Implementing Agency:
Department For International Development (PAND)

Managing Institute:
Nigerian Conservation Foundation

Contractor:
Nigerian Conservation Foundation

Project Code: 048-680-009	Start Date: 01-Apr-95	End Date: 01-Mar-97
Commitment: £11,000	Status: Completed	Type of Funding: Bilateral - JFS

Project Background:
The Okomu Forests have been extensively colonised and deserted at least twice in the past; and the last near desertion phase provided the rationale for the initial Reserve siting. Later expansion of the Reserve meant that many village farming enclaves had to be created; and these have been outgrown, mainly because taungya regeneration served to attract many immigrants into the Reserve. The leasing out of large plantations, uncontrolled growth in the number of local timber mills to meet rising home demand, and the resulting switch from 25 year to five year (or less) timber concessions have all been major factors in a breakdown of forestry management logging policies and practices. The Wildlife Sanctuary has been a late introduction to the centre of this heavily logged area.

Project Objectives:
To create a viable long-term masterplan for land-use in Okomu Forest Reserve, Edo State, Nigeria, which:

- catered for the interests of all parties;

- reconciled their main conflicting interests;

- anticipated future change;

- sustained the Reserve's natural and cultural resources;

- suggested ways in which the plan could be followed;

- strengthened traditional usufruct an/or tenurial rights.

Intended Outputs:
To obtain an agreement signed by the key parties concerned.