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Fisheries Development and Resource-usage Conflict: A Case-study of Deforestation Associated with the Lake Chad Fishery in Nigeria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Arthur E. Neiland
Affiliation:
Research Fellow, Centre for Marine Resource Economics, Locksway Road, Milton, Portsmouth, Hampshire PO4 8JF, England, UK
I. Verinumbe
Affiliation:
Senior Lecturer, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri, Nigeria.

Extract

A predicted rejuvenation of the Lake Chad fisheries in central Africa, associated with the passing of severe drought conditions in its Sahel environs, is likely to increase significantly the pressure placed on other local resources. In the case of the tree resources, it can be demonstrated that the concentration of population and fish-processing activity along the western lakeshore, will further exacerbate the existing local deficit between demand and supply, leading to increased tree-loss with ultimately devastating results culminating in desertification.

The problem is outlined and discussed in the context of both local and national economic considerations. Particular attention is given to the relationship between increasing demand for fish products in Nigeria as a whole, associated with expansion of population and rapid urbanization, and the commercialization of fisheries production in the Chad Basin leading to much-increased fuel-wood usage. It is clear that Government must play an active, much-expanded role in regulating this situation if severe resource depletion and environmental degradation is not to occur in the foreseeable future.

Type
Main Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1991

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