Prioritization of useful medicinal tree species for conservation in Wari-Maro Forest Reserve in Benin: A multivariate analysis approach

• We propose a multivariate approach for prioritization for conservation of medicinal tree species.
• This approach is new and different to previous works which used ordinal classification or ranking.
• The most important socio-economical and scarce species are proposed as priority species for conservation.
• The scarcity of some priority species shown by ecological information is in congruence with the local perception.

Prioritization of medicinal plant species in conservation schemes is critically important in low income countries. This paper aimed at developing a multivariate prioritization approach to guide conservation of medicinal tree species of Wari-Maro Forest Reserve in central Benin. Ethnobotany surveys were conducted in communities surrounding the forest, using individual semi-structured interviews with 149 people. Additionally, 42 plots were established in the forest to assess the availability of reported species, using mensuration of ecological indicators. Ethnobotanical indices, harvesting risk index, economic importance, threat status, adaptability to climate variations and ecological indicators were computed and pulled into principal components for each species, to yield a compound priority value. Overall, 73 medicinal tree species were reported for 94 traditional medicinal uses. Using our approach, twelve species emerged as priority species for conservation. The most important priority species were Afzelia africana, Khaya senegalensis, Milicia excelsa and Pterocarpus erinaceus. Local perceptions on the availability of three of these species were perfectly congruent with ecological indicators. Enrichment planting and assisted rejuvenation were suggested as urgent conservation actions to be taken.