National Parks: A mixed haven for biodiversity and banditry.

Part 1

The advent of protected area concept was received several decades ago with much anticipation and
preparedness to preserve the biodiversity of choice locations, curb human aggression to nature,
increase the earning powers of rural settlements and provide opportunities for research, tourism
and employment. Today, Nigeria has just about seven surviving parklands located in Borno,
Kaduna, Taraba, Niger, Edo, Cross River and Oyo states.

The national parks represent one of the highest levels of protection offered nature under the IUCN
protected area category and are mostly prioritized under the highest tier of governance to promote
efficiency. The presence of viable populations of the elephants, leopards, lions, vultures, golden
cats, chimpanzees, buffalos, gorillas, and a host of other endemic species is an attestation to the
performance and significance of Nigerian parks and protected areas to biodiversity conservation.

Without mincing words, existing national policies on the environment and rural development have
been immensely served, either directly or indirectly, through the creation and administration of
national parks. The economies and cultures of distant communities spatially locked into obscurity
and poverty were opened up to businesses and limelight by the parks. Thus, bridging the rural-
urban dichotomy through added security formation, improved social amenities and infrastructures,
as well as the creation of reliable jobs at the grassroots to stem the migration of rural assets to the
metropolis.
More recently, however, the wheel of biodiversity conservation in parks and other protected area
is sluggishly grinding towards a state of atrophy due to the forced entry of banditry into
conservation spaces. The abrasiveness of banditry is soon to be seen in the wears and tears that has
characterized prospective missions to safeguard Nigeria's biodiversity, especially in the northern
region. Where the relics of the less than 5% forest cover available is mostly infiltrated and serve
as the operation bases of bandits, the clamour for forest restoration and conservation resounds
more to cyclic redundancies and playful gallery tactics.

The lifespan of mostly northern parks can only be prolonged to the extent to which rapid social
actions are genuinely implemented to load the scale in favour of development and prosperity in
the rural settlements and the parks of Nigeria. The synergy required to divert rural energy from
banditry into biodiversity conservation is vested in the willpower of decision makers. Sincere
intellectual and financial investments in biodiversity conservation, smart agriculture, rangeland
management and social forestry programmes in strategic settlements may just be what is required
to prevent a replication of the Sambisa experience in Nigeria.

In the light of the prevailing dynamics and considering the quantum of resources sunk to curtail
insurgency in Sambisa forest, the contributions of parks to national security should not be taken
with a pinch of salt. Summits on national security should begin to look at bringing the park service
onboard and harmonizing other stakeholders’ inputs, including those from the conservation sector.
It is also not out of place to add to the current numbers of parks, especially in Katsina, Kogi and
Bayelsa states.

Sustained investments in biodiversity conservation is the better alternative to the chaos that has
locked rural places in the labyrinths of poverty and underdevelopment. It has the multiple benefits
of transforming youthful vibrancy into gainful outputs, in addition to bringing governance and
education closer to remote places where basic education is a luxury. Governments and influential
stakeholders are therefore duty-bound to recognize the role of parks in maintaining social order
and increase supports to same with a view to addressing cases of unrests in major hotspots. In
addition, patronage of conservation innovations with impacts on rural livelihood is required from
stakeholders to add vigour and values to the education, health, livelihood and economies of
communities in Nigeria.

The nation now needs to demonstrate collective capacity to govern all existing and contiguous
forest patches, which are now used illegally as hideouts, even in desert prone regions. This capacity
will underpin the African Union led great green wall initiative, the green recovery programme of
the Nigerian Conservation Foundation, and several other similar reforestation initiatives with focus
on rural empowerment and development.

By Stephen Aina (Nigeria Conservation Foundation, Lagos; stephen.aina@ncfnigeria.org)