Abstract
This study generally assessed the traditional watershed management system in southeast, Nigeria. Specifically, it analysed the status of watersheds in southeast, Nigeria, described farm practices in the watersheds, identified stakeholders in traditional watershed management system, their role effectiveness, examined traditional watershed management rules and regulations, ascertained economic/livelihood activities of watershed dwellers and determine factors militating against watershed management in the southeast. Three rivers/watersheds (Asu, Mamu and Imo) were purposively selected which covered the five states in the southeast geopolitical zone. Three town communities were also purposively selected from each watershed based on their nearness to the watersheds. Two villages/hamlets were selected from each community and 50% of heads of households was proportionately selected from the list compiled from the selected villages giving a total sample size of 412 respondents for study. Participant observation, key informant interview and interview of heads of households were used for data collection. The status of vegetative cover was analysed by identifying the physical features existing around the watersheds and the activities currently going on around the watersheds. Geographical positioning system (GPS) was used to determine the approximate distances of watershed to farms and residential homes in order to highlight the effects of human settlements and activities on the status of the watersheds. The results of the study revealed that the present status of the watersheds was threatened by unrestricted access to watershed resources by watershed dwellers and other unsustainable activities such as collection of fuel wood (98.5%), animal hunting (95.4%), farming activities (87.6%), lumbering (80.1%), etc. The major farm activity engaged by watershed dwellers was crop cultivation (85.5%) especially mixed cropping system (96.2%). The means of land clearing were use of machetes/axes (94.9%), 87.5% set fire on bushes (slash and burn system) etc The farm technologies in use in the watersheds were natural soil fertility management (94.5%), fertilizers (89%), animal manure (79.3%) and resistant/hybrid varieties (61%). Ridges were aligned across the slope (95.0%) and in single heaps (79.9%). The study also revealed that watershed stakeholders were village/town unions (89.6%), family/clan heads (77.6%), youths (59.6%) and women (53.2%). Their roles were attendance to meetings (97.4%), publicity (93.8%) and conflict management/resolution (90.4%). The roles performed by youth/women stakeholders were clearing of roads/ water channels (90.8%), enforcement of rules and regulations (82%) and provision of security (77.6%). The effective roles of stakeholders were attendance to meetings (3.55), clearing roads to the watersheds (3.52), publicising meetings (3.23), etc. ineffective ones were enforcement of rules/regulations (2.42) and provision of security (2.37). Also effective rules and regulations were clearing of roads to the watersheds (3.62) and washing/bathing at specific location (3.45). Others not effective were no fishing with chemical (2.40), no defecation/urination (2.37), no setting of fire on the watersheds (2.28), etc. The major livelihood strategies in the watersheds were collection of fuel wood (92.7%), wine tapping/gin production (91.3%), collection of edible seeds (88.6%), etc. The factors militating against watershed management were high cost farm input (2.79) violation of watershed rules and regulations (2.67), lack of effective rules and regulations (2.64) and fishing with chemical (2.60). The study among other things recommended intensive watershed education in the Southeast.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background
Water is life. This simple statement according to Donkor (2003) embodies the critical role water plays to individuals, families, communities, nations and regions. Water has provided nourishment, an environment for healthy populations and the basis of agriculture and industry. He further stated that history is replete with civilizations that have risen on the banks of ancient rivers such as the Tigris and Euphrates, the Nile, the Niger, the Zambezi and many more.
According to Low External Input and Sustainable Agriculture (LEISA) (2006), water is one of the most important of all natural resources and an essential resource for all life. Growing populations, rapid urbanization and increasing industrial and agricultural production are all increasing competition for and pressure on this precious and finite resource. Similarly, Sherbinin (1997) stressed that water is vital for all living organisms and major ecosystems as well as for human health, food production and economic development. Aquatic ecosystems support highly productive fisheries, plant communities, woodlands and agro-pastoral systems. These wetlands also directly and indirectly support large human populations. For the millions of people worldwide who depend on or benefit from wetland resources, providing water for the environment and for people is one and the same.
Today, nearly 40% of the world’s food supply grown under irrigation and a wide variety of industrial processes depend on water. Already, humans use more than one half of all accessible surface water runoff. This proportion is expected to increase to 70% by
2025 thereby reducing the quantity and quality of water available for aquatic ecosystems. These aquatic ecosystems are critical for a wide range of life supporting functions including the cleaning and recycling of water itself (Postel, Daily and Ehrlich, 1996). According to the United Nations (1997), more than one billion people today lack access
to an adequate supply of safe water for household use. In 30 years time, as many as 5.5 billion people may live in areas suffering from moderate to severe pressure on water resources, rendering the provision of safe water even more difficult.
The future of Africa in respect of water resources is not salutary. Water stress will increase in Africa due to the influence of climatic factors (increasing frequency of flood, drought and water system stress) and anthropogenic causes of increasing use (from rising population, expanding urbanization, increasing economic development, unplanned settlement patterns), inadequate storage and recycling, lack of knowledge to address concerns and weak governance of water sector (Vordzorgbe, 2003). In another dimension, Grey (2002) stated that the quality of the available water in Africa is declining and the management of the water resources is weak due to several factors including fragile institutional base, inadequate financial resources, lack of user involvement and weak regulatory frameworks. Defects and adverse effects of all these factors result in major water resource management gaps in Africa, limited storage, degraded watershed, inefficient utilization and deteriorated water quality. According to Vordzorgbe (2003), Africa has the highest growth rate and the fastest rate of increase in urban population in the world. This has implications for demand, quality and sustainability of water resources. Consequently, access to adequate freshwater resources in Africa is projected to worsen considerably in future. Twenty-five countries including Nigeria are expected to experience either water scarcity or water stress by 2025 (Vordzorgbe, 2003).
The water challenges for Africa in the next few years are daunting and numerous. There must be reduction of proportion of people without access to safe water by 50% by 2015 as specified in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) (Amoako, 2003). He stressed that in line with African Water Vision, there is need to increase the size of irrigated areas by 50% before 2015 to meet increased demand from agriculture, hydropower, industry, tourism and transportation. There is also need to increase the
development of water resources by 10% in 2015 and 25% in 2025 and to more effectively manage droughts, floods and desertification and restore the environmental sustainability and the conservation of watershed ecosystem (Amoako, 2003).
Even at the global level, it is becoming increasingly difficult to satisfy the collective thirst of people, industry and agriculture without damaging the world’s limited resource of freshwater. This is because the availability, quantity and quality of fresh water resources depend largely on their watersheds (US EPA, 2003).
Watershed is a topographically delineated area that is drained by a stream- system, that is, the total land area that drains to some points on a stream or river. It is a hydrologic unit that has been described and used as a physical-biological unit and a socio- economic-political unit for planning and management of natural resources. A river basin is similarly defined but it is of a larger scale. For example, the Niger River Basin, Mekong River Basin, the Amazon River Basin and the Congo River Basin (Gregerson and Dixon, 1987).
McCammon (2003) describes watershed as the divide separating one drainage area from another. That is an area in which surface water flows to a common point. But Sherbinin (1997) describes it as the boundary of a lake, river or aquifer catchments, sometimes used to refer to the upstream part of a catchment, particularly where hilly or mountainous. Aquifer is an underground stratum of rock or sediment that contains water and transmits water readily. The term “catchment” and “watershed” are often used synonymously although they are actually different. A catchment is a basin shaped area from which rainwater can drain to a common outlet point or an area that catches rainfall or snow to supply a river, aquifer or lake.
Watershed is a veritable source of natural resources like timber, fuel wood, medicine, drinking water etc for rural dwellers. The present fadama initiative in Nigeria had been in practice in southeast, Nigeria at the watershed portion of the land. For
instance, the dry season vegetable production was usually carried out around the watersheds. Other economic activities in the watersheds included wine tapping, snail and edible seed gathering, raphia leaves for mat-making and roofing of thatched houses etc.
Where the environment and ecosystems are not disturbed by human factors, watersheds remain intact and continue to supply freshwater uninterrupted. Before the advent of colonial masters in Nigeria, there was little or no pressure exerted on the watersheds because of low population density, lack of industrialization and modernization. In northern Cross River State, Ingwu (2006) confirmed that before the colonial period, individual and collective behaviour towards the environment was regulated by the community folklore, taboos, rituals and other traditions and norms. Customarily, traditional rulers and elders were the custodians of land. For example, in villages in Boki, Obudu and Ikom Local Government Areas (LGAs), authority was vested collectively in a group of male elders and chiefs of the communities whose words and actions in matters were generally final and obeyed. Thus customary governance could be described as gerontocratic. Then, words and actions or relationships were in the direction of conservation, respect, good husbandry and efficient use of environmental resources. There were rules to protect trees and streams and rivers as well as existence of a governing council who oversaw the management of natural resources.
Communities in some south-eastern states like Enugu and Anambra states have traditional management practices with respect to their watersheds. Most of the streams and rivers are endowments of certain gods/goddesses. Consequently, the deities forbid entry into the surrounding forests with the intention to collect fuel wood, fell trees or cut grasses. Also, fishing or killing of certain animals like python, tortoise, monkey etc are forbidden. In some streams, washing of clothes is not allowed at all while in some others bathing and washing of clothes are allowed only at designated points. The roads to the streams and rivers are kept clean by the youth age grades while the women age grades are
involved in keeping the banks of the streams and rivers clean (Enwelu, 2002; Enwelu, 2007).
Problem statement
Watersheds supply natural resources like freshwater, fresh air, forest trees, animals, sands/stones etc. and are generally maintained through natural regeneration of plants and animals. In the past, natural resources including watersheds were managed by communities through elders/clan heads and chief priests of gods/goddesses. Subsequently, the Colonial masters introduced the forestry ordinance and concentrated the power over economic trees in government forestry authorities. The forestry authorities introduced forest guards who had the mandate to police forest resources including watersheds and arrest community members who harvested forest trees without permit or engaged in poaching. Before this law, the communal practice of harvesting gave community members a sense of ownership of such trees/animals/fishes which obliged them to make efforts to foster natural regeneration of these species for sustenance of watersheds.
Furthermore, around late 1970s, the Land Use Act (LUA) of 1978 vested all the land in each state of the federation in the governor of the state. Therefore, state governors are now the custodians of land and hold it “in trust” for the benefit and use of “all Nigerians” (Nigeria Government, 1978, Section 1 of LUA). This conferred powers on the governor of the state to allocate land in all urban areas to individuals resident in the state and to organizations for residential, agricultural, commercial and other purposes while similar powers with respect to non-urban areas are conferred on the local government executives (Section 2 of LUA; Ndukwe, 1990). Consequently, the rights of ownership of land and authority are completely removed from the community elders and chiefs. This action immediately encouraged settlement encroachment on the watersheds especially by powerful politicians and the rich who now have free and uncontrolled access for
commercial exploitation of watershed resources, and it is gradually limiting access to drinking water via degradation of watersheds.
In Enugu State for instance, population growth, increasing industrial and agricultural activities, construction work and other harsh environmental practices have led to watershed and environmental degradation. This environmental degradation has affected how water flows into the watershed and what flows with the water. As trees and shrubs are replaced with impervious surfaces (roads, houses etc), they increase runoff and less water sinks into the ground (affecting the ground water levels). The increased runoff leads to more flooding after rains resulting to siltation or drying up of rivers, impairment of the health of human beings who consume the water and its resources, destruction of the lives and extinction of aquatic organisms and also indirectly, destruction of the population that depends on these organisms for livelihood (Obiora, 2005).
The problem per se according to Ebisong (2007) is not in the transfer of land and land resources from the community to the government but in the inability of the government to effectively manage land resources including the watersheds as was the case when they were in the hands of the communities. This may be the reason why the present focus of watershed management is on multi-stakeholder participation, linking social, technical and policy concerns in a pluralist collaborative process (FAO, 2006).
Settlement encroachments close to streams and deforestation have contributed to seasonal shortages of water. The swamp, fresh watershed and spring areas have been used for building residential houses, private schools, animal pens, saw mills etc. Sometimes, dams are built without involving the rural community in the decision (Ingwu, 2006). These have contributed immensely to the causes of freshwater pollution, seasonal shortages of water and seasonal floods in the rural communities. In spite of land use act (LUA) and forestry ordinance, rural communities in southeast still maintain and manage watersheds belonging to their families/hamlets/communities pending the time they will be acquired by government or its agencies. The watersheds under the control and management of the communities (traditional watershed management system) are also presently undergoing some changes as a result of civilization, modernization, changes in lifestyle etc. Some of these changes are associated with activities that are adversely affecting the watersheds and subsequently watershed resources such as drinking water, fishes, animals, trees etc.
Therefore, watershed management remains one of the most effective ways to enhance water quality and quantity, protect critical wildlife habitat, prevent soil erosion, sustain economic activities and ensure sustainable development. Watershed development and management is currently being adopted by many countries of the world as one of the methods of ensuring sustainable environmental protection and steady water supply to rural dwellers. Some countries of the world including some African countries have adopted watershed management as a means of protecting the environment and ensuring steady freshwater supply. For instance, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO, 2006), promoted watershed management by implementing several field projects and documenting best practices and lessons learned in several publications. FAO (2006) further reported that it implemented the following eight major watershed management projects between 1990 and 2000.
(i) Participatory Watershed Management Training Project, 1996-1999, Asia region (FAO/Netherlands);
(ii) Participatory Upland Conservation and Development 1992-2000, Inter-regional: Bolivia, Burundi; Nepal, Pakistan, Rwanda and Tunisia (FAO/Italy);
(iii) Shivapuri Watershed Management and Fuel wood Project, 1985-1999, Nepal
(FAO/Norway);
(iv) Participatory Watershed Management, 1995 to 1999, Vietnam (FAO/Belgium); (v) Mithawan Watershed Management, 1995 to 2000, Pakistan (FAO/Japan);
(vi) Watershed Management: Three Critical Areas, 1993 to 1999 Myanmar
(FAO/United Nations Development Programme [UNDP]);
(vii) Watershed Planning and Management, 1993-1997, Pakistan (FAO/UNDP); (viii) Suketar Watershed Management, 1989 to 1997, Pakistan (FAO/UNDP).
The eight projects included community or group participation and invested considerable resources in training local technicians and villagers. They also had social and biophysical technical components (FAO, 2006). It is very significant to observe that Nigeria did not benefit from any of the watershed projects. Nigeria has made some efforts in river basin development but little or nothing has been done at the watershed level. Since some parts of Nigeria especially the south-eastern states are endowed with abundant water resources including rivers, stream, springs etc, the need to embark on watershed management project in the southeast cannot be overemphasized. Since watersheds determine the quality and quantity of water resources, effective management of water resources in order to ensure sustainability will only be holistic if watersheds are properly managed (Cogels, 2004).
Therefore, the traditional watershed management system needs to be reorganized and strengthened in order to absorb the pressure of increasing population and the resultant environmental (watershed) degradation. Hence the needs for new watershed management approach to keep pace with present trend of activities. It is therefore imperative to assess the current status of traditional watershed management system as a basis for the new approach. And so, this study was designed to focus on the traditional management of watersheds along some selected rivers in southeast Nigeria, with a view to analysing the state of the watersheds and identifying management gaps and the possibility of introducing best watershed management practices. Therefore, this study was designed to seek answers to the following questions:
(a) What is the present state of watersheds in southeast, Nigeria?
(b) What is the existing traditional watershed management system in the southeast? (c) How effective are the watershed rules and regulations?
(d) What are the economic and livelihood activities in the watersheds?
(e) What are the major problems confronting watershed management in southeast Nigeria?
Purpose of the Study
The main purpose of the study was to assess the traditional watershed management system in southeast Nigeria.
Specifically, the study sought to:
1. analyse the status of watersheds in southeast Nigeria;
2. identify stakeholders of traditional watershed management system and assess their role effectiveness;
3. examine the traditional watershed management rules and regulations;
4. describe the existing farm practices in the watersheds;
5. ascertain the economic/livelihood activities of watershed dwellers; and
6. determine factors militating against watershed management in the southeast.
Significance of the Study
Water generally is a critical factor in all aspects of human and ecological development. Water scarcity is now a global phenomenon and the situation in Africa is not encouraging. In many countries, requirements for domestic freshwater use, sanitation, industry and agriculture cannot be met. The situation is getting worse as a consequence of population growth, rapid urbanization, increasing agricultural and industrial activities and lack of adequate capacity to manage freshwater resources (Obasi, 2003).
The study seems to be one of the recent attempts in Nigeria geared towards the study of watersheds whose state determines to a great extent the availability, quality and quantity of fresh water resources. In southeast Nigeria, watershed study is not expected to be a new phenomenon but consistent abuse and neglect of indigenous knowledge and lack of effective government environmental regulation have resulted to deleterious consequences on watersheds and their resources.
Therefore, this research will stimulate interest of watershed communities and government in conservation studies especially in the area of watershed management. It will act as a form of sensitization to the watershed communities on the possible causes and effects of unsustainable activities on the watersheds such as aggravation of climate change and variability. The study will challenge the government to review her land use acts and forestry laws with a view to evolving policies and laws that will involve the communities as partners in progress in the management of natural resources (watersheds). The study will also provide baseline data to stimulate and guide sustainable watershed management practices. Following the guidelines for National Agricultural Extension Systems as articulated by FAO (2005) and Qarmar (2005), there is need to broaden the technical mandate of extension to aim at broader development of rural human resources which promote public good practices such as conservation of natural resources and environmental protection. Furthermore, the study will guide the government in formulating participatory/ collaborative watershed management policy that will involve all stakeholders in developing original, location specific, gender sensitive and inexpensive watershed extension methodologies for the benefit of all. And so, the study will challenge extension professionals to dig into watershed extension principles and methods. In addition, the study will be helpful to other researchers involved in water-related studies as well as open up new areas for further research.
This material content is developed to serve as a GUIDE for students to conduct academic research
ASSESSMENT OF TRADITIONAL WATERSHED MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN SOUTHEAST, NIGERIA.
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