The National Park Service has expressed its readiness to comply with the global biosphere reserve regulations and guidelines as recommended by UNESCO.
Joseph Ntui, conservator of the Cross River National Park, Akamkpa, said this during an interview at Akamkpa, Cross River.
He made the commitment on the sidelines of the ongoing UNESCO-supported Biodiversity Business Training for 12 communities around the Oban Biosphere Reserve.
The training focused on fishery, poultry, and piggery as alternative sources of income. The aim is to reduce dependence on forest resources and promote sustainable resource management.
The programme was sponsored by the India-UN Development Partnership Fund and implemented in collaboration with the Nigerian Man and Biosphere Committee, the Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria, and the National Park Service.
Ntui said that part of the biosphere reserve guidelines was engaging in community-based biodiversity business initiatives that promote sustainable livelihoods and environmental conservation.
“The National park is a global project and we are a signatory to a number of conventions on preserving wildlife, conservation of biosphere reserves. We have the Wildlife Conservation Society, the UN Climate Change framework, all these organisations, and the conventions are geared towards environmental conservation and protection.
“They are all geared towards protecting our environment, reducing the impact of climate change and other consequences and activities that contribute to degrading our environment. We have no option than to ensure that we work in line with the Man and the Biosphere Programme, an intergovernmental scientific programme run by UNESCO,” he said.
He recalled that the MAB aimed to improve the relationship between the people and their environments by creating a global network of Biosphere Reserves.
Mr Ntui stated that protecting the resources within the biosphere reserves would not only benefit the present generation but also future generations.
The conservator further said that NPS was in partnership with NGOs and multinational organisations, among others, to empower communities around the park with sustainable living alternatives.
Mr Ntui said the pressure and the desire to enter the Oban reserve for resources had reduced due to interventions in alternative sources.
He, however, said it was still challenging to convince some women and youths to completely avoid the forest.
“We are trying to convince them through interventions like this, through aggressive conservation education, because we think that some of them are still ignorant of the benefits of conservation.
“We are carrying out aggressive conservation education to sensitise them to the importance of protecting their environment as well as embracing other options of livelihood,” Mr Ntui said.
