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95

Theme: THE DEGRADATION OF WETLANDS AND ITS SOCIO ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS IN NDOP CENTRAL SUBDIVISION, NORTH WEST PROVINCE CAMEROON

Author: Mphoweh Jude Nzembayie

email: mphowehjude@yahoo.fr

PART I : THESES PROJECT

I.1.       GENERAL INTRODUCTION:
A wetland is regarded as an environment “ at the interface between purely terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems; which are inherently different from each other, yet highly dependent on both”.(Mitsch & Grosselink,1986).They often host considerable biodiversity and fall among the most productive life supporting systems in the world. They are equally of immense socio-economic and ecological importance to mankind, and are thus vital for activities like: agriculture, fishing, grazing, hunting, gathering, irrigation, flood control etc. These activities had long been practiced on wetlands; for example, the cradle of civilisation along the wetlands of the Nile valley and also irrigation (and subsequent rice farming) as early as the 4th Millennium BC in South East Asia, (Scott, 1993).
Though unevenly distributed around the world, wetlands can be found in every continent and despite the unreliable data on their distribution, the Ramsar Convention on wetlands (an international convention signed at Ramsar in Iran in 1971 to promote the wise use of wetlands) has identified over 1675 wetland sites in its register based on particular criteria. Two of these wetland sites are found in Cameroon; the Waza Logone flood plain (No 1609) and the Barombi Mbo Crater Lake (N° 1643), registered on 20th / 03/06 and 08/10/06 respectively.
Wetlands are today becoming a focal point, given that their values and functions are vital for the livelihood of mankind. Recent reports reveal that wetlands are amongst the most productive ecosystems, with their global economic values reflected on table 1.

Table 1: Total economic value of global wetlands by continent and wetland type (in thousands of US$ per year, 2000)

Source: WWF (2004).” The Economic value of World’s wetlands” report.

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