Conservation Of Biodiversity In Central Cross River State: The Role Of Indigenous Communities

Abstract

The central zone of Cross River State is alarmingly being taken over by secondary vegetation as a result of over cultivation of the land, since the communities there are largely agrarian. There are some forms of traditional religious practices and beliefs typified by shrines, evil forests, sacred water and so on that have direct bearing on the conservation and management of environmental resources. This is because they lead to the conservation of fauna and flora. It is worthy to note that these practices enable forest and wildlife species to multiply and wild animals to move about freely in the forest and other habitats. This has helped the new generation to know some of the important species. In this study, a total of two hundred and six and half (206.5) hectares of land is protected under traditional way, which is divided into one hundred and twenty seven (127.7) hectares, and seventy eight (78.8) hectares of forest and aquatic areas respectively, in the Central Cross River State. This large zone of forest and aquatic areas are indirectly conserved in the Central Cross River State by the inhabitants without realizing their contribution to natural resources conservation. The groups of animals and plants involved are fully discussed in this paper.