Forest Resources Management for Sustainable Development in Cross River State of Nigeria : Challenges of the 21st Century

This article dwells on the importance of current management strategies of forest resources and the way forward vis-à-vis the sustainability of the Tropical High Forest (THF) for livelihood, housing and commerce. Over seventy percent of the Cross River State population, occupying about two thousand communities live in rural areas with their characteristic mud-walled and thatch-roofed houses. Their mainstay being crude agricultural practices involving mixed cropping, hunting, non-timber forest product gathering, fishing and other resources exploitation. The high poverty level of these agrarian communities has resulted in mass deforestation of the virgin rain forest biochure for lucre and livelihood. If the importance of the rural environment as a source of industrial raw-material, waste product recycling and a life support regulatory organ has to be appreciated, there is need for sustainable forest and land-use options to protect the natural habitats and biodiversities of our rural communities. Efforts to control the unsustainable timber logging, other forms of deforestation and poor land utilization such as concession granting, check posts/control points, tariff review, revocation orders, awareness creation, formation of community management committees, and introduction of alternative forest and land-use options, among others, are covered in this article. Given the maxims of local, national and global problems confronting the implementation of these strategies, recommendations are made on enhancing the roles played by the Cross River State Forestry Development Department and Land Ordinance Act for sustainable land-use and management of the State’s forestry estates. The article concludes that enormous benefits would be reaped by Cross River State for the sustainable development of its local communities if adequate steps are taken to conserve its forest resources