IITA FOREST CENTER

The IITA Forest Unit was set up 1 January 2015 to succeed the five-year Forest Project.
It manages and utilises forest resources for conservation, research, education and
training at the following sites within the 1000-ha IITA Ibadan campus.

Picture of IITA Forest

IITA FOREST RESERVE

IITA’s forest was originally part of much larger forests in southwestern Nigeria but now, surrounded by the city of Ibadan, it is the best protected

Picture of Àjó, Akéréjupon Sphenocentrum jollyanum

ETHNOBOTANICAL GARDEN

The Ethnobotanical Garden aims to cultivate, propagate, and display plants of practical and cultural importance

Picture of Propagation at Botanical Nursery

BOTANICAL NURSERY

The Botanical Nursery stocks over 130 indigenous plants and over 50 different exotic plants, including fruit trees, potted plants, hedges and grasses.

Picture of a bird on a tree

ORNITHOLOGICAL MONITORING

Ornithological Monitoring Project aim is to monitor the Important Bird Area more effectively by carrying out scientific surveys.

FEATURED PROJECT

Olokemeji Reforestation Project

The Olokemeji Forest Reserve, located between two mega-cities in Nigeria, Abeokuta and Ibadan, is one of the largest forest reserves in southwest Africa, covering 5,888 hectares of land. Owing to indiscriminate poaching, farming activities, grazing, felling of trees, erosion and other environmental factors, the forest reserve has become degraded.

Featured PUBLICATIONS

Common birds of IITA

This IITA Guidebook will help you to identify many of the most common birds in the lake and forest areas of the campus. For each bird there is a photograph, a scientific name, common names in English and French, a description of the bird and notes on its ecology.

Common butterflies of IITA

The aim of this guidebook is to encourage appreciation and enjoyment of Nigerian butterflies, and to promote conservation of the habitats that are vital to their life cycles and long-term survival.

OUR STORIES

We will keep you updated with all the activities going on in
the IITA Forest Center. See below for some of our recent stories

Forests Matter