Assessing mangrove products and services at the local level: the use of focus groups and individual interviews

Information on the array of mangrove products and services used, understood, and perceived at the local level may help decision makers, stakeholders, and others make better resource management decisions. Qualitative research methods can reveal information on ecosystem products and services at the local level. In-depth interviews have been used to collect data on local use of mangrove wood and wood products. This paper reports on the use of both focus groups and individual interviews to learn from local beneficiaries about the array of ecosystem products and services associated with a mangrove ecosystem and explores the relative importance of wood products to local mangrove ecosystem beneficiaries. The analysis shows that focus groups and individual interviews reveal different information. Furthermore, the data show that the local resource beneficiaries do not view wood products as the most important service of the mangrove ecosystem.