Akure Forest Reserve is a protected area in southwest Nigeria, covering .The Akure Forest Reserve, established in 1948 and spanning approximately 32 hectares, was created with the primary aim of safeguarding the genetic diversity of the forest ecosystem (Adeduntan, 2009)
In recent decades, there has been a large deforestation in this area, which has a huge impact on the environment. Akure Forest reserve is a forested area set aside for preservation or controlled use and located at Ile Oluji/Okeigbo, Ondo State, Nigeria, with a Latitude of 7° 17′ 39″ N and Longitude of 5° 2′ 3″ E.
The soil seed bank of any forest ecosystem is constituted by all viable seeds present on the soil as well as those associated with the soil humus/litter layer (Simpson et al., 1989).
Forests are vital renewable natural resources that play an important part in environment preservation which also make available a safe anchorage for diverse lifeforms (Singh et al., 2016). Forest is a vegetal community with a tree canopy covering over 10% (0.5hectares) of the land area (FA0 2020; Singh et al., 2006). In Nigeria, natural forest occupied 349,278 km2, accounting for nearly 35% of the land mass of the country of 997,936 km2 (Nweze, 2003).
Geographical area
The Akure Forest Reserve is situated in the Ondo State, Nigeria, a region in Akure South Local Government Area. It falls within longitudes 5o9′ and 5o11′ east of the Greenwich Meridian and latitudes 7o16′ and 7o18′ north of the equator. It was established as a reserve in 1936. It covers a land area of about 69.93km2. Politically, it is located in Ondo State in southwest Nigeria and shares a border with Osun State in the northeast. The Akure forest reserve share border with the five LGAs, in Ondo State namely : Ile Oluji, Oke-Igbo, Ifedore, Akure South, Idanre and Ondo East.
Climatic condition
Akure has a tropical humid climate with a minimum and maximum daily temperature range of 27 °C - 38 °C respectively, in the wet season and 23 °C - 39 °C respectively in the dry season. However, according to Adejoba et al., the average daily temperature ranges between 21 °C and 29 °C for nearly the entire year. The wet season in this area lasts about 9.6 months with a monthly rainfall of about 0.5inches, with 9.0 inches in September as the wettest month The average annual rainfall varies from 2000mm in the south to 1500mm in the north. The yearly relative humidity in the south-west range from 80-85% (NiMET, 2016). The wet season begins in April and ends in October, with the heaviest rainfall records occurring in July and August, while the dry season lasts from November to March (Akinseye).
Significant Developments Over the Years
Over the decades, the Akure Forest Reserve has seen significant developments and transformations in its management and ecological dynamics. Some key milestones and events include; Post-Independence Conservation, Biodiversity Research and Discoveries, Community Engagement, Environmental Challenges, and Modern Conservation Strategies.
Tropical deforestation remains an enduring and profound environmental challenge, transcending national boundaries in the developing world, and causing severe consequences such as the depletion and extinction of various biological species. Understanding the intricate dynamics of tropical deforestation and changes in forest cover across diverse developing countries is a pivotal focal point in global environmental change research (Geist & Lambin, 2001).
Numerous researchers, reviewers, and organizations attribute the issue of tropical deforestation to persistent colonial forest policies, which revolve around the appropriation of ancestral forest lands from local communities (Guha & Gadgil, 1989; Sivaramakrishnan, 1995; IUCN, 1996; and Fairhead & Leach, 2000). This work contends that effective solutions to tropical deforestation require a shift in policy that moves away from colonial forest practices and instead emphasizes the recognition of property rights and the devolution of forest management responsibilities to local forest communities.
A central question arises: Why do people in tropical regions oppose colonialism and its associated forest policies? Colonialism, fundamentally, represents the extension of one nation's sovereignty beyond its borders through the establishment of settler or exploitation colonies. In this system, indigenous populations are often directly ruled, displaced, or even exterminated (Goncharov, 1963; Nkrumah, 1961). Colonialism embodies a framework of direct political, economic, cultural, and religious dominance of a more powerful nation over a weaker people or territory (Horvath, 1972).