An Evaluation of Policy on Natural Resource Management and Its Impacts on Rural Livelihoods in Nigeria
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Date
2013
Authors
Adedayo, V.T
Fasona, M.J
Olorunfemi, F.B
Elias, P.O
Oloukoi, G
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Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lagos
Abstract
This paper provides an analytical review and evaluation of some of the major policy and programme documents related to climate change and natural resource management in Nigeria. .National policy documents on agriculture, forestry, environment, and energy and several national and state programmes and projects that are expected to address the nexus between climate change, natural resources management, poverty alleviation, rural livelihood and food security across communities were analyzed with the view to ascertaining how well the policies are connected, their successes, local appropriateness and challenges in facilitating innovation in ecosystem and natural management, response to climate change and improvement in rural livelihood. In addition, participatory rural appraisal was also carried out with 191 households in 11 communities across 10 LGAs in the wooded savannah to capture the perception of the rural communities on these policy and programme documents and the extent to which it has addressed some of the issues. The findings suggest that strategies to improve natural resources management, climate change conditions, rural livelihoods and food security are well articulated in the policy and programme documents, but evidence on the field suggests a disconnect between the these policies and the true situation on ground even decades after their implementation was supposed to have commenced. The lack of government-community partnership and incentives for community-driven initiatives appear to be a key issue in the lack of successful implementation of programmes that are aimed at improving rural livelihoods as community participation is central to any ecosystems and natural resource management project that wishes to positively impact rural livelihoods.
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Citation
Vide Adedayo, Mayowa Fasona, Felix Olorunfemi, Peter Elias, & Grace Oloukoi (2013): An Evaluation of Policy on Natural Resource Management and Its Impacts on Rural Livelihoods in Nigeria. The Nigerian Journal of Business and Social Studies, 7(1), pp49-71, Faculty of Social Sciences, UNILAG, NIGERIA