By Christian Njoku
The Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) has stated that effective forest conservation is challenging without adequate and sustainable funding.
Mr Emmanuel Owan, Head of Cross River Office of NCF, disclosed this during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria yesterday in Calabar.
Owan said that although Cross River National Park still held the largest forest in the nation due to the efforts of the park managers, the park had been threatened by community encroachment.
According to him, the communities that border the park needed to be funded and given the necessary amenities to take their eyes away from the forest, which is their only resource.
He said that most of the communities bordering the Cross River National Park had no good roads, no electricity, and basic health centres and schools.
According to Owan, how do you stop them from encroaching on the forest and park?
The managers of the Park in Cross River, from the Okwangwo Division to the Oban Division, need proper funding to patrol the forests.
“Our park rangers don’t even have up to 10 functional bikes and are few; this is a challenge because they cannot afford to patrol our forests effectively,” he maintained.
Speaking also. Mr Godwin Ugah, Executive Director, Green Planet Initiative International, said that the Cross River National Park could not be protected with the high level of logging and mining activities in parts of the park.
“For example, in communities like Ifumkpa in Akamkpa Local Government Area, gold is mined in the forest and the national park. A similar thing is happening in the forests of Agoi Ekpo in Yakurr LGA.
“The same illegal mining and logging activities are also happening in parts of Biase and Obubura LGAs,” Ugah said.
According to him, this threatens the Cross River heritage in terms of the biodiversity hot spot we claim to have.
He said that the activities were also destroying the plants and animals of the forest.
Ugah added that many of the animals were becoming extinct while others were going deeper and deeper into the heart of the forest, making it impossible for people to see them.
He said the buffer zones between the communities and the park have been breached due to increased population and a desire for land for agricultural purposes.
Ugah called for a massive enlightenment campaign in the communities on the dangers of destroying the forest to protect the forest and its ecosystem.
He, however, said that political will was needed to protect the forest.
He urged the government to investigate those behind the allegations that top government officials backed most of the loggers and miners.
Responding to the alleged logging and mining, Mr George Oben-Etchi, Director General of the Cross River Forestry Commission, refuted the allegation against government officials.
He urged the communities bordering the forest to mention names, as this would help the commission identify the people funding the massive logging activities.
He added that the commission was still fighting to end the problem “despite sabotage here and there.”
Oben-Etchi said the commission had already got the state’s Chief Judge to designate three courts in the three senatorial districts to try culprits.
