Performance of forest management committees in Cross River state, Nigeria

Forest and tree resources are of extreme importance to mankind because they provide a wide variety of useful products that feature in our everyday lives. However, the forest estate of Nigeria is being depleted at an unsustainable annual rate of 3.5% and the Sahara Desert is encroaching southward by about one kilometre each year. The Nigerian state-led forest management structure has failed to check this trend; hence the introduction of forest management committees (FMCs), representing a participatory (including the government) forest management structure led by the owner community. This study examines the performance of FMCs in Cross River state. Information was obtained through oral interviews with officials and a questionnaire survey of other respondents. The results of the data analysis show that the intensity of forest management practices was significantly higher in communities with FMCs than in those without. In communities without FMCs, household income from forestry was derived mainly from timber products and was significantly higher than in communities with FMCs, where forestry income was mainly from non-wood forest products. This shows the level of forestry restriction and regulation obtainable in communities with FMCs. Among the factors identified as influencing respondents' perceptions about the use of FMCs, five were positive and statistically significant: age, level of education, level of household income from forestry, regular harvest of forest products and presence of an erosion problem in the community. The Likert scale rating of the constraints encountered by FMCs indicated that the most challenging of these were: lack of commitment of members, change in government policies, financial constraints, inter- and intra-community conflicts, inadequate support from community leadership and a negative attitude on the part of the community to forest conservation.