Perception of the Status of Iko-Esai Community Forest, Akamkpa Local Government, Cross River State, Nigeria

Abstract

Efforts have been made by some communities towards conserving their forest, but deforestation still poses serious problems. Despite efforts to conserve community forest, increasing dependence on the forest is bound to shrink the forest continuously. Thus, findings from the study will strengthen the community's initiative towards conservation and sustainable management of their forest and provide baseline information for future studies in the study area. The study assessed indigenes perception on the status of Iko Esai Community forest in Akamkpa Local Government Area, Cross River State Nigeria. All four wards of the community were purposively selected for the study. Structured questionnaires were administered to 160 respondents for data collection. Data were analysed using descriptive (table and charts) and inferential statistics with chi-square analysis to test for independence or association at 5% level of significance. The results showed that there was significant (P =.0001) change in the status of the forest from the primary closed forest (69.37%) to

Locating the unique biodiversity of Balikpapan Bay as an ecotourism attraction in East Kalimantan, Indonesia

“…Ecotourism plays a role in conserving marine biodiversity, which cannot be separated from its natural resources (Huffard et al 2012). Nchor et al (2018) noted that tropical forests, wildlife species, and community cultural heritage are great assets in ecotourism. Indonesia is known as the center of the world's Coral Triangle.…”