page_title: Cross River National Park
section_title: Concerns
hierarchical_section_title: Cross River National Park / Okwangwo Division / Concerns
caption_attribution_description: English: Forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) in the swamp Mbeli Bai, Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, Congo.
context_page_description: The Cross River National Park is a national park of Nigeria, located in Cross River State, Nigeria.
  There are two separate sections, Okwangwo and Oban.
  The park has a total area of about 4,000 km², most of which consists of primary moist tropical rainforests in the North and Central parts, with mangrove swamps on the coastal zones.
  Parts of the park belong to the Guinea-Congolian region, with a closed canopy and scattered emergent trees reaching 40 or 50 meters in height.
  The park has one of the oldest rainforests in Africa, and has been identified as a biodiversity hot spot.
  Sixteen primate species have been recorded in the park.
  Rare primates include common chimpanzees, drills and Cross River gorillas.
  Another primate, the gray-cheeked mangabey, seems to have recently become extinct in the area.
  Both divisions of the park are threatened by illegal logging, slash and burn farming and poaching.
  Eco-tourism may support efforts to preserve the park fauna.
  Assisting villagers in buffer zones to practice sustainable forestry also holds promise.
context_section_description: There are about 66 villages in the buffer zone surrounding the park, with the villagers dependent on the park for their livelihoods. With a growing human population, the forest is being lost to slash-and-burn agriculture and illegal logging. Some fishermen are using chemicals (gamalin 20, a herbicide) to kill the fish. It is thought that three species of primate have been extirpated.
  Logging, both legal and illegal, in the buffer zone and the park itself have caused loss of habitat, and logging trails have opened up the forest to poachers. Snares set to trap smaller animals cause injuries to the larger species.Fulani herdsmen have encroached into the reserve to graze their cattle along the Bushi-Ranch axis. 
  There is continued trans-border poaching of elephants between Nigeria and Cameroon.
  The main targets for illegal logging are Carpolobia, Garcinia and ebony, woods that are scarce outside the park.
  The police have made efforts to discourage these activities, but are handicapped by lack of funding.
  Land ownership in the region rests with the native authority, which must obtain community consent for land transfers. The local people, with reason, are suspicious of government promises that they will receive long-term economic assistance in exchange for giving up their land, and instead demand exorbitant cash payment. This has frustrated efforts to incorporate the Afi River Forest Reserve and the Mbe Mountains Community Forest into the park, preventing more effective conservation efforts.
  Programs to establish backyard farming of bushmeat species have been successful in other parts of the state, with villagers raising  rabbits, poultry, duikers, porcupines, cane rats, giant rats, pythons, crocodiles and snails. 
  In these areas, hunting and poaching of wild bushmeat has declined dramatically. The approach holds promise for the area surrounding the park. Other ways to protect the endangered species include creating corridors or eco-ducts, highway diversion and improved policing. All would be expensive and depend on committed government officials at the state and federal levels.
caption: African forest elephant
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "600", "Image YResolution": "600", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Paint Shop Pro Photo 12,01", "Image DateTime": "2008:06:19 22:57:51", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "190", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "600", "Thumbnail YResolution": "600", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "374", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "18036", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3543", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2362"}