Rural communities in Cross River State are relatively poor with inadequate health and education facilities. Few have access to electricity or clean water and there are few opportunities for employment. Many depend upon natural resources, particularly forests, for hunting, fishing and gathering of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) for much of their income. Agriculture is also an important source of income in many villages.

At present, most villages receive very little for their forest produce compared to urban market prices. Many communities are too poor to transport their forest products to urban markets and are unaware of the market values of these various products. The trend towards a cash economy has increased the temptation for villages to sell their forest resources for profit, often selling extremely cheaply to urban based traders and logging companies. Thus the villagers aid the degradation of their forests and remain poor and without the resources for sustainable development, while the traders and logging companies profit from the degradation of the resource.

Besides timber, there are other forest products that are already being produced and marketed in large quantities from forest communities all over Cross River State. The most important of these are bush mango (Irvingia gabonensis), afang (Gnetum africanum), chewing sticks and rattans. Bush mango and afang are condiments used for cooking. Chewing sticks are used to brush teeth whilst rattans are used to make cane furniture. There is a big market for these four forest products in Nigeria, and Cross River State supplies large cities as far away as Port Harcourt and Lagos. Nevertheless, middle men who transport the products from the villages to the cities continue to make most of the profits and the harvesting rate of the NTFPs is unsustainable.

For the active management of forests by local communities, village capacity for self-organisation and self-help needs to be strengthened. There is a low level of environmental awareness, and communities are often constrained by a perceived lack of income generating activities relating to natural resource management. With sustainable forest management, micro-credit loans, and training in processing techniques, villages in the State will be able to produce and market a processed higher value product. This will help to provide rural employment and will promote the long term conservation of the State's community forest resources.

• To support the development of sustainable community forest management in Cross River State, Nigeria.
• To influence national and international forestry policy and practice.
• To develop the capacity of communities in Cross River State to implement community forestry initiatives.
• To strengthen the capacity of the NGOs and Local Government Authorities to support village organisations implementing community forestry initiatives.
• To work towards the development of a policy framework to influence national and international forestry policy and practice.
• A minimum of 50 communities received and used environmental education materials, and participated in worlshops on community forestry. The same communities received publications on certification and debated in workshops about the usefulness of certification.
• A minimum of 50 communities receive radio programmes dealing with forestry issues.
• Ten community forestry initiatives received technical support leading to the implementation of forest management plans, business plans and land use plans.
• A trial micro-credit scheme and trust fund for community forestry initiative is functioning well.
• On the basis of training in capacity building, 4 local environmental NGOs now work more efficiently with communities.
• Short training courses for LGA forest officers have been developed to train them to support community forestry activities. Part of the course was the production of a series of tailor-made environmental education/training materials to be distributed among the communities.
• On the basis of training courses held, forest offices in 4 LGAs developed active engagement and a sense of ownership of community forestry initiatives.
• A series of working papers discussing community forestry issues has been produced, published and disseminated.
• Liaison office in Calabar established for organisations, EU, Member States and other projects.