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Illegal Logging in Nigeria

The issue of illegal logging affects nations that produce, export, and import wood and wood products on a global scale.

The harvest, transportation, purchase, or sale of timber in violation of national legislation is often referred to as illegal logging. Illegal logging accounts for more than 50% of the production and exports of timber in some developing nations.

The estimated size of Nigeria's forest reserve is 10 million hectares, or more than 10% of the country's total land area, which is 96.2 million hectares, or 923,768 km2. As of 2006, there were 170,790 people living there (National Directorate of Employment, 2012). However, in recent years, the area designated as forest areas has been steadily shrinking as a result of indiscriminate tree-cutting and illegal logging activities that have persisted in almost every region of the nation.

The greatest obstacle to sustainable forest management (SFM) in Nigeria today is the rising rate of illegal logging and encroachment, which is more prevalent in the tropical rainforest ecosystem of Nigeria due to its richness in desirable tropical hardwood timber species and fertile land. Government policies, institutional support in forest management, and enlightenment have not been able to stop these problems, which is of great concern to all stakeholders and researchers in forestry, who have been faced with significant difficulties as a result of the current state of the tropical rainforest ecosystem in Nigeria, which makes forecasting its future extremely challenging.

According to the Federal Department of Forestry (2010), the yearly rate of forest loss in Nigeria is 3.5%. Natural woods once covered 20% of Nigeria's land, but now only make about 10% of the country. Between the 1960s and 2000, urbanization, excessive logging, and agricultural encroachment caused it to lose roughly 60% of its natural forests (FAO 2001; SFM Tropics. 2005).