Section 52: Interpretation

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires-
"adverse effect" means any effect that is capable of threatening the survival of a National Park, wildlife, buffer zone, wildlife habitat or affecting the capacity of a National Park, wildlife, buffer zone, or wildlife habitat to sustain natural processes;
"aircraft" includes all flying machines, gliders, balloons and any other aircraft of any other kind designed to be lighter than air and whether or not navigable or free, or controlled by a human being or not;
"animal" means any vertebrate animal and includes any mammal, bird, reptile, and amphibian and the egg of any bird or reptile but does not include a fish or a human being;
"ammunition" has the same meaning assigned to it in the Firearms Act;
"biological diversity" means the variability among living organisms from all sources, including terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part, and includes diversity within species and between the species of the ecosystem;
"biological material" includes genetic material, organisms or part thereof, population or any other biotic component of the ecosystem;
"Board" means the National Park Service Governing Board established pursuant to section 2 of this Act;
"buffer zone" means an area created pursuant to section 46 of this Act;
"capture" includes to take egg or nest;
"conservation" means the protection and maintenance of nature while allowing for its ecologically sustainable use;
"conservation value" means a monetary sum of the national, international and inter-generational value of any wildlife, including the cost of remedying ecosystem disturbance occasioned by any unlawful interference with, damage to or destruction of any wildlife as determined, from time to time, by the Service;
"Conservator-General" means the Conservator-General of the National Park Service appointed pursuant to section 9 of this Act;
"court" includes a magistrate's court;
"Director" means the Director of a National Park appointed pursuant to section 24 of this Act;
"ecosystem" means a dynamic complex of plant, animal and micro-organism communities and their non-living environment interacting as a functional unit;
"environmental impact assessment" means an assessment carried out pursuant to the provisions of the Environmental Impact Assessment Act;
"existing National Parks" means the National Parks established by or under the National Parks Act;
"firearms" has the same meaning assigned to it in the Firearms Act;
"genetic material" means any material of plant, animal or microbial or other origin containing functional units of heredity;
"genetic resources" means genetic materials of actual or potential value;
"habitat" means the place or type of site where an organism or population naturally occurs;
"Minister" means the Minister charged with the responsibility for matters relating to forestry, and "Ministry" shall be construed accordingly;
"National Park" means a defined area of land set aside, managed and controlled by the Federal Government for the protection, preservation and conservation of its flora and fauna and their habitat, outstanding aesthetic, geomorphological, cultural and historical features for conservation of bio-diversity, recreational, educational and scientific purposes;
"prescribed fee" in relation to any licence or permit issued under this Act, means, in the case of any game licence or permit so issued, the fee prescribed by regulations made under the provisions of this Act;
"protected area" means the area covered by a National Park;
"prior informed consent" means consent based on prior information on how and by whom the genetic resources or knowledge relating to the genetic resources would be subsequently used and the scientific and financial value of the genetic resources based on the most current and advanced state of knowledge and technology available worldwide;
"public road" has the meaning assigned to it by the Road Traffic Law of the State concerned;
''regulations'' means regulations made under section 51 of this Act;
"road" means any public or other way capable of being used by vehicular traffic and to which the public has access and includes a bridge over which a road passes;
"Service" means the National Park Service established under section 1 of this Act;
"vegetation" includes any form of vegetable matter, dead or alive;
"wild animal" means any animal ferae naturae and includes any game animal but does not include a domestic animal;
"wild life" means wild animals or birds of species which are found in Nigeria in a wild state and vegetation which is indigenous to Nigeria and grows naturally without cultivation;
"wild plant" means a plant or any other vegetation which is indigenous to Nigeria and grows naturally without cultivation.