This paper examines the responses of mobile pastoralists to a floodplain rehabilitation program in north Cameroon. From 1993 to 1999, we measured changes in number of camps and herds, and the time they spent in the 600 km2 of the Logone floodplain that was reflooded in 1994. The first year, few pastoralists anticipated the reflooding or its impact, and the increase in grazing intensity was caused by a prolonged stay of pastoralists who already used the area for transit. The following three years showed a sharp increase in the number of camps and herds, which stabilized from 1997 onwards. Overall, grazing intensity increased threefold, following the gradually recovering perennial grasslands, with no signs of overexploitation of the area. These developments closely match the ideal preemptive distribution model. We also examined how reflooding affected pastoral incursions in the Waza National Park located in the floodplain.
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Notes
Use of floodplains in the Lake Chad Basin is facilitated by international agreements (CIRAD-CTA, 1996). In principle, pastoralists have to pay a small fee per head of cattle and show certificates of herd vaccinations when they cross the border, but in practice border controls are not very strict.
A sub-ethnic group refers to a group consisting of different clan fractions that have in common a migratory history and certain cultural traits (Burnham, 1996). Other, numerically smaller nomadic FulBe groups in the Logone floodplain have been grouped with one of the three main nomadic FulBe groups with whom they associate.
Pastoralists used moon cycles and weekly market days as reference points to recall how long they had camped in particular sites. We cross-checked this information with other pastoralists.
We have considered herds as management units, i.e., the animals that graze together during daytime under the guidance of a herder, and not as property units (Dahl and Hjort, 1976, p. 134).
Initial analysis using stem-and leaf plots in SPSS (1999) showed that herd size data followed a normal distribution. Herd size data from different sources have subsequently been analyzed with t-tests, variances of herd sizes with Levene's Test for equality of variances (SPSS, 1999) to enable possible lumping. Subsequently, herd size data from different pastoral groups were lumped if results of ANOVA and Tamhane Post Hoc tests (SPSS, 1999) allowed for it.
The 27 to 69 cattle km2 increase in the reflooded area in the Logone floodplain falls within the range of aerial surveys of other African floodplains, which assessed average cattle densities from 25 to 80 cattle per km2 (e.g., DHV/LRVZ Farcha, 1994). Obviously, care should be taken to compare surveys of different scales and methodologies.
This assumption seems reasonable given the large number of animals and herds in our study, respectively 95,077 and 1,079 in 1999.
Respectively Y=0.00344 (year)‒6.9, R 2=0.91, p=0.003 and Y=0.0039 (year)‒7.8, R 2=0.87, p=0.006.
The relatively uniform floodplain vegetation masks possible quality distinctions, an issue that has not been further studied.
Although access to grazing lands for main camps is not regulated by the principle of first-come-first-served; it is the principle by which the luci herds gain access to pastures. There is increasing competition among luci herders to enter the floodplain as soon as possible, even though the partial flooding carries health risks.
In all the years of working with mobile pastoralists in the Logone floodplain, we have not come across conflicts between pastoralists over campsites or grazing ranges.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The stimulating discussions Wouter de Groot and his comments on subsequent drafts, as well as those of Frank van Langevelde, Han van Dijk, Selvino de Kort, Natascha Zwaal, Stephany Kersten, Piet Wit, Sean Overland, Leslie C. Moore, and three anonymous reviewers are greatly acknowledged.
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Scholte, P., Kari, S., Moritz, M. et al. Pastoralist Responses to Floodplain Rehabilitation in North Cameroon. Hum Ecol 34, 27–51 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-005-9001-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-005-9001-1