Page:Niger Delta Ecosystems- the ERA Handbook, 1998.djvu/128

The Resources of the Niger Delta: Forests these restored forests would have the additional economic advantages of improved and more biodiverse ecosystems. Such forests would supply local timber needs for construction and joinery, which are currently imported into the area.

The cultured riverine forests are under pressure from agriculture yet they could continue to yield non-timber forest products (NTFPs) if they are effectively managed. The raffia palm is the basis of most NTFPs (raffia wine, twine and leaves used for thatching), but some bush meat (mainly rodents) and medicinal plants are also produced. Homesteads established by raffia gin distillers have introduced exotic species to the edges of these forests, but natural useful timber species are rare.

12.3.2 FRESH-WATER EQUATORIAL MONSOON ECOZONE - LEVEES

The forest condition here is mostly lost, degraded and cultured.

Competition for arable agriculture is intense but there is some potential for reforestation along the lines described for the LEM ecozone above, and in conjunction with agroforestry techniques described in chapter 17.

A wide range of NTFPs come from the cultured forests, including bush meat which ranges across from other sub-ecozones.

12.3.3 FRESH-WATER EQUATORIAL MONSOON ECOZONE - SWAMPS

The forest condition here is lost and degraded around urban centres. In accessible areas the forest is mostly depleted (of the large timber species in the seasonal swamps) and cultured (in terms of raffia, oil, and to a lesser extent, raffia palms). However it is still natural or merely depleted in the less accessible areas.

The ecological value of the forests in this area is high because of the low proportion of lost and degraded forest, and sustainable economic returns are high in terms of palm products. However these forests are sensitive to water pollution, particularly oil spills (which particularly reduce already low levels of available oxygen in the water) and they are threatened by drainage for agro-industrial oil palm plantation projects.

12.3.4 FRESH-WATER EQUATORIAL MONSOON - FLOOD-PLAINS AND SEASONAL SWAMPS

The condition of these forests is that some are lost to agro-industrial rice and oil palm, small-farmer rice, urban uses, and oil extraction related activities. All accessible areas are depleted, and are cultured close to settlements. In less accessible areas the forest is depleted or natural.

Within the Niger Delta, these forests probably have the highest economic value in terms of all forest resources, particularly timber, but they are under greatest threat from both small farmer and agro-industrial agricultural expansion.

12.3.5 BRACKISH-WATER EQUATORIAL MONSOON ECOZONE

The over-riding importance of the mangrove forests is that they are largely natural (apart from the 5-10% that have already been lost, mainly to urban, industrial and oil extraction activities).

The economic value of the mangrove forests is mainly in terms of their ecological function. They play an essential part in the breeding and feeding cycles of estuarine and 126