Abstract
The forest, being naturally occurring vegetation, requires planning and management by diverse groups of stakeholders and managers for its preservation. This involves harnessing the rural people’s interest in forest utilization as well as pitfalls of unsuccessful NGOs or extension officers. Inadequate sustainable planning and management initiatives accounts for the challenges and threats on the natural resources and human lives. There is need for checks and balances between challenges and outlooks at the people’s disposal. The challenges focuses on lack of sustainability for future generation, increased production, encouraging reforestation, preventing excessive silvicultural practice (pruning and pest control) and species adaption. Though active participatory and sustainable use may be best left to the rural dwellers in the forest whose needs and opinions are first considered but institutional support strengthens their efforts by enhancing their outlooks. Outlooks observed from the rural dwellers were lack of awareness of forest management activities, interest to plant trees, active age class (21–60yrs), local policy, highest monthly income of below N15,000, lack of proper storage and packaging, innovation, market price control, year round marketing, improvement of road network and small scale factory for institutional support. The way forward is integrated conservation, empowerment of the active age grades, gender roles, indigenous knowledge, study of the total economic value of sustainable forestry activities and strong partnership with forestry agencies or organizations. However, evaluation and monitoring of local and institutional policies from time to time would create a sense of belonging for financial commitment, continual cooperation, poverty alleviation and sustainable management.
Highlights
The great potentials of African natural resources’ contribution to the economic and social development are grossly undermined by the deforestation and degradation of the forest
The main reason of deforestation and degradation include: competition between human and other species, for the remaining ecological niches on land and in costal regions; failure in the working of the economic systems to reflect the time value of the environment; Poverty pervades in the rural and remote areas and this has become both a cause and an outcome of declining supply of natural resources (Chanthalangsy, 2009); Poor forest management policies, including unrestricted logging and excessive harvesting of fuel-wood contributed to environmental degradation (Eastnaugh, 2008)
The South-South is a wetland region consisting of moist tropical lowland rain forest having coastal sediments, dominated by mangrove vegetation and located in the south southern part of Nigeria, and made up of six states (Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo and Rivers)
Summary
The great potentials of African natural resources’ contribution to the economic and social development are grossly undermined by the deforestation and degradation of the forest. By virtue of mangrove proximity to the people, introducing meaningful strategies from the challenges and outlooks of past finding fulfills varied environmental and economic functions To this end, technical needs that cover the financial, human and institutional resources, rural people involvement and links between rural people and government or NGOs must be identified. The South-South is a wetland region consisting of moist tropical lowland rain forest having coastal sediments, dominated by mangrove vegetation and located in the south southern part of Nigeria, and made up of six states (Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo and Rivers) The bulk of this population resides in the commercial, industrial and business areas (urban) and the rural areas are mostly involved in fishing in the coast, logging in the forest and farming in the inland. Concerns for sustainable management of indigenous resources have been raised on integrated approaches in conservation, poverty alleviation and biological diversities
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