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

transhumance were responsible for these negative changes .Examples of areas in which wetlands have been severely degraded can be seen throughout the country. The lake Chad for example, with an area of over 26000km2 in the 1960s reduced to only about 1,500km2 by the year 2000 .In Yaounde, several wetlands in the Mfoundi drainage basin have been drained dry for agricultural purposes (Voufo.D., 1984). The construction of dams like the Lagdo reservoir (700 km2) on the Benue, the Bamendjin on the Nun and that of Maga in the North, go a long way to justify these changes. Albeit these damages, Cameroon’s efforts towards the wise use of wetlands has been very slow and is explained by the fact that only recently did she ratify the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (20/07/2006) and by the fact that so far only two Ramsar sites exist in spite of the existence of other wetland areas which could be an object of conservation efforts.
At a much reduced scale, the wetlands of the Ndop Central Subdivision are no exception to the rule. As early as 1967, the creation of the Bureau de Dévéloppement de Production Agricole (B.D.P.A) became actively involved in wetland transformations in this region. With the closure of the B.D.P.A, the U.N.V.D.A took over in 1970 with a mission to create over 3000ha of rice fields, (U.N.V.D.A, 1973).In both cases, the earliest fields were created on the wetlands of N.C.S.D. It is also worth mentioning that the increase in rice production came in with other negative practices like the high use of chemical fertilizers. According to the general manager of the U.N.V.D.A, “it was an issue of clear cutting the plains through mechanised means” without any environmental concerns for the future (photo.1a).
During this period, natural vegetation cover dominated by date palms, raphia palms, Indian bamboos and large trees (like iroko and mahogany),as well as the abundant fauna biodiversity, were totally destroyed. Coupled with these activities, the Bamendjin dam was created in 1975, flooding an estimated area of 442 km2 after the project was finalised (Ngwa N.E. 1985).The effect of the reservoir was felt as far as Bamunka, Bamali and Bamessing where occasional floods cause damage to infrastructure (see photo 1b)

These practices have seen the rise of the population of this area; coming in search of brighter opportunities in the new township of Ndop. To sustain this population, new farming systems have been developed in the wetlands e.g. .seasonal crop rotation; a system through which food crops like maize, beans, cocoyam or vegetables are cultivated interchangeably as the season gradually changes. This method gives no room for wetlands to regenerate their