Influence of Community Participatory Mobilization on Attitude of Farmers Towards Deforestation in Cross River Rainforest Zone Nigeria

Agnes O Omari ,Remi M Omoogun ,John Edwin Effiom

doi:10.7176/cer/11-6-02

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to examine community participation and attitude of farmers towards deforestation in the rainforest zone of southern Cross River State, Nigeria. To achieve the purpose of this study one hypothesis was formulated to guide the study. Ex-post facto research design was considered most suitable for the study. A sample of 568 respondents was randomly selected for the study through stratified and simple random sampling techniques. A structured questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection. The instrument was faced validated by three experts in Test and Measurement and the research supervisor who vetted the items developed. The reliability estimate of the instrument was established through the Cronbach alpha reliability method. Simple linear regression statistical tool was used for data analysis. The results of the analysis revealed that, there is a significant influence of community participatory mobilization on attitude of farmers towards deforestation in rainforest zone in the study area. Based on these finding it was recommended among others that environmental educators and advocates should ensure community participation to empower them to develop more positive attitude towards eradication of negative environmental practices and actions. Keywords: community participation, environmental awareness, attitude , deforestation, rainforest DOI : 10.7176/CER/11-6-02 Publication date :July 31 st 2019

Highlights

Forest is a biological community consisting of complex association of trees, plants, water sources and soil that have evolved over millions of years, providing habitats for millions of plants and animal species
The analysis further revealed that the community members do not benefit from wildlife conservation efforts by the Federal Government; the implementation of laws prohibiting hunting in the protected area and harvesting of conserved animal species in forests in the buffer zone has negatively affected the livelihood of heads of households and male youth who were great hunters
The analysis showed a statistical significant relation between some selected variables like respondents knowledge, family uses of different forestry products, awareness of causes of forest destruction and respondent’s awareness of environmental problems, which exerted important influences on the attitudes, and participation of respondents

Summary

Introduction

Forest is a biological community consisting of complex association of trees, plants, water sources and soil that have evolved over millions of years, providing habitats for millions of plants and animal species. Some 20,00050,000km of potentially productive lands is lost annually worldwide through deforestation. The activity affects the protective, productive and regulatory functions of the forest on a global perspective; many more have reduced the vegetative cover where 2-9 million km of the earth crust is said to be at very high risk of the resultant impact of desertification, food shortages, global warming etc. Ogar, Essien and Bullem (2014) have pointed out that approximately 78% of the forest cover in the world have disappeared in the last two decades due to various activities of farmers, ranchers and the multinational companies; this forest has been cleared for logging, timber export, subsistence agriculture, collection of hardwood for fuel and 82% of the hardwood exploited in the forest suffered lost annually and these remains problematic in West Africa

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Conclusion