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

issue addressed here was that of wetland loss and transformation in several African countries like Ivory Coast, Mali, Senegal and Burkina Faso for the purpose of agriculture.
In the North of Cameroon, Barreteau et al (1991) and Olivry et al (1996) addressed issues about the human and physical background in regions around the Lake Chad. These studies revealed that an intensification of human activities had led to the degradation of the natural milieu. Past studies showed that the Lake Chad was the largest lake in Africa but had considerably lost its surface from what existed in 1873 to what existed in 1907.
The concept of wetland loss was however widely developed through studies carried out by the Ramsar Convention Bureau (2000). It is on these bases that contemporary research has addressed issues of wetland degradation like the loss of biodiversity, ecological change and the loss of wetland functions and values. This is evident in the works of Pangmashi,.(1999), Koghan.(2001,2004) and Kaat (2007).

1.4.2. FACTORS ACCOUNTING FOR WETLAND LOSS AND DEGRADATION.

Several factors have been held responsible for wetland loss and degradation. Amongst these are agriculture, infrastructural development, irrigation, construction of hydroelectric dams, agropastorialism and bush burning. These have been highlighted in studies by authors like J. Boutrais,(1974) in his study on transhumance in the Ndop Plain, De Loucas(1988) who studied the impact of the Bamendjin dam on the wetlands in the North western Bamoun region; Fogwe, (1990) on his part looked at human practices which exposed the Ndop-Sabga arc to erosion meanwhile authors like Nanfack (1990), Barreteau et al (1991), Koghan(2004) and Wabo (2004), tried establishing a link between the rise in human population and the increasing need for wetland resources. This increasing demand was seen as responsible for the various transformations which are occurring on these wetlands.

Finally, in a general report on wetlands by the WWF (2004), factors that account for wetland degradation were summarised under principal factors like agriculture, pollution, climate change, failure of public policies, infrastructural development and the lack of sufficient inventory on wetland sites. These factors are seen to be dominant in countries where wetland degradation is not yet a crucial issue on the government’s agenda. These