The need to protect forest resources from unsustainable, yet rational, human actions has attracted global attention. This is because smallholder dependence on forests can degrade forest resources and cause deforestation. While efforts to understand forest programmes and motivations to protect forests have increased in recent decades, there remains a limited understanding of household factors affecting participation in forest support programmes, especially in the context of high-pressure areas, such as the Miombo woodlands. This study was conducted in the North-Western, Copperbelt and Eastern Province of Zambia. In each province, we selected landscapes consisting of protected and non-protected forest areas. We administered structured interviews to 1123 households and used logistic regression to estimate determinants of participation. We found that better education, landholding size, increased share of forest income, cash crops and non-farm income, and access to forests and markets have a negative impact on participation in forest support programmes. Being located in landscapes with protected areas was positively associated with participation. We suggest that, in order to increase participation, forest programmes should focus on households with low levels of education, limited livelihood opportunities, and poor access to markets. Besides, programmes should provide incentives, including support for farm inputs and at the same time encourage reforestation and agroforestry methods.

Forest restoration is typically assessed using ecological indicators, while considerably less attention is given to how the public perceives, prioritises, and supports restoration. To address this gap, we developed the Perceived Forest Restoration Priority Analysis (PRPA) framework to provide an integrated assessment of public forest restoration priorities in Switzerland. Using data from an online panel survey of 1087 adults, the framework combined four complementary dimensions: perceived importance of forest ecosystem services, perceived forest restoration implementation, expected forest restoration outcomes, and public support for forest restoration. Descriptive statistics, reliability assessment, inferential analyses, and correlation analyses were used to characterise public priorities and examine their associations with demographic, experiential, and psychological factors.,Respondents consistently prioritised ecological integrity and regulating forest ecosystem services over provisioning functions. Public support for forest restoration was generally favourable, whereas perceptions of how frequently restoration practices were implemented locally were comparatively more moderate. Forest visitation, awareness of local forest restoration programmes, and particularly nature connectedness showed the most consistent associations with public forest restoration priorities, whereas conventional demographic characteristics were associated with fewer dimensions.,The findings indicate that public forest restoration priorities are more consistently associated with people's experiences with forests and their relationship with nature than with demographic characteristics alone. By integrating multiple dimensions of public priorities within a single analytical framework, the PRPA complements ecological monitoring and provides a structured approach for incorporating societal dimensions into the planning, monitoring, and evaluation of forest restoration.