Abstract

Protection of forest is a conservation strategy to save biodiversity from extinction from the activities of humans. However, in many communities there is an active resistance against the establishment of protected areas aimed at taking away land which is a major source of survival for the local people. This study distributed 100 (n=100) structured questionnaires each in three georeferenced communities namely Okrika, Buguma and Bori. The aim was to find out whether the establishment of protected areas (parks) in the communities was bad for the people amongst other questions. The number of responses for the various questions were analyzed statistically with an Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Most of the results were significant at p<0.05 and shows that fishing (21.0±1.0-64±1.0) was the most dominant occupation while hunting was the least (1.5±0.5-18.0±1.0). People over exploit environmental resources because they need the resource for commercial (33±1.0-69±1.0) and subsistence (1.5±0.5-66.5±0.5) purposes. Many interviewed suggested that jobs (22.0±1.0-34.5±0.5) and the promulgation of laws (51.0±1.0-69.0±1.0) are two key tools to be used to stop the over exploitation of natural resources. Lastly, the establishment of protected areas was accepted by majority who answered yes (63.0±1.0-91.0±1.0) as compared to those who answered no (7.5±0.5-36.5±0.5). These results imply that the people are highly dependent on their natural resources for survival. They therefore need an alternative way to make ends meet in other to facilitate the protection of their environment.

Keywords: Local communities; Nigeria; Environment; Conservation biology; Soil formation; Waste disposal

Abbreviations: IUCN: International Union for the Conservation of Nature; UNEP: United Nations Environmental Program; WWF: World Wide Fund; CRNP: Cross River National Park; ANOVA: Analysis of Variance