Journal of Geography and Earth Sciences

Assessing the Impacts of Tenure Practices on Forest Management in Cross River State, Nigeria
Ajake, A. O.; Abua, M. A.

Abstract
The challenge of sustainable forest management is the relationship between land and forest resources utilization. Land is the central focus of all human manipulations. The study assessed the impact of tenure practices on forest use and management in the rainforest communities of Cross River State, Nigeria. Data collection was basically through household questionnaire survey and participatory rural appraisal methodologies. Descriptive statistics such as simple percentages, mean, standard deviation and table were used for the analysis, while the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was employed to assess the variation in the effectiveness of the land and tree tenure practices in forest utilization and management. The study identified three main tenure practices such as land tenure, tree tenure and common property resource ownership that influenced forest management. The one-way Analysis of Variance (ANVOA) confirmed a statistically not significant difference in the effectiveness of tenure practices on forest resource use and management since the calculated F-ratio of 0.873 was less than tabulated F-ratio of 4.00 at 0.05 level of confidence. This implies that all the tenure practices in the area were very effective in promoting forest management in the area. Furthermore, the analysis also established a statistically significant difference in the effectiveness of land tenure practices such as institutional ownership, communal ownership, family or individual ownership, leasehold and private tenure in forest resources management based on the analysis of variance (ANOVA) that produced F-ratio of 45.196 which was higher than the tabulated Fratio of 2.45 at 0.05 level of confidence. It was discovered that family or individual land ownership was more effective in promoting sustainable forest management than other land tenures since it has a higher mean score of 44.78 representing 66.06 percent of the total responses. Although women establishment of rights over land was mostly through their male children, father and husband in the rainforestcommunities, however the study identified several factors such as culture/tradition, nature of land tenure, nature of tree species and tree species value as affecting the rights of tree tenure, which in turn influenced forest use and management in the area. Based on the findings, the study recommended that; tenure practices such as land tenure, forest tenure and common property resource ownership should be regulated and encouraged for their effective influence in forest utilization and management. Also, land tenure practices such as individual or family land ownership which attracted the highest mean score of 44.78 representing 66.06 percent of total response should be encouraged among the rainforest dwellers, since it promotes sustainable forest management in Cross River State, Nigeria.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/jges.v3n2a6