Page:Niger Delta Ecosystems- the ERA Handbook, 1998.djvu/125

The Resources of the Niger Delta: Forests 12 THE RESOURCES OF THE NIGER DELTA: FORESTS
 * The Nature of the Resource
 * Classification of the Forest Condition in the Niger Delta
 * Forest Resources by Ecozone
 * The Economic Problem of the Forest Resources
 * Economic Cost Benefit Analyses of Forest Exploitation

12.1 THE NATURE OF THE RESOURCE

The natural ecology of the forests of the Niger Delta is covered in Chapters 5 to 9. In this chapter the forests are considered as a resource which is useful to mankind.

Forests constitute the most valuable renewable resource in the Niger Delta, which after Cross River State, has the largest area of relatively undisturbed forest in Nigeria and probably West Africa. The resource is especially valuable because the hot humid climate of the Niger Delta encourages the fast regeneration of forest, so that the economic returns are far greater than for forests in other biomes. In terms of resource management it is useful to define the condition of the forests of the Niger Delta according to six classes, as below.

12.2 CLASSIFICATION OF THE FOREST CONDITION IN THE NIGER DELTA

12.2.1 NATURAL

There are no truly natural forests, but some have experienced minimal human interference. Their ecosystems operate very closely to those of a natural forest, although some of the populations of the larger animals are reduced or extinct.

12.2.2 DEPLETED

Where the bigger trees have been removed, where some of the populations of the larger animals are reduced or extinct, and where other forest products are exploited to some degree, these are forest ecosystems which operate much as natural forests.

12.2.3 CULTURED

A viable forest ecosystem may not only be depleted but also have a substantially altered composition due to exploitation by mankind (including farming and the introduction of exotic species).

12.2.4 DEGRADED

A forest may be exploited and encroached upon by farming and other human activities to such an extent that it no longer operates as a forest ecosystem and is converting into derived savannah, Potential or Lost forest (see below). 123