ACTION
ALERT
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WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
Help
Save Nigeria's Cross River Mangrove and Rainforest
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Forest
Networking a Project of Forests.org
http://forests.org/ -- Forest
Conservation Archives
http://forests.org/web/ -- Discuss Forest
Conservation
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).
###RELAYED
TEXT ENDS###
This
document is a PHOTOCOPY for educational, personal and non-
commercial
use only. Recipients should seek
permission from the
source
for reprinting. All efforts are made to
provide accurate,
timely
pieces; though ultimate responsibility for verifying all
information
rests with the reader. Check out our
Gaia's Forest
Conservation
Archives & Portal at URL= http://forests.org/
Networked
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