Influence of poverty on forest / forest management policies of Cross River National Park, Akamkpa

This research attempts to investigate and examine the influence of poverty on forest/forest management in the rural areas of Mbarakpa, Igbofia, Uyanga, Oban, Nsan and Obutong in Akamkpa Local Government Area of Cross River State. The population of this study comprised the total number of 620 household heads in the six communities. The primary objective of this study was to investigate factors responsible for high poverty rate in the rural areas that has made the application of forest management policies unworkable. Analysis of data from the 150 sampled household heads in the study area revealed that the level of poverty and general standard of living in the study area are highly deplorable, leading to high rate of forest exploitative drive. The study further indicated that majority (68.67 percent) of the sampled respondents had no gainful employment, hence the propensity for forest resource exploitation. It showed further that about 77.33 percent of the sampled respondents were ignorant of the forest bye-laws. Based on these findings, it was recommended that the rural people in the study area should be empowered to take active part in sustainable management of the forest as this would help to reduce the level of poverty. Also other sources of income and nutrition (example, fish and snail farming) apart from forest resources should be developed and encouraged. Keywords : rural poverty, forest management policies Global Journal of Environmental Sciences Vol. 4(2) 2005: 177-180