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Theme: THE DEGRADATION OF WETLANDS AND ITS SOCIO ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS IN NDOP CENTRAL SUBDIVISION, NORTH WEST PROVINCE CAMEROON
Page 9
1.4 SCIENTIFIC BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW
From the above write-up it is evident that wetlands constitute a vital ecosystem, necessary for the subsistence of life at all levels. They host considerable biodiversity and endemism, making them fall among the most productive life supporting systems in the world (WWF, 2004). Based on their functions and values, wetlands are ranked sixth by recent classifications in terms of their economic value of global ecosystem services (see table 2).
Table 2:The economic value of global ecosystem services.
Ecosystem |
Area(Million ha) |
Value(US$/ha/yr) |
Global Value(US$ trillion/yr) |
|
Open ocean |
33200 |
252 |
8.4 |
|
Coastal |
3102 |
4052 |
12.6 |
|
Tropical Forest |
1900 |
2007 |
3.8 |
|
Other Forest |
2955 |
302 |
0.9 |
|
Grasslands |
3898 |
232 |
0.9 |
|
Wetlands |
330 |
14785 |
4.9 |
|
Lakes &Rivers |
200 |
8498 |
1.7 |
|
Cropland |
1400 |
92 |
0.1 |
Total annual worth of the services provided by the biosphere |
33.3 |
Source: Costanza et al(1997) in www.ramsar.org/about/about_wetlands.htm
,consulted 8th/08/2007
It is rather unfortunate that this classification only came many years after wetlands had been lost and degraded in several regions of the world. This is because originally, they were regarded as worthless wastelands which had to be drained and farmed or simply replaced by some other form of land use. Their filth, mud, stench, mosquitoes and spiders (Forpah C.N,2003), was a misconception which was dominant during the early 1960s and 1980s and exposed wetlands to all sorts of transformations which ranged from draining ,dredging, filling-up with soil to their subsequent loss and degradation. Some were simply drowned up through the construction of dams. However, during the later parts of the 1960s (with a realisation of the important role wetlands play), several actions were undertaken to protect them from radical transformations by man and to ensure a rather sustainable exploitation of their resources. Several nations became involved in their protection after having signed the International Convention on Wetlands, in Ramsar, Iran in 1971. The United Nations International Conference on the Environment and Development (held in Rio de Janeiro in 1994) is another important meeting which set the stage through provisions outlined under its Agenda 21 for the sustainable exploitation of wetlands. The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
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