Household survey and Q-methodology on Mopane woodland ecosystem services and community perceptions in Mopani and Vhembe districts, Limpopo Province

This dataset contains primary data collected from 115 households in Mopani and Vhembe districts, Limpopo Province, South Africa, during September 2025. The data were collected to assess the economic value of provisioning ecosystem services supplied by Mopane woodlands and to investigate local community perceptions of regulatory ecosystem services. The dataset includes household survey responses on socio-economic characteristics, availability and utilisation of provisioning ecosystem services, household dependence on woodland resources, market prices, annual income generated from ecosystem products, and resource collection purposes. It also contains responses to 15 Q-methodology statements measuring community perceptions, preferences, and priorities regarding regulatory ecosystem services and sustainable forest management.Variables include demographic information (age, gender, education, and income source), ecosystem products harvested (fuelwood, timber, edible insects, bush meat, medicinal plants, wild fruits, honey, herbs, mushrooms, and fodder), quantities harvested, market prices, annual income, household consumption, and Likert-scale responses used for Q-factor analysis. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, the Market Price Valuation Method (MPVM), Mann–Whitney U tests, Friedman tests, correlation analysis, and principal component analysis (PCA) with varimax rotation. The dataset supports research on ecosystem service valuation, rural livelihoods, natural resource management, conservation, and sustainable forest management in southern Africa.