WE ARE ALL GUILTY: FAULT LINES IN NIGERIAN FOREST CRISIS MANAGEMENT

Protected rainforests in Nigeria are in decline and crisis driven. Forest land uses were not planned; forest laws and regulations could not be enforced; forest crimes were in daily occurrence; and the forests were subjected to overharvesting of bioresources causing extirpation of species. This paper examined the root causes of forest illegalities and long-term solutions to forest crimes. Stratified random sampling methods were used to select protected forests, settlements around protected forests and 348 respondents that were interviewed with semi-structured questionnaire. Informal discussion groups were also held with traditional landowners, forest exploiters and government officials responsible for forest management. Data collection lasted from August 2013 to July 2014. Analytical methods involved calculation of frequency of respondents, percentages, tables and graphs.

Results of data analysis revealed that State Governments that were responsible for the management of protected forests were the root causes of crisis in forest estates. Government actions foisted off traditional landowners from gaining access to the forests for generation of revenues, income and cultural advancement. The resistance of the people to the deceits of government led to daily occurrence of crimes in the forests. Long term solution to forest crimes lied on introduction of buffer zones in protected forests for the natives to meet their daily needs; joint partnership in forest management in terms of planning, protection, revenue collection and sharing; and application of biotechnology to improve the status of forest plants to enable them easily acceptable in gardens and farms.