ACTION ALERT
Help Save Nigeria's Cross River Mangrove and Rainforest
11/23/99
OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY
There is a window of opportunity to assist in the conservation of the
largest remaining rainforest in West Africa, Nigeria's Cross River
rainforest. The region includes rare and unique gorillas, drill
monkeys, chimpanzees, gray parrots and other endangered animals and
plants. The decision has recently been made to halt logging in the
area. This progress must be consolidated through complimentary
letters. Please respond to this Action Alert.
g.b.
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Help Save Nigeria's Cross River Mangrove and Rainforest
Source: Rainforest Action Network via
Global Response Quick Response Network
P.O. Box 7490
Boulder CO, USA 80306-7490
Phone: 303/444-0306
Fax: 303/449-9794
http://www.globalresponse.org
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: November 22, 1999
Dear Members of Global Response's Quick Response Network:
We've just received this message from Odigha Odigha, at NGOCE (a
coalition of Nigerian environmental organizations):
"We are overwhelmed by Global Response's effort toward persuading the
State & National governments to protect the Cross River Rainforest.
The Governor needs intense pressure. For a more rapid response,
members could fax their letters to the State Governor (fax number
given below)."
Since 1996, Global Response letter campaigns have supported NGOCE's
courageous work to stop logging in and around Nigeria's Cross River
National Park. Please send a fax or letter today to convince the
Governor of Cross River State to give permanent protection to the
rainforest. Here's a new Action Alert from Rainforest Action
Network:
Help Save Nigeria's Cross River Mangrove and Rainforest
November, 1999
The attached briefing document and action alert are designed to
assist international organizations and individuals attempting to
increase the level of protection for the second largest frontier
forest in Africa, Nigeria's Cross River rainforest, during the
current window of opportunity.
***ACTION ALERT!!!***
The largest remaining rainforest in West Africa, Nigeria's Cross
River rainforest, has recently been given a temporary stay of
execution, increasing the chances that the region's rare and unique
gorillas, drill monkeys, chimpanzees, gray parrots and other
endangered animals and plants will survive.
Please write a very polite letter to Donald Duke, the Governor of
Cross River State, commending him for his decision to suspend all
logging concessions in the remaining areas of rainforest. (It is
rare that Nigeria receives compliments for its social or
environmental policies and praise may pave the way for continued
progress.) Ask him to prohibit all commercial logging of primary
forest in Cross River state and to give the state's forests and its
many endangered species permanent and effective protection. Ask him
to permanently revoke WEMPCO's forest concessions and wood processing
permits, which are currently the largest threat to West Africa's
rainforest. Hong Kong-based WEMPCO plans to log and export hundreds
of thousands of board-feet of Nigerian lumber. Indicate that
sustainable, small-scale, diversified community businesses are far
healthier for communities and their economies than cut-and-run export
schemes, and that tree plantations cannot replace complex forest
ecosystems.
Mr. Donald Duke
Executive Governor of Cross River State
Office of the Governor
P.M.B. 1070
Calabar, Cross River State
Nigeria
FAX NO: Int'l Code + 234-87-239191
(Postage from US is 60 cents for half-ounce letters, 55 cents for
postcards to Nigeria.)
BRIEFING DOCUMENT:
According to 1998 statistics from the World Resources Institute
(WRI), 90% of West Africais original rainforest is gone, and what
remains is heavily fragmented and degraded by human use. Connected
West African watersheds are currently restricted to one region in
Cote d'Ivoire and another larger one along the border of Nigeria and
Cameroon. These remaining fragments are amongst the most
biologically rich areas on Earth, containing a large percentage of
the plants and animals indigenous to West Africa. All of Nigeria's
intact rainforest watersheds, covering about 7,000 sq. kilometers,
are in Cross River state. Cross River also contains 1,000 sq.
kilometers of mangrove and swamp forest. The Nigerian government
estimates that 20% of the primary forest has been destroyed in the
past two decades.
One-third of Africa's primate species -- and the most endangered, the
drill monkeys and gorillas -- are found here as well as guenon
monkeys, hippopotamuses, chimpanzees, elephants and an incredible
diversity of migratory and resident birds. The Nigerian gorilla may
prove to be a distinct subspecies. If true, this would be the most
endangered gorilla population in the world. Cross River state
harbors 950 species of butterflies -- a quarter of the number to be
found in tropical Africa; 100 are not found anywhere else and at
least three are new to science. Many of Africa's rarest trees, such
as mahogany, ironwood, camwood and mimosup, grow in this forest,
which connects to a larger forest area in Cameroon. Additional tree
species cut and exported from West Africa to Europe, Japan and the
U.S. include: afzelia (Afzelia africana), ekki, idigbo (Terminalia
ivorensis), obeche, and teak (Tectona grandis). There may still be
flora and fauna species that remain to be identified.
The two greatest threats to Nigeria's rainforest and its forest
dependent species are logging and the growing demand for bushmeat.
Commercial hunting and poaching of wildlife, known as bushmeat, is a
major source of protein for Nigeria. Fires and farms eat away at the
jungleis edges, while logging and hunting strike at the heart of it.
Of the five percent of the primary forest remaining in Nigeria,
approximately half is legislatively protected in Cross River National
Park. Established by presidential decree in October 1991, it was
conceived largely through the efforts of focusing local and state
support behind a land-use plan fronted by WWF and backed by local and
international NGOs and scientists. The protected area is widely
considered too vulnerable to sufficiently protect many of the
endangered and threatened species it contains. As with many forest
reserves worldwide, legal protection is not always rigorously
enforced. This and local communities' attitudes towards forest
resource use are the largest factors in determining the fate of the
forest's fragile and endangered species. This is why many Nigerian
NGOs strongest efforts are currently focused in the forest
communities and on the state government.
There is, however, a brief window of opportunity for additional
forest and wildlife protection, as Cross River state's new governor,
Mr. Donald Duke, has suspended all forest logging concessions that
were granted under the previous administration. Nigerian newspapers
note that the cancellation of logging licenses were connected with
the reckless manner in which the forest reserves had been exploited
over the years by individuals and corporate bodies, and is reviewing
local NGOs demand for the creation of a regional Conservation
Commission.
This current opportunity exists largely due to a number of factors:
1) Nigeria's recent transition to democracy and the government's
interest in raising Nigeria's international credibility.
2) Efforts by NGOCE (the coalition of Cross River conservation
groups listed below) in organizing local communities around the
ecological and economic benefits of rainforest preservation.
3) Local and international pressure during the past four years
against Hong Kong-based WEMPCO, which has the largest logging
concession in the Cross River rainforest.
4) Conservation groups and academic's continued efforts and funds to
preserve the primates and other key threatened species.
5) Community concern with the lack of benefits received from
multinational corporations for allowing logging in their community
forest.
6) Growing awareness in Nigeria at both the community and national
level of their disappearing resources and environmental issues in
general.
The fight to preserve the forests of Cross River is unique in that
it's led by indigenous groups, notably, NGOCE (Non-Governmental
Organizations Coalition for the Environment) which has numerous local
member organizations.
Inquiries and requests for information should be routed to: U.S. RAN
415-398-4404 221 Pine St #5, SF, CA 94104.
Nigeria: Mr. Odigha Odigha, Executive Director NGOCE, 20 Ediba Lane,
P. O. Box 1832 Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria. Telephone: 011-
234-87-230-681. Email: cash@unical.anpa.net.ng.
Please be aware that Nigerian postal, telephone and e-mail service
are notoriously unreliable (although reportedly getting better).