Indigenous Communal Practices and Sustainable Forest Management in Ikom Education, Zone of Cross River State, Nigeria.

This study investigated the relationship between indigenous communal practices and sustainable forest management in Ikom Education Zone of Cross River State. Two variables were operationalized from indigenous communal practices - belief systems concerning forest management and land tenure system while sustainable forest management was treated as the dependent variable. A correlational survey approach was utilized for the study. The sample was drawn using a purposive sampling procedure and it was made up of 696 respondents. A data collection instrument tagged “Indigenous Communal practices and Sustainable Forest management Questionnaire” (ICPSFMQ) was used to elicit required data for the study and Cronbach Alpha was applied to estimate its reliability. The two hypotheses raised for the study were analysed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation and tested at .05 level of significance. The findings revealed that each of belief systems concerning forest resources and land tenure system served as significant correlates of sustainable forest management. Recommendations included those locals’ tenets of belief systems and land tenure systems which favour appropriate sustainable forest management should be ceaselessly encouraged amongst them through non-formal education awareness forums even in the face of seeming westernization within the areas.