In a situation where access to forest resources would be curtailed, 30.6% people were willing to buy alternatives to fuel, timber and thatch; 10% responded that they would resort to pilfering from the forest. More people (12.6%) living close to the forests (3 km) would resort to pilfering compared to 2.9% of those living away (>3 km) from the forests, because more people (68.2%) closer to the forests were dependent on them compared to those living away from the forests (38.6%) (c2 ¼ 33.7, df ¼ 15, p < 0.05) (Table 5).