Assessment of Support Zone Community Programme in Old-Oyo National Park, Oyo State

The foremost threat to the continued survival and development of National Parks in Nigeria isadverse human factors. The paper examined the effectiveness of the Nigeria National Park scommunity-based conservation policy in Old-Oyo National Park (OONP) after twenty (20) years ofits operation. The method adopted was a descriptive survey involving the collection of bothqualitative and quantitative data and were administered on local people living adjacent to and withinthe park. The result revealed that 82% of the community s perception on the importance of the parkin the support zone of OONP is to earn their livelihood from the natural resources in the park.Therefore the research indicates that the programme contribution to the community welfare wasmarginal; as a result, the local communities are not interested and did not genuinely support theproject. The study recommends that the National Park Service should develop and encouragealternative means of livelihood and properly implement the Park s conservation policy for thesupport zone community, in OONP.