Local drivers of deforestation and forest degradation cannot be fully understood without linking environmental field observations with community perceptions. This study analyses local drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in the Pool Department, Republic of the Congo, through a territorial cross-analysis of two complementary datasets: an environmental and social field database documenting rural activities, environmental risks and hydrological proximity, and a community survey database documenting perceived causes of forest decline, perceived timing of its onset and forest types still present. The datasets were combined at the locality level and not through row-by-row merging. The results show that perceived causes of forest decline are dominated by the association of agriculture, charcoal production and fuelwood use, whilst field observations reveal agricultural dominance, a pastoral specificity in Koubola and high hydrological sensitivity in Linzolo, Yalavounga and Yangui. Responses on current forest conditions indicate the dominance of secondary forests, suggesting that qualitative forest degradation is a central process in the Pool Department. The study identifies differentiated local profiles: multiple pressure in Missafou, an agricultural-hydrological profile in Linzolo, a pastoral-energy profile in Koubola, an agricultural-riparian profile in Yalavounga and an older perceived memory of forest decline in Yangui. The findings show that deforestation and forest degradation in the Pool Department are part of a socio-ecological system combining agricultural conversion, wood energy, riparian degradation and the gradual transformation of primary forests into secondary forests.