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

(MINEPIA, 2006) which come into the area today. This shows that there has been a marked increase of about 5685 cows. This increase comes at a period when wetlands and grazing lands as a whole have considerably decreased. This highlights the fact the population of cattle within this region should be moving towards a critical density. The situation is indicated by an increase in the conflicts between farmers and graziers in this zone, (Tanteh .G.H, 2004, &Bongadzem C.S. (2007.) .Table 20 is an estimate of the population density of cattle in the wetlands of Ndop Central Subdivision in 1974 and 2006.
Table 20: Population density of cattle in the wetlands of Ndop Central Subdivision. during the dry season in 1974 compared to 2006.

Year	Population of cattle	Surface of wetland grazing area(km2)	Population density of cattle
1974	2500	315.54km2	8 cows/km2
2006	8185	100.17	82 cows/ km2

Source: Analysis from table 18 and from Boutrais.J (1974)

It can be seen that the population density on grazing lands has increased considerably between 1974 and 2006, since there is an inverse relationship between available grazing land and the cattle population. As the population is increasing, the area available for grazing keeps decreasing. This is also because farmers need the same area for the cultivation of dry season vegetables, beans and maize. This situation is seemingly pushing cattle populations towards a critical density as shown on table 21. The increase of cattle population density highlights a contemporary situation in which demand for water by cattle has almost increased more than the actual resources available. Grazing lands are equally under pressure from this excessive cattle population.

Table 21: Optimal and critical population density of cattle on wetland area of (200m2) comprised of herbaceous species (Hypherrania sp. and Sporobulus sp.)

Parameters under consideration.	Number of cattle on 200m2 (0.2m2)	Population density	Time taken to graze the area	Duration of sustenance before next meal
Optimal cattle population density	10 cows	1cow/0.02km2	3 hours	1 day
Critical cattle population density	20 cows	1cow/0.01km2	1 hour 30 mins.	6 hours

It shows from table 21 that the population of cattle during the transhumance period is approaching a critical density. The number of hours taken to graze large expanses of vegetation has decreased considerably. It shows from table 20 that in 1974, one cow was entitled to 0.12 km2 of grass per day and by 2006, it had decreased to only 0.01 km2 per day.