Nigeria’s worsening deforestation crisis requires a coordinated conservation strategy that balances environmental protection with economic development, Rewild Africa has said, urging the Federal Government to strengthen policies and empower local communities to take an active role in safeguarding the country’s natural resources.
The organisation stressed the need to address structural weaknesses in Nigeria’s conservation system, improve environmental governance and explore investment opportunities within the biosphere ecosystem to create sustainable economic opportunities for communities that depend on forests and wildlife.
The call was made during an appearance on Villa Square, a segment of Cre8tive 9Ja, a weekly tourism and culture magazine programme hosted by veteran tourism journalist Frank Meke and Bunmi Bade-Adeniji on Mainland 98.3 FM, Lagos.
Speaking on the programme, James Arnott, co-founder of Rewild Africa, and Clement Umina of Rewilding Nigeria raised concerns about the growing destruction of forests and wildlife habitats across the country, insisting that conservation efforts must go beyond conventional protection measures to deliver tangible benefits to local populations.
Nigeria’s forest resources, spanning states such as Cross River, Taraba, Kogi, Bayelsa, Nasarawa, Bauchi, Borno and Zamfara, are increasingly threatened by illegal logging, agricultural expansion, urbanisation and other human activities. These pressures have accelerated biodiversity loss, weakened community livelihoods and contributed to climate change.
Umina described the scale of deforestation as alarming, warning that the country's remaining forest resources require urgent intervention to prevent further environmental damage.
He particularly highlighted Cross River State, which hosts some of Nigeria’s most important rainforest ecosystems, arguing that its forest resources remain largely untapped in terms of their conservation and economic potential.
“The forest of Cross River State will surprise you because the state government is yet to tap into the potential of the forests in the state,” Umina said, stressing the importance of protecting the state's natural heritage through sustainable management.
He also expressed concern about the broader conservation landscape, describing the situation as deeply troubling and identifying accountability gaps, inadequate public awareness and weak institutional oversight as factors capable of undermining meaningful interventions.
Nigeria’s conservation challenges extend beyond forest depletion to the continued decline of wildlife populations. The country’s national parks, including Cross River, Gashaka-Gumti, Kainji Lake and Okomu, as well as several forest reserves and wildlife sanctuaries, face persistent threats from habitat destruction and poaching.
The situation has raised particular concerns about endangered species, including African elephants and the country's dwindling wild lion population, further reinforcing calls for stronger wildlife protection and more effective conservation policies.
Against this backdrop, Rewild Africa is championing rewilding as a sustainable approach to restoring damaged ecosystems and enabling wildlife and natural habitats to recover through the restoration of ecological processes.
The model differs from conventional conservation approaches, which often concentrate on protecting specific species within designated areas. Instead, rewilding focuses on rebuilding natural ecosystems, restoring ecological relationships and creating conditions in which wildlife and habitats can thrive with minimal human interference.
Depending on the environmental conditions of a particular location, the approach could involve reintroducing keystone species, removing barriers to wildlife movement and allowing natural processes to regenerate degraded landscapes.
Arnott explained that the African rewilding model was developed to strengthen conservation efforts across the continent through collaboration, shared knowledge and strategic partnerships.
He said the initiative draws on conservation experiences in countries such as Kenya, Namibia and South Africa, with the intention of adapting successful practices to Nigeria’s environmental, social and economic realities.
According to him, inadequate environmental awareness and limited alternative sources of income have contributed significantly to forest destruction in some communities, where cutting down trees is often regarded as one of the few available means of earning a livelihood.
He argued that conservation would become more sustainable if communities could derive direct economic benefits from protecting forests and wildlife rather than exploiting them.
“With our model, community members will become conservationists and have the exclusive right to earn a decent income from watching and protecting the wildlife and forest,” he said.
The proposal places local communities at the heart of conservation, positioning residents not simply as recipients of environmental interventions but as active stakeholders with economic interests in preserving natural resources.
Umina, however, identified the absence of effective government policies as one of the major obstacles to achieving sustainable conservation in Nigeria.
He maintained that without a coherent national strategy capable of repositioning the conservation sector, the country's forests and wildlife would remain vulnerable to exploitation.
“When we lack a strategic government policy that can impact and reposition the Nigerian conservation ecosystem for economic prosperity, the forest and wildlife will continue to suffer in silence,” he said.
He called for broader public participation in environmental protection, particularly among communities living around forest reserves and other ecologically sensitive areas, noting that their involvement was critical to achieving lasting results.
Umina also expressed concern about extractive activities, particularly mining, emphasising that the exploitation of natural resources must be balanced with environmental sustainability and the welfare of host communities.
He advocated stronger regulatory oversight and accountability to ensure that economic activities do not undermine biodiversity, destroy habitats or deprive local populations of sustainable livelihood opportunities.
Beyond policy reforms and community engagement, Arnott called for a fundamental review of conservation financing in Nigeria, arguing that existing funding arrangements should prioritise long-term environmental outcomes rather than short-term project targets.
He urged greater private-sector participation and the development of sustainable funding structures capable of supporting conservation programmes over extended periods.
According to him, successful conservation requires a coordinated financing framework that brings together government intervention, private investment, community participation and long-term environmental planning.
The organisation’s position reflects growing recognition that environmental protection cannot be sustained through regulatory measures alone, particularly in communities where poverty and limited economic opportunities often drive dependence on natural resources.
For conservation initiatives to achieve lasting impact, stakeholders must create incentives that make protecting forests and wildlife economically worthwhile for the people living closest to them.
Rewild Africa’s advocacy therefore highlights the need for Nigeria to move away from fragmented conservation interventions towards a more inclusive and economically viable framework that combines ecosystem restoration, responsible investment and community empowerment.
The organisation believes that placing local communities at the centre of conservation, alongside stronger government commitment and sustainable financing, could help protect Nigeria’s threatened forests and wildlife while transforming the country's natural heritage into a source of long-term economic prosperity.