Timber exploitation rate in tropical rainforest ecosystem of southwest Nigeria and its implications on sustainable forest management

Abstract

Timber exploitation data that are very essential for sustainable management of the forest resources, where available in Nigeria, are not analyzed and studied to provide information on the rate of log removal from the forest estate. Timber exploitation rate in Nigeria using Ondo State as a case study was examined in this study. Secondary data on the volume and number of economic timber species exploited from the reserved and free areas forests in four forest administrative zones on monthly basis between 2003 and 2005 were collected from the state department of forestry. Analysis was done with student t-test and two-way analysis of variance. The result revealed that the highest number of species, families and stems was exploited in the free areas when compared with what was exploited from the reserves for the three-year period. During the study period, a total of 60 and 57 species were exploited from the free areas and the reserves respectively from the four administrative zones. The total number of stems exploited from both the free areas and reserves totaled 111377 with an estimated volume of 295089.67m3. A steady increase was recorded in logging activities between year 2003 and 2004 but there was a decline in year 2005. This reveals how fast economic timbers are disappearing from the forests and consequently, how the ecosystem is seriously disturbed during logging activities. Principles for achieving the goals of sustainable forest management (SFM) and urgent conservation measures to mitigate these consequences were suggested. © 2013, ALÖKI Kft., Budapest, Hungary.