Home Page

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

2.1.1.2. Analysis from satellite images of 1988
The year 1988 marks 25 years after 1963. This period as seen on table 7 and figure 8 has a remarkable difference in land cover from that in 1963.
Table 7: Land cover in Ndop Central Subdivision in 1988

Land cover	Surface area occupied (km2)	Percentage occupied by land cover
Habitation zones	18.03	4.48%
Rice fields in wetlands	97.12	24.15%
Wetlands (uncultivated)	72.42	18.01%
Food crop zone in wetlands	17.70	4.40%
Food crop zone on dry land	23.02	57.26%
Dam	166.5	41.41%
Other land uses	7.21	1.79%

Source: Mphoweh J.N. with analysis from satellite image of 1988.

New phenomena like rice cultivation and the cultivation of food crops in wetlands have come into existence. The cultivation of rice has taken up over 97.12 km2 .i.e. over 24.15% of the land area. The areas therefore permanently or seasonally occupied by wetlands have equally decreased with the increase in these activities. Concerning habitation zones, they increased from about 2.54% of the surface area in 1963 to about 4.48% in 1988. This increase in habitation zones is as a result of an influx of people into this area since it had over the years moved from a district headquarters (located in Bamunka) to a Subdivision (Ndop subdivision). The change in status of this area from a rural to an urban area (administratively) led to the creation of several services which are/were much needed by people within this area and those coming in from other areas. The presence of this population also necessitated the creation of farms; and this is the reason why farming extended from only dry land farming to farming in the wetlands (occupying over 4.40% of the area) which did not originally serve as cultivation zones.
The creation of the Bamendjin dam and the storage of water in its reservoir around 1975 is another land cover change that did not exist by 1963. A section of the dam of over 166.5 km2 (over 41.4% of Ndop Central Subdivision) extended into the area and submerged a large expanse of existing wetlands found around the area (see figure 7).