Community Perceptions of Forest Policy Reforms and Their Implications for Conservation Compliance in Akwa Ibom State

The effectiveness of forest conservation policy ultimately depends on how it is perceived and internalised by the communities whose behaviour most directly determines forest outcomes, yet studies systematically linking community perceptions to compliance behaviour in Nigerian contexts remain rare. This study examines how communities in three forest reserve buffer zones in Akwa Ibom State perceive recent forest policy reforms and investigates the behavioural compliance implications of those perceptions. A sequential mixed methods design combined qualitative focus group discussions with structured surveys administered to 240 household heads. The qualitative phase explored spontaneous perceptions and narratives around the 2022 Akwa Ibom Forest Resources Management Act, while the quantitative phase tested hypothesised relationships between institutional trust, perceived fairness, and self-reported compliance with forest access rules. Structural equation modelling was used to estimate direct and indirect effects. Results indicate that perceived procedural fairness in reserve management decisions was the strongest predictor of compliance intention, exceeding the effect of perceived enforcement probability or sanction severity. Communities that received prior information about policy changes showed significantly higher institutional trust scores. Women respondents reported higher compliance intention but lower institutional trust than men, reflecting exclusion from formal decision structures. The study argues that investment in transparent, participatory policy communication is more cost-effective than enhanced enforcement for generating compliance, and recommends mandatory community consultation protocols for all future forest policy implementations in the state. Keywords: forest policy, community perceptions, compliance, Akwa Ibom State, institutional trust