Environmentalists in Cross River State have called for the protection of Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary and Drill Ranch in Buanchor community of Boki Council of the state.
In a town hall meeting in Buanchor, organised by Panacea for Developmental and Infrastructural Challenges for Africa Initiative (PADIC-Africa) in collaboration with Pandrillus Foundation, they maintained that to address the challenges threatening the Afi Mountain and Drill Ranch, there must be a significant policy change by government.
The Programme Officer, Pandrillus Foundation, Zack Schwenneker, said the Afi Mountain and the Drill Ranch, eco-tourism sites in Buanchor, had been facing encroachment by farmers, hunters, wood loggers and other illegal activities.
He charged representatives of communities around Afi Mountain Sanctuary to draw the government’s attention to the challenges that could hinder eco-tourism from flourishing in the community and other conservative areas across the state.
“Government has to change its policies for eco-tourism to thrive. Their representatives in communities should push the government to support NGOs working in the forest reserve areas, we can’t do it alone and communities can’t do it alone, we need government’s support.”
Worried over security of tourists, Pandrillus Programme Officer, said: “The Onemile square is supposed to be a protected area, there shouldn’t be any hunting, there shouldn’t be any trapping, there shouldn’t be any logging. In December, we had international tourists, and people entered inside the camp with guns.”
Earlier, the Executive Director of PADIC-Africa, Dr Martins Egot noted that the meeting was to look at areas where the communities living around the Afi Mountain would feel the impacts of activities and operations of NGOs, both local and international.
In his remarks, environmentalist, Dr Odigha Odigha, warned that illegal activities in the reserved areas would scare potential international and local tourists.
The Cross River State Ministry of Art, Tourism and Culture and the Cross River State Forestry Commission both stated that the government was committed to making the state a destination for eco-tourism to thrive.
