The Chairman, Cross River Forestry Commission, Tony Ndiandeye, on Monday said that unemployment was responsible for two per cent depletion of forest reserves annually in Cross River.

Mr Ndiandeye disclosed this in an interview in Calabar, while commemorating the World Forest Day (WFD) 2022 on Monday.

The chairman said due to large-scale unemployment, graduates from the nation’s tertiary institutions, who are from the forest bearing communities, see the forest as an alternative to employment.

He said these indigenes engaged in illegal logging activities, which contributed in depleting the forest reserves.

“Many of these young graduates have found the forest to be an alternative and due to their illegal activities, we are losing two per cent of our forests annually.

Mr Ndiandeye said that Cross River had an outstanding history of forest conservation, and “houses 50 per cent of the remaining rainforest in Nigeria.”

(NAN)