Overview
The rainforest of Cross River State holds the largest surviving block of tropical high forest in Nigeria, and its hardwood timber has been logged for well over a century. The same forest is the country's most important reservoir of wildlife and plant diversity, which is why timber and conservation are so closely entangled there.
Where it's found
The forest lies in the north and centre of Cross River State, in the south-south zone, including the Oban and Okwangwo blocks that make up Cross River National Park and the community forests around them, in Efik, Ejagham and Boki country. Related forest remnants survive in parts of Ondo, Edo and Taraba states.
History of exploitation
Timber was exported from the Calabar area from the nineteenth century, and mechanised logging expanded during colonial rule and after, with forest reserves demarcated to regulate it. Sawmills around Calabar and Ikom worked hardwoods such as mahogany, iroko and afara through the twentieth century. Cross River National Park was created in 1991, and community forest management arrangements, including well-documented efforts by the Ekuri communities, developed alongside continued logging pressure.
Economic role
Timber has long been an export and construction material and a source of local income from sawmilling and transport. Its role now competes with the value of the forest for conservation and for the water and soil it protects. No current figures are given here.
Environmental and social impact
Nigeria has lost a very large share of its original rainforest, and the Cross River forest is under pressure from logging, farm expansion, road projects and hunting. The forest holds species found almost nowhere else, including the Cross River gorilla and the drill. Communities depending on the forest for farmland, bushmeat, medicine and timber income have often been caught between conservation restrictions and commercial logging interests.
Connected history and people
Efforts to protect this forest connect to the landmarks pages covering Cross River National Park and the Obudu highlands, where the same forest system supports the country's best-known upland reserve.