Posted on octubre, 01 1999

Lagos, Nigeria: It is six years since the government of Cross River state, on the southeast coast of Nigeria, granted approval to the Hong Kong company WEMPCO to undertake logging activities in more than 500 square kilometres of tropical rainforest. The decision was controversial and the fall-out from it continues to this day. Complaints by non-governmental organizations and occasional violent agitation in affected communities have effectively put much of the logging operation on hold. The Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA) is trying to broker a compromise, but the locals remain adamant, saying that the logging concessions will sound the death-knell for what remains of the country's undisturbed tropical rainforest.

Opponents maintain that the concessions fall within areas designated as part of the 6,000-sq km Cross River National Park, which is supposed to be a protected site. They argue that, with 90 per cent of the country's original tropical rainforest already destroyed, it would be madness to risk what remains. Large-scale logging will threaten the existence of rare species endemic to the forest and cause irreversible imbalance in the eco-system. At the same time, effluents from the company's wood processing factory will also pollute the Cross River, which straddles Nigeria and Cameroun.

Experts bolster the case by stressing the need to preserve the pristine forest as a means of absorbing carbon emissions resulting from oil spills and gas-flaring in the nearby Niger Delta. The Cross River National Park represents 40 per cent of Nigeria's total rainforest. It is believed to be the largest of its type in West Africa and also regarded as one of the world's richest in terms of biodiversity. It contains more than 1,200 plant species, 100 of which are found only in Nigeria. Many of the plants are believed to possess medicinal value, with a few recently declared to contain substances that could help to cure AIDS.

In addition, the Park is home to various endangered species such as the lowland gorilla, the endemic drill monkey, the bare-headed rock fowl and others. It also contains about 1,000 species of butterflies, representing 20 per cent of the world's total.

WEMPCO believes the agitation that has stalled much of its logging activity is ill-founded. Its director of operations, Andrew Chou, says: "The complaints are unnecessary. The company has taken every measure required by international environmental standards in its operations."

But the controversy has served to bring the subject of deforestation to national attention in Nigeria. In fact the problem has been a long-running one. At the end of the 19th century the nation's natural forest covered more than 600,000 sq km, but during the past 100 years uncontrolled demand for wood � mostly for fuel but increasingly for export � has reduced the forest to just over five per cent of its original size, some 38,620 sq km. Astonishingly, deforestation continues unabated even now.

Already, much of the natural forest in Western and Eastern Nigeria has been lost, while the remaining forest reserves apparently suffer unrelenting assault from the chain-saw, often with the connivance of unscrupulous forest guards. A 1977 survey put Nigeria's reserved forest at about 10 per cent of the total land area, but much has since been wiped out.

"Between 1976 and 1990, deforestation proceeded at an average rate of 400,000 hectares per annum, in 1981-1985 at 3.48 per cent, while in 1986-1990 it was 3.57 per cent including some forest reserves," says a recent government report by the Vision 2010 Committee. "If this rate was maintained, the remaining forest area in Nigeria would disappear by the year 2020."

Deforestation has a staggering financial cost, according to energy expert Dr A O Adegbulugbe, who says: "World Bank figures on the losses to the nation in sustainable production of timber and fuelwood from forestry resources represent about US$750 million annually as a result of deforestation." There are other losses, too. Nigeria's current biodiversity status shows that the country has a conservatively estimated 500 viral species, 3,423 fungal species, 748 algae and 2,455 species of higher plants. Already, more than 484 plant species in 112 families are threatened with extinction, while scores have already been lost because of deforestation. The fate of the country's animal life is even worse.

The Vision 2010 report concluded: "Nigeria's wildlife is rapidly declining due to habitat loss and increased pressure from hunters, poachers and bush burning. Animals that have disappeared from Nigeria in recent times include the cheetah, the pygmy hippopotamus, the giraffe, the black rhinoceros and the giant eland. About 10-12 species of primates, including the white throated guenon species of primates and sclater's guenon, are under threat due to habitat loss and deforestation."

The government's response to this grave situation has been disappointing. The rate of afforestation is slow and the government shows little interest beyond celebrating an annual tree-planting day. Things are so bad, according to former FEPA head Dr Adegoke Adegorioye, that "if the current trend of forest depletion continues, the country might start importing timber within the next 20 years."

(848 words)

*Abiodun Raufu is a journalist based in Lagos, Nigeria