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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Fulani pastoralists' perceptions and perspectives on rangelands and its degradation in northern Cameroon
Authors:Moritz, MarkISNI
Tarla, FrancisISNI
Year:1999
Periodical:Méga-Tchad: bulletin de liaison de Réseau international de recherches pluridisciplinaires sur l'histoire et la préhistoire dans le bassin du lac Tchad (ISSN 0997-4547)
Issue:1-2
Pages:21-31
Language:English
Geographic term:Cameroon
Subjects:Fulani
pastoralists
soil fertility
External link:https://www.cepam.cnrs.fr/megatchad/bulletin/Bulletin%20MT%201999.pdf
Abstract:As rangeland degradation is not easily assessed through conventional methods, J. Swift (1981) proposed consulting and integrating local pastoralists in research projects in order to obtain, cost-effectively, more profound information on rangeland degradation. However, in order for scientists to communicate with and understand local people, it is necessary that they know the local language, which not only implies learning pastoralists' terminology for different types of soil or grass species, but also how pastoralists conceptualize and classify their knowledge and use it for their grazing strategies. Research was conducted in 1993 among Fulani pastoralists in the village of Gagadje in the Mindif district in northern Cameroon. It appears that pastoralists and scientists have comparable perceptions of rangelands, with two major differences: 1) scientists often use an additional dimension when discussing rangelands: its state of degradation. Pastoralists do not use this dimension; 2) Pastoralists rank rangelands which they classify as 'harde' and which are considered the most degraded by scientists, as the best rangelands around their village. The reason for this is that pastoralists are concerned with the welfare of their herds and with what is the best rangeland for their animals now, while scientists are concerned with the rangelands themselves and look at the state of pastures over the years. Bibliogr., notes, ref.
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