tHE GuAiUilAN, Sunday, JUne $.2011
Urhonigbe
By Armsfree Ajanaku Onomo
"' A Jfll-I his gaze fixed on a row of pale looking tree V V seedling; struggling to sprnu~ Nelson Egho rut the picture of a concemed man He had planted the seedling;, with tl,e hope that they would grow to becometJees ina portion of whatused tobea thickforest reserve, butwhich is now a near barrmgJa5Sland Like t he trees that once had their homes here, but which have since been chopped down by the quest for firewood , logs and land, Egho's future trees are being threatened by a host of factors, many of whic h he, alongside others, are fighting tooth路a nd nail, to keep at bay. "For the past two weeks now," he begins, "we have been trying to clear the lines in which we planted tree seedling;, but due to the fire that gutted the area last time, we needed to replace the seedlings that were burnt" He continued: "But again, we are battling with elephant grass; when we cut them today, in the nexttwo days, they have gJ;own again. So we are making sure we control them, so 路 that they would not compete with the trees that are already growing. If we don't, they will compete with th e trees in terms of sunlight and nutrients." The dilemma faced by Egho's is not in any way different from the chalfenges being encountered by those charged with the unenviable task of protecting what remains ofUrhonigbe Forest Reserve (UFR), and restoring the portions that have been obliterated. Before it was cut down, a biodiversity su rvey showed that UFR once played host to U mam路 mals, 41 birds, amongst a number of species . . Chris Ameh, a site officer at the reserve notes that ti,e forest was so dense and rich that itwasa reference point at the United Nations. However, as ti, e world marks 2011 as the International Year of the Forest, and today as World Environment Day, eyebrows would be raised when realisation dawns, as Ameh puts it, tI,at "Uronigbe Forest Reserve now, is less tllan 60 hectares out of a very vast area that warranted it being classified in category AI by tile UN. . "Right now, the place has been badly deforested, and-has been taken over by spear, and elephant grasses. I tllink the people saw the danger that was coming, and decided to halt" Ameh further lamented that some efforts being made at regeneration were being thwarted by the m enace of annual bush burning, previously . "i!used by cattle Fulani herdsmen, but now . largely caused by local fanners and rodent hunters in the nigh t 'They leave the place with fire, and it razes what we have planted; it is very frustrating," he said. On the whole, conservationists have identified
deforestation, uncontrolled subsistence farming, illegal hunting, wild fires and over grazing as some of factors that have undermined efforts being made to
regenerate the reserve." All these notwithstanding, a Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) is being vigorously implemented to save UFR, and take care of some of the seemingly insurmountable odds. Funded by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), the BAP is the veritable mstrument With which an effiCient and sustainable management of natural resources on offer from the forest is being done.
'A 1IIH respect to UFR, the BAP has been focusing on YYforest regeneration, livelihood enterprise development and community-based governa nce for natura l resource managem ent in tile reserve. To make ownershi p of, and sustainable management of forest resources realisable, th e BAP has continued to emphasise participation of the communities around the forest, as a critical component of the process. As such, there is a governance structure for natural resource management, which is designed to build commun~ ties' local capacity for the management of the reserve IS bemg explored. Thus, the project established the Forest Management Committee (FMC) and the Grassroots Consultative Committee (GCC) in communities a round th e reserve. To ensure a total devolution of the decisionmaking process, the FMC comprises an 80man commlttee, whICh mcludes the commumty head, head farmer, youth, men and women leader m each of the communities around the fo rest reserve. Similarly, members of t he GeC are nominated from the FMC. For Professor Emmanuel Obot, Executive Director of the Nigeria Conservation Foundation (NCF), who has always advocated a bottom-u p approach in the susta mable management of the environment, maki ng the local people the centerpiece of the efforts to save, and regenerate ti, e Urhonigbe reserve, is crucial. He points out that for a degraded forest, which is also a source of sustenance for communities around it; there路 was a need to explore traditio nal structures to bring the message of conservation and sustainable management home. "We are working witll the support of Shell to demonstrate first and foremost that the forest can be regenerated and that the natural resources there can be managed sustainably," he said.
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"We are doing that along with tile people, with the traditional authority, and the government, with expectations that the government would make certain laws to protect what we are doing there; and of course, we are hoping that the trad itional rulers there will provide an enabling environment, while the communities manage the resources there. It is not an NCF or a Shell thing; it is a communi ty based action by which we are trying to demonstrate that it is possible." Already, some of the efforts at engaging traditiona I and governmental structures in acnieving the goal of sustainable management of the reserve have been yielding fruits. Recently, Edo State became the first among the 36 states of the federation to pass a Biodiversity law. This n ovel pieceofiegislation,asfarasNigeria is concerned, has provided a legal backing for the worle that those implementing the BAP are do ing. According to Michael Uwagbae, the BAP Project Manager at the reserve, on the strength of this legislation, poachers and other elements carrying out iUegal and damaging activities in t1ie reserve are being checked, and brought to book He said: "The situation in Uronigbe forest was really bad; from ti,e story my father used to tell me, It was a place where the sun never gets to ti,e grou nd. It was quite dense, and itwas the largest fo rest reserve in Edo State. But now, it is purely barren grassland; the degradation has really beenverybad,and now,wearetryingtoregenerate the forest again.
"J1iE BAP project has made an impact in ti,e J.sense that brought about the ownership of forests to communities. It has made communities to knowtllat the forest belong; to them, and they should manage it themselves; that alone has really made the BAP Project uni que. With Edo State being the first in the country that has a biodiversity law, which gives authority to communities, to own forests, at least to a large extent,
The situation in Uhronigbe forest was really bad; from the story my father used to tell me, it was a place where the sun never gets to the ground. It was quite dense, and it was the largest forest reserve iii Edo State, But now, it is purely barren grassland; the degradation has really been very bad, and now. we are trying to regenerate the forest again.
it has really made an impact." Beyond the implementation of the Biodiversity law, the drivers of the process have also being exploring the creation of alternatives for members of the comm uni ties, who can't seem to take their eyes off the forests. Uwagbae notes that there is still a lot to learn with respect to creating alternatives that will get the locals to give the forest a breather. "We are still on a learning process. The result has been mixed because some say it doesn't worl~ while otllers give it a try. I think the alternative mea ns of liveli hood has worked to a large extent. It has taken some people off the forests, and it has made them realise that they can actually take thei r eyes off it by doing others things like fishing, and ani mal husbandry to generate income." There have also been co nstant capacity building train ings to equip Grassroots Consultative Committees with skills and technical Imow how on how to help salvage and regenerate the forest In addition, to keer wildfires at bay, clear-cut boundaries, as wei as access roads are being created in the
reseIVe. "This will make it possible drive round tile reserve; then, we will put in place forests scouts who wou ld be locals from the community, to be enllaged in protecting the reserve from wild' fires.' All th ese measures not witllstanding, the demand for bush meat, which comes from the forest, and results in the kill ing of the animal species in it, has proved extremely difficult to co m bat However, a traditional ruler in one of the communities, the Enogie n UgoNiyekorhuawon, HRH E.O Ogi ugo, while restating his people's undying love for bush meat explained that gradually, the message of sustainable management of the forests would catch on. He said traditional institutions were also doing their bestto enlighten the people on . th e need to protect the reserve. Concerned co nservationists recall that Nigeria, once in the heart of the tropical rainforest bel~ has lost about 95 percent of its total forest cover and now has to import 75 percent of the timber it needs for its own purposes. It is believed that initi atives like the BAPwould go a long way in helping to restore the country's forest cover, there bymitigatingtlle realities of climate change.