**1. Introduction**

It is expedient to elucidate that on the average, forest ecosystems all over the world contain not less than an estimated 80% of the earth's biodiversity. According to Olatoye, [1], tropical forests are particularly rich in species. Furthermore, forests cover not less than 10% of the total terrestrial surface, and approximately 50% of the total area covered by the world's forests serve as habitat to considerably more than 60% of all terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity [2–4]. From the foregoing, Benayas, [5] opined that about 10 million people are employed in forest management and conservation all over the world. In the same vein, over 1.6 billion people- including more than 2000 indigenous cultures depend on forest Land Use Land Cover (LULC) as a means of livelihood [6], thereby providing a wide range of environmental services [3, 4], including biodiversity conservation, water supply, carbon sequestration, flood control [1], and protection against soil erosion and desertification [5].

According to Green, [7]; FAO, [8], forests offer wide- ranging services for the marketing of wood and non-wood forest products (NWFPs), examples include timber, fuelwood, nuts, fruits, as well as medicinal plants. As elucidated by Seto, [9], forest products accounted for more than US\$300 billion, or 4% of the total value of international trade in commodities in 2004. Additionally, many people also place spiritual, religious and cultural values on forests as well as NTFPs, while others utilize them for leisure and recreational purposes [3, 4]. Despite the decline in the global forest area over centuries, the rate of deforestation has accelerated to alarming proportions. Gardner, [6] reports that the change in the African forest cover over the last three decades has largely been dependent on forest-clearing for agriculture/pastures, as well as for firewood collection. Further, population pressures in rural African communities were recognized as the main driving force accountable for the forest land- use and land- cover changes, while most of the deforested areas are unsuitable for long-term farming or grazing. It is on this premise that FAO, [8] stated that the very few of the remaining African tropical forests have little potential for sustainable agriculture.

One of the major enemies of forests is its use for domestic fuel consumption. Demand for fuel destroys near villages and towns in many countries [7]. Fuel wood gathered from the forest is the most important source of domestic energy in the rural areas of many developing countries. The collection and consumption of fuel wood are complexly linked to the management of environmental and natural resources. There exists a two-way relationship between fuel wood collection and deforestation. On one hand, the excessive demand for fuel wood causes forest degradation, thereby exacerbating fuelwood collection above its sustainable conservation. The degradation of forests, on the other hand, concomitantly results in fuel wood scarcity, thereby leading to global fuel wood crisis [2]. From the foregoing, there are a several consequences of forest degradation, such as the loss of biodiversity, watershed deterioration, the release of excessive atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) as well as soil erosion.

The de-reservation of forest areas for community expansion purposes, commercial agriculture as well as infrastructural development have assumed a startling dimensions in many African rainforest regions from the end of the 20th century. According to Nahuelhual, [10] de-reservation, lack of articulate policies

#### *Analysis of Anthropogenic Impediments to African Forest Ecosystems Conservation… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.104452*

on forest conservation/management, the preponderance of illegal selective logging as well as unsustainable harvesting of NWFPs, inadequate funding and under-staffing of government forest management parastatals, excessive bureaucracy, lack of harmonized coordination as well as inadequate reliable inventory for planning and forest regeneration activities, are major challenges to the sustainability of African forest conservation. Furthermore, it should be noted that the extinction of flora and fauna species, as well as the conversion of fragile forest ecosystems to other land-uses have culminated in fragmentation, serial extinction and genetic erosion of rare and endemic timber species.
