Assessing the Impact of Sustainable Forest Management Practices on Climate Change Mitigation in Cross River State: An Evaluation of Selective Exploitation and Reafforestation Efforts

Abstract

The study is on Assessing the Impact of Sustainable Forest Management Practices on Climate Change Mitigation in Cross River State: An Evaluation of Selective Exploitation and Reafforestation Efforts. This study specifically examined the relationship between selective exploitation, reafforestation and climate change mitigation in Cross River State. Two research questions and two hypotheses were raided in line with the objectives of the study. The population of the study consists of 9018 residents consisting of 4397 adult males and 4621 females. The design employed was survey research design. The sample of this study was eight hundred and sixty-five (865) respondents. The instrument for data collection was a 35-item questionnaire titled “Sustainable Forest Resources Management and Climate Change Mitigation Questionnaire” (SFRMCCMQ). The instrument was face and construct validated by two experts from Educational Foundation (Measurement and Evaluation and one from Environmental Education Department, University of Calabar, Calabar Cross River State. The reliability coefficient ranges between 0.72 and 0.85 was obtained using Cronbach Alpha reliability method statistics and was high enough to accept that the instrument was reliable. The simple regression analysis was employed to analyze the five hypotheses in the study. The findings revealed that: there is a significant relationship between selective exploitation, reafforestation on climate change mitigation Cross River State. It was recommended that the farmers should form a formidable and strong association who in conjunction with the Cross River State government to promote selective exploitation as a sustainable forest management practice to mitigate climate change. This can be achieved by providing incentives to forest concessionaires who adopt selective exploitation methods and the farmers should establish a reafforestation program to restore degraded forests and promote carbon sequestration. They should include local communities who then pull their resources/funds together to provide them with economic benefits for participating in reafforestation efforts.