.All over the world, the conservation of biodiversity has become a major challenge to countries because it has been identified as a key to sustainable development. The term, biodiversity, is a contraction of the expression, biological diversity. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) of the United Nations, defines it as the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part. This variability encompasses genetic, species, and ecosystem or habitat diversity.

For centuries, mankind has continued to devour the environment in its pursuit for industrialization and civilization. Arising from the various human and industrial activities, several species of the biodiversities are threatened or have gone extinct. The growing increase in carbon-dioxide and carbon-monoxide production, and the reduction of oxygen production as a result of deforestation and other destructive activities to the environment has resulted in the depletion of the Ozone Layer, thereby exposing the earth to ultra-violet rays of the sun. This have led to global warming and rise in sea level which are responsible for cases of ocean upsurge and flooding which have led to the destruction of lives and properties worth billions of dollars across the world in recent times. The memories of Hurricane Katrina in the U.S.A as well as the Tsunamis which struck India, Indonesia and Philippines a few years back are still very fresh to humanity, prompting more global concern for the state and future of our planet.

Following these concerns, many countries and transnational business conglomerates have decided to embrace the challenges of climate change by taking responsible actions for biodiversity conservation and environmental protection. In Nigeria, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) which have been carrying out oil exploration in the oil-rich Niger Delta Region in recognition of this challenge, set up the Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) project in Gele-Gele Forest Reserve in Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State and Urhonigbe Forest Reserve in Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo State.

The biodiversity in these reserves includes: Mammals- Maxwell’s duiker, brush tailed porcupine, Cane rat, Giant squirrel, Gambian rat and African civet. The birds include Grey crowned negrofinch , Western nicator, Tinker bird, Great blue turaco, Piping hornbill, Red-vented malimbe and Grey headed bristlebill.The reserves also reptiles such as Spitting cobra, Gabon viper, Skink, Nile monitor lizard, Green mamber and tortoise while plants species includes Annonaceae, Apocynaeace, Araceae, Bombacaceae, Burseraceae, Compositae, e.t.c.

This project which is being implemented by Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), a non-governmental organization, is aimed at reducing human pressure on biodiversity in the two forest reserves and establishing a system that builds a future in which humans live in harmony with nature by conserving the biodiversity in the forest reserves, ensuring sustainable use of natural resources in the reserves and promoting alternative means of livelihood to persons living within the reserve areas.

Stakeholders of the project recently gathered in Benin City to appraise its performance within the last 18 months and to proffer solutions to some challenges that might have been encountered during its implementation. The workshop which was titled” Project Scale down and Capacity Building Workshop” was organized for members of the Grassroots Consultative Committee(GCC) who are drawn from 23 communities that makes up the Urhonigbe Forest Reserve and 14 communities from Gele - Gele Forest Reserve, by the NCF .It also attracted representatives of SPDC ,traditional leaders and Edo State Government.

Declaring the workshop open, Edo State Commissioner for Environment and Public Utilities, Mr. Clement Agba called for more cooperation by the stakeholders particularly on the part of the communities adding that the problem of illegal logging in the reserves especially in Ajoki area cannot be solved without the support of community leaders and the GCC. The commissioner who was represented by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Environment and Public Utilities, Mr. Peter Okon further urged them to sensitize their people on the importance of the project which is meant to protect the environment for us and for generations to come. On his part, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Public Utilities, Engr. Jerry Ekanimoh while commending SPDC for embarking on the project , called for more funding to ensure its sustainability and successfully implementation.

Also speaking, the SPDC representative, Prof. Kingsley Akpabio, said the company has taken the challenge of Biodiversity Conservation as one of its cardinal objectives and expressed optimism that the BAP Project would be able to actualize this objective.

NCF Director of Technical Programme, Mr. Alade Adeleke said programmes have been specifically laid out to make the project a success , adding that it was their intention to set up a governance structure comprising of the GCC and the Forest Management Committee(FMC) in the two reserves that would be in charge of the project in the near future. “What we are trying to do is to train these people and also to empower them so that they can help in not only conserving, but regeneration of the forest”, he said.

Mr. Chris Ameh, BAP Project Acting Manager, Edo State, said activities implemented and on-going in the two reserves included demarcation of the core , buffer and transition zones of the reserves, ensuring the integrity of the reserve through protection from illegal exploitation, wildlife poaching and farming encroachment and forest regeneration through replanting of economic trees.

He also disclosed that Micro-credit intervention in the form of small scale loans was initiated to empower the economic well being of the community people adding that 10 beneficiaries from each community received the loan in which 5 communities were chosen each from the two forest reserves. The benefiting communities are: Urhonigbe Forest Reserve (Ugo, Urhehue, Evboesi, Obazagbon and Owuo) and Gele-Gele Forest Reserve (Ikpako, Ajoki, Gele-Gele, Ughoton and Abiala 1). The loans according to him which are in a range of N30, 000 – N50, 000 loans was given to beneficiaries according to the perceived repayment capability of the individual.

The Acting Project Manager said a Poultry Development Project was also carried out in Urhonigbe Forest Reserve. He said training and capacity building in poultry enterprise was given to community beneficiaries, five in each of the 23 communities by the consultants from Ojemai Farms and all 115 beneficiaries from the 23 communities received 20 birds each at 4 weeks old. They also received two bags of growers marsh each and some ampoules of anti-biotic and vitamins to the see the birds through to full maturity at week 8.

All these, he said was aimed at reducing pressure on the forests and creating an alternative means of livelihood for the people living in the area.

Mr. Ameh commended the State Government for its commitment to Biodiversity Conservation. He said the Passage of the Bill by the Edo State House of Assembly on September 6th, 2007 and the subsequent signing of the Bill into Law by the State Government have helped a lot in the actualization of the project.

The Chairmen of the GCC’s in the two forest reserve areas, Prince Barbs representing Gele-Gele and his Urhonigbe counterpart, Mr. Abacha Uwoghiren said that the task before them was an onerous one which required more funding and accountability by the implementers.

They said the people living within the reserves were used to activities like hunting and encroachment on the reserved areas and needed attitudinal change as well as alternative means of livelihood in the face of harsh economic realities.