BOKI FOREST COMMUNITIES CELEBRATE WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY

- AS BIAKWAN LIGHT GREEN INITIATIVE FLAGGED-OFF ONE MILLION

TREE-PLANTING CAMPAIGN
The communities of Buanchor, Katabang and Olum, landlord communities of the
famousAfi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary in Boki, Cross River State, Nigeria rejoiceda
lot during the final assessmentand distribution of tree seedlings aimed at facilitating
the restoration of the degraded Afi forest.
The occasion tagged, “Flagging-off of One Million Indigenous Trees Campaign for
the Restoration of the Afi Forest”, was meant to celebrate this year’s World
Environment Day with the theme, “ONLY ONE EARTH” whichstresses“Healthy
Planning for the Prosperity of All –Our Responsibility, Our Opportunity”.
Team Leader/Executive Director of Biakwan Light Green Initiative, Comrade Peter
Oru Bette commended the communities for their steadfastness in ensuring that the
impact of the project supported by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF),
will continue to assist them in ensuring that the Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary is
restored to prevent reoccurrence of landslides and other natural disasters in the
area.
The Communications/M&E Officer, Mr Emerald Ojong called on community
members to continue practicing skills derived from the training in nursery
development, practical homestead gardening and hands-on training on conservation
agriculture to restore the globally recognized biodiversity hotspot of the forest
enclave in Boki LGA.
The Community Volunteer, Mr. Christopher Oned thanked Biakwan Light for this
opportunity and promised that his community BUANCHOR being the first to stop
logging will ensure that the action plan developed by the community will be
implemented for the benefit of the present and future generations.
The Paramount Ruler of Boki LGA, HRM Atah Otu Fredaline Akandu reassured
sponsors of the project of the support of the host communities and the entire Boki
nation of their involvement in the tree planting campaign for the restoration of the
environment. This is more so at a time the Boki forest has been unsustainably
exploitedby forest bandits or illegal loggers.
The occasion featured distribution of tree seedlings andcopies of practical training
manuals for nursery establishment and management. Also,the project team carried
out a tree planting exercise and practical demonstration of the domestication of
highly endangered non-timber forest product like eruru (Gentum spp) and alligator
pepper-the “GREEN GRASS OF AFRICA” (Afromuniummelinguata).