FOREST BASED RURAL LIVELIHOODS IN AKASSA MANGROVE FORESTS, BAYELSA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Akassa Mangrove Forests (AMFs) provide crucial support to the livelihoods of rural households who dwell within and around them. The formulation of Akassa forest and wildlife policy (AFWP) in 1999 notwithstanding, the rate of forest and wildlife depletion has continued to increase in these vital coastal wetlands. Understanding the participation of communities in the implementation of AFWP and livelihood parameters in AMFs is imperative. Therefore, forest based rural livelihoods in AMFs was assessed to elicit forest policy options for sustainable mangrove forest management. Nineteen communities across three coastal barrier Islands in Akassa were selected by complete enumeration. Thereafter, 950 (30%) of total households were selected in the nineteen communities using simple random sampling. Structured questionnaire was used to collect information on demographic characteristics, livelihood activities and income. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Benefit-cost ratio (BCR), Return-on-Investment (ROI), Alkire and Foster multidimensional poverty measure, ANOVA and Chi-square at α 0.05 There were more male-headed households (73.1%) than female-headed households (26.9%). Respondents ages ranged between 22-80 years with most (57.89%) in the age range of 41-60 years. Marital status indicated that 1.6%, 97.6%, 0.5% and 0.31% respondents were single, married, widowed and divorced respectively. Most (97.7%) respondents were indigenes while 2.3% were non-indigenes. Seventeen percent of the respondents had no formal education while 32.0%, 48.7% and 2.3% had primary, secondary and tertiary education respectively. Forestlands were mainly owned by families (99.4%) while 87.2% of respondents were not aware of AFWP. Out of the respondents, 39.2% and 13.6% were engaged in fishing as their main and secondary occupation respectively. Coastal erosion (15.6 %), regular oil spillage (7.6%), low income from activities (6.0%) and high cost of water transportation (7.7%) militate against household livelihoods. Speedboat driving (N38,952.38±4253.63), canoe carving (N36,823.67±3283.09) and logging/chain saw rental (N31,075.25±2181.71) had the three highest average monthly income. Livelihood activities with the highest and lowest values of BCR and ROI were basket weaving (4.98 and 4.45) and timber harvesting (2.38 and 1.6). Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) across four poverty cut-offs (K1-K4) were 45.0, 33.9, 16.5 and 4.2 respectively. Lack of household assets had the highest contribution to MPI across (K1-K4) with 55.2, 40.7, 31.2 and 25.0. Household annual income, annual profit index, household total income and household total expenditure had significant impacts on MPI. Akassa mangrove forests in Bayelsa State are seriously threatened by over-exploitation for canoe carving, logging and chain saw rental which are unsustainable to livelihood. There is an urgent need for people centred and community driven forest policy for sustainable mangrove forest exploitation.