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American Journal of  
Life Science and Innovation (AJLSI)

Impact of  Forest Policy and Law on Forest Management in Gambari Forest 
Reserve in Oyo State, Nigeria

Olaniyi I.S1*, Kilasho A.R1, Oluborode J.O2, Jackson V.O2

Volume 1 Issue 2, Year 2022
ISSN: 2833-1397 (Online)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.54536/ajlsi.v1i2.651
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Article Information ABSTRACT

Received: September 24, 2022

Accepted: October 05, 2022

Published: October 10, 2022

This study assessed the impact of  forest policy and law on the management of  Gambari 
Forest Reserve in order to identify factors that would improve forest policy and law as well as 
their implementation and enforcement. Random sampling techniques was used in this study. 
Both questionnaire and interview methods were used in collecting the needed information 
from the respondents. One hundred and twenty (120) copies of  structured questionnaires 
were used to obtain information from the community dwellers. Descriptive statistics was 
used to analyze the demographic characteristics of  the respondents. The Landsat Imagery 
of  the forest reserve was analyzed using ArcGIS to generate information about the forest 
cover changes between 1987 and 2020. Logistic regression was also used to determine the 
factors responsible for enhancement of  implementation and enforcement of  forest policy 
and law. Results show that 54.4% of  the respondents agreed that the forest policy and law 
were effective in upholding the management of  the forest sustainably, 34.2% stated that the 
forest policy and law were slightly effective, while only 11.3% of  them implied that forest 
policy and law was ineffective. It was also revealed from the study that about 21% of  the for-
est land cover has been degraded from 163.50km2 in 1987 to 143.67km2 in 2020. Findings 
also showed that, the enhancement of  implementation and enforcement of  forest policy and 
law would be mostly influenced by Increase staff  recruitment with odd ratio (2.33), followed 
by Provision of  training (1.28), also Increase in penalty forest offenders (1.20) and lastly, 
creation of  awareness program (1.00). Their odd ratios are up to 1.0.

Keywords
Forest Policy and Law, Forest 
Management, Forest Offences, 
Sustainable Forest Management, 
Deforestation, Forest Degradation.

1 Department of  Social and Environmental Forestry, University of  Ibadan, Nigeria
2 Department of  Forest Production and Products, University of  Ibadan, Nigeria
* Corresponding author’s e-mail: olaniyiitunus@gmail.com

INTRODUCTION 
Forests are an essential part of  the universe; however, 
the wide ranges of  benefit derived from forests are 
fast diminishing due to the profound dependency on 
its fragile resources for economic growth without steps 
to take adequate care of  the forest itself. Since 1980’s, 
demand for forest products, especially timber has become 
insatiably high as a results of  increasing human population 
pressure and economic growth. This led to unregulated 
forest exploitation, thus resulting in degradation of  the 
resources in the country. 
The rate at which forests of  different types are 
disappearing for years now is alarming and the trend 
remains unprecedented. Globally, the high demand 
for timber and other forest product has resulted in the 
high level of  forest encroachment and high rate of  
deforestation and forest degradation (Yaro et al., 2016). 
Nigeria and many other developing countries are suffering 
from serious environmental degradation primarily 
because of  the rapid growth in population which has not 
only brought about gross encroachment and damage to 
natural forest, but has also brought unacceptable quality 
of  life conditions in the human community environment 
(Harvey, 1998; Oduntan et al, 2013). The Global Forest 
Resources Assessment by FAO (2005) ranks Nigeria 
4th globally among countries with the highest annual 
deforestation rate (3.3%) and net annual area change 
(410,000Ha). Concern is therefore rising about the rapid 
rate of  tropical deforestation, which is the temporary or 
permanent clearance of  forest, for agriculture and other 

purposes by man. Forest reservation as a legal measure 
for protection of  forest resources which enables the 
society to have continued access to quality and quantity 
of  forest goods and services (Oso et al., 2017). Law is 
legally binding document which specifies right and duties 
based on policy vision or goals (Larinde and Chima, 
2014). Forest Laws establish objectives, institutional 
structures and confirm ownership.
Within the past years, there has emerged expanding 
concern around the rate of  deforestation in tropical forest 
and the need to sustain the remaining tropical forest. 
Alamu and Agbeja (2011), iterated that deforestation is 
highly severe in South-West Nigeria and this proceeds 
unabated. Various forest offences which are devoid of  
substantial penalties contribute to the over exploitation 
of  our forest land. Nigeria has one of  the highest rates 
of  forest loss (3.5%) in the world; losing about 6.1 
million hectares or 35.7% of  its forest cover since 1990, 
between 2000 and 2005. Nigeria is reported to have lost 
79% of  its old growth forests and is losing since 2000 
with 11% of  its primary forest annually (Herbert et.al., 
2013). While the rate of  deforestation in Nigeria occurs 
at 4000km2 per year, reforestation rate is a mere 10km2 
per year (Herbert et.al., 2013). As part of  the sustainable 
wood resource supply and ecosystems management 
strategies, colonial Nigerian government gazetted some 
areas as forest reserves. These reserves have over the 
years suffered from poor inventory, depletion and poor 
management (Fasona et.al. 2018).
Forest policy lacks legal backing and hence its enforcement 

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is difficult. The Nigeria Forestry Act, 1937, is outdated. 
The Forestry Policy is subsumed in the National 
Agricultural Policy of  1988 (Aruofor, 2001). The World 
Bank (2006) also stated that the concern of  management 
of  forest is broadly on implementation and enforcement 
of  forest law.
The management of  most forest reserves in Nigeria is the 
exclusive right of  the staff  and governor of  respective 
state forestry department in accordance with the 1978 
land use decree which gives ownership and decision 
of  every land and land use within that territory to the 
governor of  the states of  Nigeria (Land use act, 1978). 
The rule of  law must be effective to attain sustainable 
development. Fasona et. al, (2018) stated that ineffective 
policy implementation are major challenges facing the 
management of  the reserves. Thus, this research work 
aims at assessing the impact of  forest policy and law and 
the consequences of  the existing element of  policy and 
law in Gambari forest reserve in Oyo State.

METHODOLOGY
Study area
The study was carried out in Gambari Forest Reserve 
located in Oluyole Local Government Area (LGA) of  
Oyo state. It is one of  the early forest reserves in the 
state and it is divided into 5 series namely Gambari, 
Ibusogboro, Onipe, Olonde and Mamu (Larinde and 
Olasupo, 2011). Gambari forest reserve is a lowland 
forest, the reserve is located between latitude 70 25ˈ and 
70 55ˈN and longitude 30 53ˈ and 30 9ˈE. It is situated at 
the southern part of  Ibadan, bounded on the west by 
River Ona and on the east by the main road of  Ibadan to 
Ijebu-ode. Both dry and wet seasons are experienced in 
the reserve. Dry season lasts for 3 months (December to 
February). The average annual rainfall is about 1140mm 
and average annual temperature is about 26.40 0C (800 F) 
(Larinde and Olasupo, 2011).

Study Approach
This study utilized both primary and secondary sources 
of  data. The primary data for this study was collected 
through structured questionnaires. While, the secondary 
source of  data was the satellite imageries of  Gambari 
forest reserve, which was used to generate the changes 
in forest cover between 1987 and 2020. Data on Oyo 
state forest policy and law on the use of  forest resources 
were sourced from Oyo State Ministry of  Environment, 
Ibadan, Oyo state, Ibadan.

Sampling Techniques and sampling size 
The targeted respondents for this study were timber 
contractors, forest officials, and individuals who have 
farmlands. The reserve is divided into five (5) series of  
which 3 communities were randomly selected which 
are Onipe, Ibusogboro, and Mamu, all located around 
the reserve. A total of  One hundred and twenty (120) 
questionnaires were administered to the respondents, of  
which twenty (20) were forest officials and staffs, fifty 
(50) were farmers, thirty (30) were timber contractors 

and twenty (20) were those involved in trading activities 
within the forest reserve.

Determination of  difference in vegetation index
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index was estimated 
through analysis of  satellite images to give indication of  
greenness. NDVI is an indicator of  vegetation health, 
because degradation of  ecosystem vegetation, or decrease 
in greenness would be reflected (Menesses-Tovar, 2011). 
The base map for Gambari forest reserve was obtained 
from https://www.protectedplanet.net/36817 which was 
exported to Arc GIS software. Imageries for the year 
1987 and 2020 was acquired using LandSAT imagery 
with 60 meters’ spatial resolution for LandSAT. The 
imageries were classified using NDVI classification. The 
map of  the study area was geo-referenced and the shape 
file was created, the shape file was then clipped into the 
images, vectorization and area computation was done 
and change detected was analyzed using percentage. The 
1987 imagery was obtained under LandSAT 5 with the 
sensor of  Multispectral Scanner (MSS) while, the 2020 
imagery was obtained under LandSAT 8 with the sensor 
of  Operational Land Image (OLI) and Thermal Infrared 
Sensor (TIR).

Data analysis 
The binary logistics models were used in the analysis of  
the data. The two common binary models are the Logit 
and Probit. The logistics model is particularly preferred 
because of  the unique information. The logit of  a 
response p between 0 and 1 is given as: 
Logit (p) = log (p/1-p) = log (p) – log (1-p)
The simplest form of  Logit model is expressed as: 
Logit (pi) = a + b1x1 +...bixi …………….Equation 1
Where, 
xi = vector of  predictor or independent variables.
pi = probability of  factors that would enhance forest 
policy and law.
a and b = regression parameters.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Table 1 showed that, most (76.7%) of  the respondents 
were males while the remaining 23.3% were females. This 
indicated that forestry profession in Oyo state is male 
dominated. This corroborates the findings of  Feleyimu 
(2010) and Ajejumo et al (2018) that forestry activities 
and staff  are male dominated. The age group of  the 
respondents showed that 3.3% were between 21 to 30 
years, 32.5% were between the age brackets of  31 to 40 
years, 50.0% were between 41 to 50 years, while 14.2% 
were between 51 to 60 years. This implies that most of  
these respondents are in their economically active years 
and this put more pressure on the forest reserve.
The findings revealed that 11.7% of  the respondents were 
primary school holders, 37.5% were secondary school 
holders, while 50.8% were tertiary holders. This implies 
that most of  the respondents have above secondary 
school education and educated, they further to tertiary 

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school. 
As regarding the occupation of  the respondents, majority 
of  them were farmers (41.7%) and timber contractors 
(25.0%) and 16.7% for forest officials, lastly 16.6% 
for traders. Also, the study revealed that most of  the 
respondents (75%) are native of  the study area while 
only few of  them (25%) must have settled in the area 
many years ago in search for opportunity for subsistence 
farming. This uphold the report of  Calibre and SCC 
(2000) which, reported that people living in and around 
the forest include smallholders practicing subsistence 
farming and settlers who have come in the areas to search 
for new opportunity in agriculture.
As shown in Table 2, a total of  54.4% of  the respondents 
agreed on the indicators that the forest policy and law 
was effective in upholding the management of  the forest 
reserve sustainably, 34.2% stated that the forest policy 
and law was slightly effective and 11.3% implied that 
the forest policy and law was ineffective. Half  of  the 
respondents attested the effectiveness of  forest policy 
and law in upholding the sustainable management of  
Gambari forest reserve. It is quite not impressive that 
50.8% of  the respondents stated that the forest policy and 
law was adequate in protecting the land from acquisition. 
Of  all the respondents, the farmers stated that 74.2% of  
the forest land area was protected by the legal system. 
The findings revealed that 54.4% of  the respondents 
indicated that forest regulations are effective and loggers 
and saw milling activities are regulated, but there was no 
consensus whether management plan exists for the study 
area. When probed on whether it was conventional to 
acquire some land or allow settlements and farming in 
the forest reserve, the leader of  forest officers noted that 
all we know is that some people can farm in certain areas 
in the forest reserve, and are allowed to help nurture the 

Table 2: Analysis of  all respondents to the effectiveness of  elements of  forest policy and law in Gambari
EFF S.EFF INEFF

Indicators FREQ % FREQ % FREQ %
1 The management of  the forest reserve 74 61.7 36 30.0 10 8.3
2 Land protected from acquisition by individuals 61 50.8 46 38.3 13 10.8
3 Perception the gazette notice 75 62.5 36 30.0 9 7.5
4 Gazetted forest areas protected by legal system 89 74.2 27 22.5 4 3.3
5 Forest lands protected from illegal entry 68 56.7 45 37.5 7 5.8
6 Reserve settlement court nowadays 53 44.2 55 45.8 12 10.0
7 Trust funds use for regeneration and afforestation 54 45.0 51 42.5 15 12.5
8 Prevention of  forestry offences 58 48.3 50 41.7 12 10.0
9 Farmers adhere to the order from planting permanent crops 70 58.3 26 21.7 24 20.0
10 Prohibition of  destruction of  forest produce 62 51.7 36 30.0 22 18.3
11 Provision for the survey and demarcation of  forest reserve  65 54.2 39 32.5 16 13.3
12 Provision for seizure and detention 69 57.5 45 37.5 6 5.0
13 Community participation program 59 49.2 49 40.8 12 10.0
14 Submission of  license and permit render return and 

account for inspection
67 55.8 39 32.5 14 11.7

15 Safety of  forest guard 58 48.3 38 31.7 24 20.0

Table 1: Demographic characteristics of  the respondents 
Gender of  the 
respondent

Frequency Percentage

Female 28 23.3
Male 92 76.7
Total 120 100
Age of  the respondents (years)
21-30 4 3.3
31-40 39 32.5
41-50 60 50.0
51-60 17 14.2
61-70 - -
71-80 - -
81-90 - -
Total 120 100
Level of  education
Primary 14 11.7
Secondary 45 37.5
Tertiary 61 50.8
Total 120 100
Native of  the community
No 30 25.0
Total 120 100
Source of  income
Forester 20 16.7
Farmer 50 41.7
Timber contractor 30 25.0
Trading and others 20 16.6
Total 120 100

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trees but they are not allowed to harvest the timbers.
In addition, although the forest officials provided 
information that illegal (unpermitted) logging activities 
were punished, either by fine or litigation in courts, this 
could not be justified. For examples, when the forest 
officials were asked for a specific example of  such case(s) 
of  punishment, one of  the forest officials noted that, 
when arrested some of  them (loggers and poachers) 
bribe their way out. 

ANALYSIS OF THE EXTENT OF FOREST COVER 
The study shows that the forested area which covers about 
163.40 km2 in 1987, had been reduced to 143.67 km2 

Table 3: Land cover changes of  Gambari Forest Reserve
Year Forested Non forested

Area (km2) Percentage Area (km2) Percentage
1987 163.40 94.75 8.18 4.74
2020 136.29 79.03 36.16 20.96

Table 5: Logit Binary Nature of  the Factors That Would Enhance Implementation and Enforcement of  Forest 
Policy and Law
Dependent variable EFPL

Constant Coefficient Odd ratio

20.48 2.073

Independent variables Coefficient Odd ratio

Provision of  patrol vehicle -0.132 0.876

Increase staff  recruitment 0.845 2.328*

Provision of  safety kit -0.664 0.515

Increase in penalty forest offender 0.186 1.205*

Increase in salaries -0.138 0.871

Creation of  awareness program 0.003 1.003*

16 Prohibition of  act that might cause obstruction of  any 
way or cause danger to navigation

61 50.8 48 40.0 11 9.2

17 Grants and support out of  public revenue for the 
encouragement of  forestry

49 40.8 47 39.2 24 20.0

18 Regulation of  kindling fires 58 48.3 35 29.2 27 22.5
19 Prohibition of  trespassing 51 42.5 53 44.2 16 13.3
20 Prosecution of  forest offenders 84 70.0 32 26.7 4 3.3
21 Issuance of  permit and permit to sawmill 87 72.5 29 24.2 4 3.3

Total 1372 862 286
Average 65.3 54.4 41.0 34.2 13.6 11.3

by 2020 showing a 20.96% decrease in forest cover and 
a corresponding increase in non-forested area from 8.18 
km2 in 1987 to about 36.16 km2 in 2020 as shown in table 
3. The classified images showed the two land cover classes 
(Forested and Non-forested) identified from the Landsat 
imageries. Gambari Forest Reserve is shown to have 
undergone some changes and the status of  the forested area 
has been decreasing within the last 33 years. However, the 
reserve is said to be known for its plantation establishment 
which dominated by exotic trees and would coppice under 
good management care. There has been reduction in the 
forest cover in Gambari forest reserve between 1987 and 
2020 with a 20.96% reduction in the forest cover

Table 4: Direction of  changes of  Gambari Forest Reserve (1987-2020)
Land cover 1987 – 2020

Changes
Area (km2) Percentage

Forested - 27.11 - 15.72
Non-forested + 27.98 + 16.22
Note: + = Increase; - = Decrease.

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CONCLUSION
The study revealed that forest policy and law in Oyo state 
have been slightly effective in controlling forest offences 
in the forest reserve as a result of  inadequate number of  
forest officers. Therefore, recruitment of  staffs, provision 
of  training to the staffs and increase in penalty of  forest 
offenders are factors that have statistically proven to be 
high determinant to the implementation and enforcement 
of  forest policy and law.

RECOMMENDATION
There should be regular evaluation on the compliance 
with the forest policy and law in Gambari forest reserve. 
The existing elements of  forest policy and law within 
Gambari forest reserve should be strongly adhered to and 
punishment vehemently executed for people who violate 
the law. Forest extension workers should work in Gambari 
forest reserve to educate them on the ecological and 
social benefits of  the forest reserve and to enable them 
to be able to male right decision towards sustainability. 
The state forestry department should recruit more forest 
officials in monitoring of  the forest reserve. Forest 
staffs should be trained regularly so as to increase their 
performances and also work effectively. 

REFERENCE
Adejumo, A.A. (2019). Benefits of  forest legislation 

enforcement on the status of  Onigambari forest 
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Alamu, L. O. and Agbeja, B. O. (2011). Deforestation 
and endangered indigenous tree species in south-
west Nigeria. International Journal of  Biodiversity and 
Conservation, 3(7), 291-297.

Arufor (2001). A brief  on the forestry outlook study, 
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Calibre and SCC. (2000). Number of  Forest dependent People 
in Feasibility study for the UK Department for International 
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Dada, F. O. A., Jibrin, G. M., & Ijeoma, A. (2006). 
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FAO. (2005). Progress towards sustainable development. 
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Faleyimu, O.I (2010). Status of  Forest Policy 
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2010. 271

Fasona M., Soneye. A., Oludare A., Omojola. A., 
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Harvey, F.L. (1998). Final Reporton Proposed 
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Herbert E.B, Ashong C.A, and Abdullahi S.B. (2013). 
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Larinde, S. L., & Chima, U. D. (2014). Challenges Of  
Forest Management And National Security Issues In 
Nigeria. In Being A Paper Presented At The 37th Annual 
Conference Of  The Forestry Association Of  Nigeria (FAN), 
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Larinde, S.L. and Olasupo, O.O. (2011). Socio-economic 
Importance of  Fuelwood Production in Gambari 
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Agriculture and Social Research, 11(1), 201-210.

Oduntan, O.O., Soaga, J.A.O. Akinyemi, A.F. and Ojo, 
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Oso, A.O., Agbeja, B.O., Faleyimu, O. (2017). Perceived 
forest offences among Stakeholders and their impact 
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Provision of  training 0.250 1.284*

Quick and unbiased prosecution -0.004 0.996

Good governance -0.144 0.866

Source: Field study, 2021

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