Approaches and challenges of traditional institutions in conservation of biodiversity: Implications for sustainable management of natural resources in Nigeria
The study assessed indigenous practices and beliefs on the conservation of natural resources in Oju Local Government Area of Benue State. Purposeful and simple random sampling was applied to determine the study sample and thus a sample size of 118 was used for the study. The findings revealed that majority of the respondents were male (75.4%) while 24.6% were female. The indigenous and traditional beliefs in the protection of natural resources in the area is reflected in a variety of their practices which included sacred groves and sacred landscapes, construction of masquerades and other traditional artifacts, reflecting greatly the population of the forest resources. The most conserved fauna and flora species identified were; Smutsia gigantea, Elgaria coerulea, Ceyx erithaca, Milvus aegyptius, Centropus steerii and Ophiophagus hannah; Vitellaria paradoxa, Khaya grandifoliola and Abies balsamea. Major challenges identified were; lack of inclusion by governance institution with (98.7%), followed by adoption of other religious beliefs with (97.5%), poaching/illegal logging and population growth/urbanization (91.5%), perception of idolatry (88.9%), Bush fires (89.8%) while frequent use of herbs for traditional medicine (83.1%) had the least percentage. On the ways of improvement was awareness creation had the highest proportion (33.9%), followed by attitudinal change (30.5%), while resource allocation to traditional leaders and integration of traditional conservation in formal resource conservation had the least proportion of 17.8%. It was concluded that traditional practices and beliefs if well managed will enhanced proper conservation and management of natural resources. The study thus recommended that, institutions responsible for conservation of natural resources should be positioned for effective performance and service delivery. Government should have monitoring agents that will help in ensuring natural resource conservation.