2022-23 Activities
The local community underpins all our research and conservation work—we depend on their goodwill and cooperation. Thus, regular community engagement is extremely important to the Project.
The Science Coordinators, Project Volunteers, and undergraduate interns have continued to volunteer themselves every Friday to teach the students at the Government Secondary School in Yelwa. They teach several subjects including Mathematics, English, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Basic Science, and Basic Technology.
This is extremely helpful for the teachers and students at the school since the school is short-staffed. This initiative was well received and appreciated by the community leaders, parents, and students as it improved their learning outcomes.
We believe successful conservation requires an integrated approach, considering the needs and perspectives of all stakeholders. It must integrate traditional knowledge with scientific expertise and promote equitable resource-sharing arrangements. It needs to foster community participation in decision-making processes. Thus, this year we organised a stakeholder meeting with the permission and assistance of the Jauro, inviting all cattle owners whose grazing land borders on the reserve to work collaboratively to finding sustainable solutions that balance our conservation goals with the needs of the herding communities.
The outcome has been overwhelmingly positive. This year, we recorded fewer incidents of fire in the reserve and fewer conflicts resulting from cattle trespass. This is encouraging and emphasizes the value of collaboration and conversation in developing long-term solutions to environmental concerns.
Another initiative aimed at reinforcing a positive relationship with the local community and at the same time advocating for the conservation of the biodiversity that Ngel Nyaki was a ‘conservation awareness campaign.’ The team, including our science coordinators and management group, and our immediate past Science Coordinator, Emmanuel Elisha, visited the villages surrounding Ngel Nyaki forest reserve. They talked about conservation, the value of trees and explained our NMFP tree planting campaign. Through this initiative, we have witnessed increased community engagement and support. Residents have actively participated in planting activities in the Reserve.
The junior and senior Yelwa youth football teams—both teams help the Project in many ways, including tree planting and in fire control. The Project offers the top academic achievers in each team a scholarship towards their school fees.
2021-22 Activities
Elisha Barde Emmanuel has been successful in his application for a Rufford Small Grant ‘How Ngel Nyaki Forest Reserve and its associated ecosystem services are perceived by the local communities bordering the reserve’. As part of this ongoing project, Elisha and his team first invited community leaders from the neighbouring villages of Dujure, Dombo Geshi, Mayo Yembe, Panso, Gidan Musa, as well as two Fulani leaders, to a meeting held at the NMFP field station.
One outcome from this meeting was a willingness by the leaders to host Elisha and his team in their villages to learn more about Ngel Nyaki from the NMFP perspective and for the NMFP to learn from the villagers which tree species they found most useful to their daily lives. Another outcome was an increased awareness by the leaders of the importance of Ngel Nyaki Forest Reserve to their livelihoods.
The project is on-going and future work includes follow-up monitoring of donated seeds and propagation of more tree seedlings to be handed back to the communities.
Elisha Emmanuel with the undergraduate interns, have continued on the NMFP tradition of visiting the Esso–NMFP nursery school in Yelwa to create awareness among the young pupils of conservation issues. This programme is now officially named “Catch them young”. As well as teaching, the team demonstrated to the pupils and teachers how to propagate carrot seeds and encourages them to become part of our tree planting effort at the NMFP forest regeneration sites. In addition to nursery school children, volunteers in our tree planting program include students from Yelwa and Maisamari primary and secondary schools.
2020-21 Activities
In May Mrs Sharon Ikeazor, Minister of State at the Federal Ministry of Environment visited the Project with our Director, Dr Danladi Umar and Tunde Morakinyo, Executive Director, ANI Foundation. Ikeazor was especially pleased with the inclusion of women and girls in the Project and committed to increasing our profile within the Ministry.
Teaching by the Industrial Training (I.T.) students in Esso Nursery School and Government Day Secondary School continues.
With help from the patrollers, the Yelwa football team and pupils from the Yelwa Esso Nursery and Primary schools, 16,000 seeds of Anthonotha noldeae and 2,000 seeds of Pterocarpus erinaceous (Rosewood) were planted directly into the grassland. By combining education with active participation in forest restoration supports the communities sense of ownership over Ngel Nyaki reserve and helps ensure it is protected for years to come.
We are still trying to find funding for the Beyond Bees honey production operation, Covid has slowed progress, but we are determined to continue.
2019-20 Activities
Teaching at the local secondary school
The undergraduate I.T. students also interacted with the school students of G.D.S.S. Yelwa. For an entire term (4 months) they contributed to teaching English language, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, agricultural Science, and basic science and technology. This is an example of how the Project interacts with the community to benefit youth.
“Ngel-Nyaki is a blessing! I.T students from Nigeria Montane Forest Project (NMFP) Ngel Nyaki, came to assist with teaching at the Government Day Secondary School YELWA.” Quote from school student on Facebook
Nursery School
The NMFP continue to support the nursery school. Misa Zubairu leads this initiative and 2019 has seen special attention paid to the girls (see photo). The TY Danjuma Foundation, who support the school financially, paid a visit and were obviously impressed with what they saw.
Ndombo Ngishi School
Ndombo Ngishi is a small hamlet neighbouring the lower slopes of Ngel Nyaki forest reserve. There is very little room for farming in the area, with slash and burn having already depleted most of the resources outside of the reserve. The NMFP is linking with the Ndombo Ngishi community through employment of staff but also by providing some basic education to those in the village who need it. It is a three hour trek up-hill to the nearest school in Yelwa; to help, we have provided resources for a basic nursery school. Pictured, Usman teaching the children at Ndombo Ngishi.
Honey production (Beyond Bees)
We have tried very hard to find external funding for our bee keeping operation, but so far have been unsuccessful. Part of the problem is that we are based in Taraba State and some potential funders are concerned they may not easily be able to visit the project and assess progress.
Regardless, following on from Ridwan Jafar’s meetings with apiculturists at the APIEXPO AFRICA in Abuja last year (see 2018 Annual Report), this year we worked with Mr. Johnson Oluwaseun, an apiculturist based in Abuja, to develop a strategy that would allow us to continue on with Beyond Bees.
To this end Johnson ran two three day workshops at Ngel Nyaki on basic bee keeping, to which bee keepers from local communities were invited. At the workshops, aimed at empowering local communities around the forest reserve through bee keeping, Mr Johnson taught basic bee keeping techniques and discussed honey, bees wax and propolis processing for Apis- therapy.
The model we are using is based on the premise that the honey produced from local communities will be bought and processed by the Project.
We will then sell-on the honey to Abuja and Lagos, allowing us to become increasingly self-sustainable.
With guidance and introduction to markets from our Board member John Adeleke, we hope to begin honey production on a relatively large commercial scale. Without doubt Johnson’s workshops have led to an increasing awareness by the local community of the ecosystem services provided by their forest reserve and an increasing intent to conserve the forest for future generations. One of the Chinese produced wooded beehives we are now using at Ngel Nyaki.
The hives are small enough to be moved from the forest into more secure areas once honey has been made. They are light weight and strong.
A comment by one attendee on our Facebook page: “I have learned a lot from that program. How I wish everyone would understand the importance of the forest as I do!! I just hope one day everybody would see the forest as his own and be willing to protect it with his life.” Zubairu Mohammed Shekarau, Yelwa
2017 Activities
Nursery School
The NMFP continue to support the nursery school in many ways and we combine this with the conservation club. All IT students from Gombe, Bauchi and Taraba State Universities teach at the school.
Ndombo Ngishi School
Ndombo Ngishi is a small hamlet at the bottom of Ngel Nyaki forest Reserve. It is extremely poor; with no work, most of the men have left to work elsewhere and the women make the arduous trek up the hill weekly to sell bananas. This year we were able to support their school in a small way by donating a blackboard, books and other classroom essentials.
Conservation Club
We actively engage with students of all ages through our conservation club. Our aim is that the children of Yelwa associate the NMFP with a good place to be. On their frequent visits we show movies in the new science outreach centre along with refreshments. and generally give the children a good time. Of course this all revolves around talking about the significance of the forest, the ecosystem services it provides and how forest helps to mitigate climate change.
Honey production
The success of our funding beekeeper Afan to train the local Yelwa beekeepers has been a success.
We are hopeful that now Besongngem Mbikeng (see above) is on the ground at Ngel Nyaki we will be successful in obtaining funding for the beginnings of our honey industry.
