Implementing Agency:
Department For International Development (PAND)

Managing Institute:
WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature)

Project Code: 048-680-004	Start Date: 15-Aug-88	End Date: 01-Mar-96
Commitment: £41,000 (Aug 88 - Dec 93)	Status: Completed	Type of Funding: Bilateral - JFS

Project Background:
At least 90% of Nigeria's rainforests have already been destroyed. Most of the remaining 10% is in Cross River State, and is unlikely to survive unless appropriate measures are initiated soon. The major problem is progressive degradation of the forest resource base due to over-exploitation and illegal conversion, and of the agricultural lands due to the use of inappropriate crops and planting strategies. These factors contribute to declining resource productivity, jeopardise watershed functions, and will result in an increasing need for economic subsidy of the area.

The southern Cross River State is functionally continuous with adjacent parts of Cameroon, in that the two areas share common wildlife resources and exchange major rivers. Both areas contribute to the productivity of the mangrove swamps which are major fisheries estimated to contribute over £100 million annually to the two countries' economies.

The proposed Masterplan is intended to assist in stabilising land and forest use in southern Cross River State, and by complementing current efforts in Cameroon by the Korup National Park Buffer Zone Development Project to safeguard the long-term integrity of the whole trans-frontier system. This will be achieved principally by broadening the range of options for forest and land use in the region, designing and evaluating incentives which may be used to encourage appropriate activities, and co-ordinating all development initiatives so as to avoid conflicts of interest and maximise both efficiency and productivity.

The Masterplan will apply to an area of about 700,000 hectares, bounded eastwards by the Cameroon frontier and westwards by the Calabar-Ikom-Mamfe highway. The area includes the Ikpan and Main Blocks of the Oban Hills Forest Reserve (a proposed National Park complex contiguous with the Korup National Rainforest Park in Cameroon).

Project Objectives:
To conserve the environmentally important Oban Forest. The project involves tree plantation, a forestry extension programme and the development of forest management activities in the development of a National Park.

Intended Outputs:
To make as detailed an assessment as possible of the likely socio-economic effects which the implementation of the Masterplan would precipitate, including:

- baseline socio-economic and ethnolinguistic profile.

- special factors affecting rural groups and women.

- Socio-economic impact of land-use changes.

To produdce an adequate management plan for the National Park, which constitutes the prime focus of the Masterplan, including:

- National Park management.

- Wildlife management.

- Fisheries management.

To address the issue of how to render forest reserve exploitation both sustainable and most efficient economically, including:

- Natural forest management.

- Tree-crop development.

- Non-timber forest product development.

To manage the use of non-forest resources, including:

- Agricultural and agroforestry development.

- Infrastructural development.

- Soil survey and land evaluation.

- Tourism development.

To manage the investment environment, including:

- Local investment incentives.

- National investment incentives.

- International investment incentives.

Education is an essential component of rural development and conservation projects, and needs to be directed at a number of levels simultaneously. These include initiatives focussed on the schools system and closely co-ordinated with existing curricular and extra-curricular activities, those involving the use of model facilities and training courses, and others which aim to communicate with the population at large.