Community Perceptions of Cultural Ecosystem Services in Restoring Degraded Urban Forests: Evidence from Aboabo Forest, Ghana

Abstract Cultural ecosystem services (CES), including aesthetic, educational, recreational, spiritual, and social values - provided by urban forests, are critical to the well-being of urban communities. However, the Aboabo Forest in Tamale, Ghana, a 138.64-hectare gazetted reserve, is severely affected by persistent open defecation (OD) by surrounding community members. While prior studies have established the prevalence and behavioural determinants of OD in this forest and its institutional management arrangements, the impact of OD on the CES of the forest and the community's preferred strategies for their restoration remain unexamined. This study addresses this gap using data drawn from a cross-sectional mixed-methods research design: a structured survey of 110 households and ten key-informant interviews with community and institutional leaders. Findings reveal that aesthetic value (91.8%), educational value (90.0%), recreational and ecotourism value (80.9%), and spiritual and religious value (76.4%) are the CES most severely degraded by OD. The degradation manifests largely through deterrence - residents avoid the forest for fear of stigmatisation and due to the foul environment - and through the desacralisation of sacred shrines. Paradoxically, OD appears to strengthen social relations among practitioners (56.4%), thus depicting a complex social facet of the practice. Community members prioritise the restoration of aesthetic (94.5%), educational (87.3%), and spiritual/religious (71.8%) CES and propose four pathways: public education campaigns, promotion of religious and cultural activities in the forest, multi-stakeholder collaboration, and integration of recreational infrastructure.