By Nneka Nwogwugwu
A forest in Cross River state, where timber exploitation activities are held have been uncovered.
The forest is located at Odonget community in Obubra Local Government Area of Cross River State.
A video which is currently going viral, exposed exploitation activities of loggers who are illegally cutting trees and transporting them for exports.
According to the narrator in the video, the woods, identified as Apa woods, are also being transported from Cross River to Ebonyi state.
The video showed different locations where these activities are being held.
The source called on the federal government to give immediate actions on the deteriorating nature of forest in Nigeria.
“The wood is called APA which is usually used for exports and the level of exploitation here in the forest is alarming.
“At almost every corner of our forest, this is what you will see. You won’t believe the number of trucks carrying woods that are moving out from this forest on a daily basis.
“From the way it is going especially this period of time, it means the entire forest will be gone.
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“And if that happens who are we to blame?”
“In that case, the government should do something so that this issue of illegal exploitation of wood or timber from the forest can be reduced.
“They are all used for exports, which attract heavy financial gain to the country.
“The state government is getting no revenue from these activities.
“ The other day we counted 49 trucks in one day carrying timber out of Cross river to Ebonyi.
“ It is very painful. I don’t know how to quantify the damage been done on our forest on a daily basis.”
NatureNews reports that in 2018, the United Nations Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (UN-REDD Programme) trained about 800 people from forest reserved Communities of Cross River state on the effects of climate change.
The residents were trained at a capacity development workshops on REDD+ organised for five communities of Agoi Ekpo, Agoi Ibami, Etara, Ekuri Eyeyeng and Okokori in the state.
The training was in line with the resolution in Addis Ababa, organised by Wise Administration of Terrestrial Environment and Resources (WATER) to implement capacity building on climate change in two additional communities of Odonget and Ekom Agoi in Obubra and Yakurr Local Government Areas.
However, this year makes it four years of this training and yet illegal timber exploitation is still ongoing.
