The Engagement and Management Specialist for REDD+ in Cross River State, Mr. Tony Attah has said stakeholders were worried about the alarming deforestation rate in the state, following the introduction of forest moratorium.

He noted that between 2007 and 2014, over 140,000 hectares of forest had been lost and stakeholders needed to develop strategies to safeguard forest level.

Attah said this at a one-day training programme organised by Wise Administration of Terrestrial Environment Resources (WATER) funded by the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) through the Kenyan based Mainyoito Pastoralist Integrated Development Organisation (MPIDO) was for 20 forest community members in Cross River State to check forest depletion.

The Programme Coordinator, WATER, Chief Edwin Ogar, said the training was aimed at brainstorming on ways to improve collaboration between stakeholders and forest communities.

"If government, NGOs and the private sector want active participation of the community in the governance of the forest, they have to facilitate the process, so that the communities own the process."