Adja	67	17,63
	Bariba	18	4,73
	Betamaride	10	2,63
	Fon	124	32,63
	Goun	52	13,68
	Mahi	31	8,15
	Peulh	8	2,10
	Tchabè	33	8,68
	Yorouba	37	9,74
raduation	None	52	13,68
	Primary	73	19,21
	Secondary	130	34,21
	Superior	125	32,89
Age	Adult	287	75,53
	Older	66	17,37
	Young	27	7,11
Gender	F	105	27,63
Gender	M	275	72,37

Table 3. knowledge statements on ecosystem services in Cotonou.

Socio-demography	Answers	Percentage (%)	p-value
Global	Yes	73.23	<0.001
Education=Superior	Yes	79.84	<0.001
Education=None	Yes	13.08	0.005
Education=Primary	Yes	21.12	0.001
Education=Secondary	Yes	26.00	0.033
Age=Older	Yes	66.67	<0.001
Age=Adult	Yes	44.60	<0.001
Age=Young	Yes	32.00	0.005
Ethnic.Groups=Fon	Yes	80.00	<0.001
Ethnic.Groups=Yoruba	Yes	20.00	<0.001
Ethnic.Groups=Adja	Yes	51.32	<0.001
Ethnic.Groups=Bariba	Yes	18.56	<0.001
Ethnic.Groups=Betamaride	Yes	15.78	0.002
Ethnic.Groups=Goun	Yes	18.23	0.025
Ethnic.Groups=Mahi	Yes	19.64	<0.001
Ethnic.Groups=Peulh	Yes	21.00	0.008
Ethnic.Groups=Tchabè	Yes	35.12	0.002
Gender=Female	Yes	32.23	0.025
Gender=Male	Yes	52.15	0.053

Table 4. Description of homogeneous groups of respondents using the most discriminating socio-demographic criteria.

Services and socio-demography	Cla/Mod	p.value	v.test
First group of respondents (GR1)
Socio-demographics
Education=Superior	79.84	<0.001	8.25
Age=Older	66.67	<0.001	2.97
Ethnic.Groups=Fon	80.00	<0.001	3.77
Procurement Services
Food	60.68	<0.001	8.04
Wood.Bioenergy	65.53	<0.001	6.62
Medicinal.use	54.43	<0.001	3.85
Use.Fibers	78.75	0.004	2.91
Art.materials	74.34	0.003	2.97
No.plant.food.resources	74.10	0.002	2.67
Regulation Services
Air.purification	57.32	<0.001	3.48
Reducing.extremes	58.68	<0.001	8.08
Anti_erosion.role	80.21	0.015	9.42
CO2.assimilation	50.98	<0.001	13.61
Shading	81.08	<0.001	5.88
Temperature.regulation	71.36	<0.001	6.23
Cultural Services
Inspiration	59.80	<0.001	7.38
Natural.beauty.visit	65.71	<0.001	6.85
Relaxation	51.08	<0.001	5.68
Entertainment	51.69	<0.001	4.23
Support Services
Refuge.animal.species	71.26	<0.001	13.25
Species.evolution.maintenance	72.80	<0.001	13.10
Second group of respondents (GR2)
Socio-demographics
Ethnic.Groups=Yoruba	80.00	<0.001	3.77
Age=Adult	55.40	<0.001	3.70
Education=None	86.92	<0.001	3.60
Education=Primary	78.88	0.001	3.25
Education=Secondary	64.00	0.005	2.80
Age=Young	68.00	0.005	2.72
Procurement Services
Food	47.06	<0.001	8.04
Wood.Bioenergy	38.39	0.001	3.62
Medicinal.use	41.88	<0.001	3.85
Use.Fibers	17.67	0.004	2.91
Art.materials	30.30	0.003	2.97
No.plant.food.resources	23.90	0.011	3.67
Regulation Services
Temperature.regulation	31.67	<0.001	6.23
Air.purification	26.15	0.013	2.48
Shading	42.00	<0.001	5.88
Anti_erosion.role	36.85	0.015	2.46
Reducing.extremes	23.65	<0.001	8.08
CO2.assimilation	16.29	0.001	13.61
Cultural Services
Inspiration	44.52	<0.001	3.38
Natural.beauty.visit	19.41	0.031	2.85
Relaxation	39.00	<0.001	5.48
Entertainment	33.08	0.001	2.99
Support Services
Refuge.animal.species	36.64	<0.001	13.25
Species.evolution.maintenance	33.85	0.041	2.10

Cla/Mod : percentage of all city residents surveyed who recognize the presence/existence of a specific ES and belong to a cluster ; p-value : level of significance of the analysis, v-test : measures the association between variables and groups. It reveals which variables are positively or negatively associated with clusters. When the v-test est > à 3, this indicates the significance of the analysis.

Table 5. Descriptive statistics (Me: mean, CV: Coefficient of variation) and results of the generalized linear model (Poisson with binomial errors) on number of services cited according to group of respondents.

Services	GR1		GR2		Probability
Services	Me	CV	Me	CV	Probability
Support	1.94	16.47	0.75	81.47	<0.001
Cultural	4.62	13.97	2.85	34.32	<0.001
Regulation	5.65	11.48	3.13	31.51	<0.001
Procurement	3.27	40.92	2.17	73.11	<0.001

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