This report analyses the economic value of Nigeria's forest resource and demonstrates some policy instruments that would alleviate pressure on these natural forest systems. The analysis shows that the contribution of forests to the economy of Nigeria is underestimated in the national accounts.
To address the deforestation challenges faced by Nigeria, this study not only uses accounting and valuation of natural capital, but also makes significant progress towards designing and testing policy instruments. The study demonstrates three economic policy instruments that seek to incentivise landholders to pursue sustainable forest management—carbon trade, certified plantation forestry, and agroforestry. It describes how these options could work, how much they would cost, to what extent they would curb deforestation, and what the relative costs and benefits to the economy of Nigeria would be.