Abstract

This study was carried out to evaluate the socio-economic and environmental effects of timber harvesting in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. Three Local Government Areas (LGAs) were purposively selected from the timber producing areas of the state, and multi stage random sampling technique was employed to select a total of 160 respondents – composed of 50 randomly selected farmers from each of the three LGAs and 10 officials from the State Forestry Department. Primary data were used for the study. A structured questionnaire was used to collect information from the respondents. Data was subjected to statistical and econometric analysis which included percentages, frequencies and exploratory factor analysis. Environmental economic and social effects of timber harvesting observed from the study included: Silting of rivers and lakes, damaging of immature trees and non-wood forest products, loss of biodiversity, climate change/global warming, high cost of farm labour, disputes and crises over land and compensation, high cost of living, loss of forest land and increased cost of wood and timber products. Level of economic losses amounted to over 2000 trees per year from the forests excluding those harvested from free areas that were not officially on record. The study recommended that the Ministry of Agriculture/Environment and other related stakeholders should adequately sensitize the public on the long term implication of illegal logging on the environment and socio-economic well-being of the farmers in the concerned communities.

Key words: Environment, economic, social, effects, timber harvesting.