Assessment of Community Participation in Forestry in Onigambari Forest Reserve

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume III, Issue III, March 2019 | ISSN 2454–6186

Assessment of Community Participation in Forestry in Onigambari Forest Reserve

Chukwu, V. E. and Bada, S. O.
University of Ibadan, Nigeria, India

Abstract: This study investigated the degree of community participation in forestry among stakeholders of Onigambari Forest Reserve, Oyo State. Interviews and one hundred and sixty-seven structured questionnaires were employed with the view to gathering information from respondents that were drawn using both multi-stage and purposive sampling designs. The data were analysed using Descriptive and Chi-square test of independence statistics. Foremost among factors responsible for encroachment in the forest reserve is occupation, in which farming was identified as the most crucial. Other factors which affect health of the forest reserve include Sex, age, marital status, family size, literacy level, location of farm land; right to land, domestic fuel materials, activities carried out in the forest reserve, participation and involvement of the people in the management and implementation of programmes in the reserve, cooperation between the indigenous people and the officers of the reserve as well as perception of benefits derived from the reserve. Also, the indigenous people were not involved in the management and implementation of programmes in the forest reserve and that Oyo state policy is not effective in management of the forest reserve. However, sustainability of the forest reserve is dependent on its effective management, which has a strong bearing on the level of participation and involvement of the local people. Community participation in forestry which will reflect the needs of the people was therefore recommended as imperative to the survival of the reserve.

I. INTRODUCTION

Globally, degradation, fragmentation and simplification or conversion of forest ecosystems are progressing rapidly (Abramovitz, 1998). In Nigeria, forest area declined during the 1990s at an estimated annual rate of 2.6% (or 398,000 hectares per year (FAO, 2005), owing to agricultural expansion, encroachment, over-harvesting, bush burning, illegal harvesting and de-reservations. The Federal Department of Forestry (FDF, 2001) reported annual depletion rate of 3.5% in Nigeria. A detailed analysis of the land-use dynamics of Nigeria shows that even forests contributing to flood-plain agriculture (Fadama) and water resources development will eventually be depleted with poten-tial catastrophic consequences. The FDF (op.cit) noted that the forest estate of Nigeria is highly depleted and that the Sahara Desert is encroaching southward at a rate of about one kilometer per year. Forest fires are common and are caused by deliberate burning. It was estimated that only about 975,000 hectares of forest reserves are productive, while another 2.34 million hectares of free (non-reserve) areas are only partially productive.

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