Mandara Mountains Research Articles

Degradation Rate/Vulnerability Potential and Fertility Status of Luvisols in the Mandara Mountains (Far-North Cameroon).

Soil degradation emerges as one of the major problems in the locality of Sir in the Mandara Mountains, Far-North Cameroon. Inappropriate agricultural techniques resulting in land use change affect soil functions and seriously harm forest ecosystems. This study was conducted to analyse the current character of soils and access their degradation and their level of fertility. Twenty soil samples were taken at 15 cm depth. This includes ten in the plot under forest reserve and ten others in the plot under cultivation. Cultivation is responsible for the increase in bulk density (BD) (1.59 to 2.23 g/cm3), Mg (4.76 to 6.40 cmol·kg-1), Ca (10.44 to 11.26 cmol·kg-1), P (7.93 to 9.93 g/kg), and Mg/K (2.28 to 5.84) and decrease in CEC (38 0.15 to 31.46 cmol·kg-1), OM (2.76 to 1.08%), OC (1.66 to 0.62%), total nitrogen (0.08 to 0.05%), K (4.59 to 1.15 cmol·kg-1), Na (1.32 to 0.91 cmol·kg-1), C/N (25.69 to 13.86), and Ca/Mg (2.32 to 1.89). This variability in physicochemical properties reflects progressive soil degradation. Cultivated soils are subject to severe degradation or potential vulnerability (SDR/Vp = 4/2) due to texture, organic carbon, soil aggregate stability, sealing index, and total nitrogen. On the other hand, soils under forest reserve are subject to severe degradation or vulnerability due to the total nitrogen and sodium absorption ratio. The soils of the study area are subject to severe and extreme potential degradation or vulnerability due to BD, respectively, under forest reserve and cultivation. Two classes of fertility were identified: class II (plots under forest reserve) having a good level of fertility, characterized by good physical properties and severe limitations in nitrogen and phosphorus and class IV (cultivated plots) with a low level of fertility due to severe limitations in organic matter, phosphorus, and poor physical characteristics. The best indicator of the good quality of the luvisols of Sir is the pH, while the bulk density is an indicator of severe to very extreme degradation or high to very high vulnerability. The application of organic and mineral amendments is essential for raising the organic matter and nitrogen and phosphorus contents in these soils.

ASSESSMENT OF INFESTATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF LORANTHACEAE ON WOODY PLANTS OF THE MANDARA MOUNTAINS OF THE FAR NORTH REGION, CAMEROON

Loranthaceae are a permanent danger to many woody plant species. The present study was carried out with the aim of evaluating the degree of parasitism of Loranthaceae on woody species of the Mandara Mountains in the Far North Region of Cameroon. A methodological approach based on surface surveys was adopted. On the hills, the species of Loranthaceae encountered and the host plants have been identified. The botanical inventory revealed a floristic composition of 73 species of phorophytes distributed in 43 genera and 24 families. These phorophytes are parasitized by 7 species of Loranthaceae (Agelanthus dodoneifolius, Globimetula braunii, Phragmanthera capitata, Tapinanthus bangwensis, T. belvisii, T. globiferus and T. ophiodes), distributed in 4 genera (Agelanthus, Globimetula, Agmanthera and Tapinanthus). T. globiferus and A. dodoneifolius are the most abundant ubiquitous Loranthaceae species of the 7 parasitic species inventoried and identified on the Mandara Mountains. The average parasite rate of the inventoried phorophytes is 27.35% andthe average infestation intensity is 4.07 tufts / plant. This rate and the intensity of infestation vary among plant families. The distribution of Loranthaceae tufts follows an ascending curve. Parasitism of woody plants by Loranthaceae species therefore represents a considerable threat to phorophytes. It would therefore be wise to explore the means of combating Loranthaceae, for the conservation of plant biodiversity which integrates sustainable development in the Far North Region, Cameroon.

Terracing as an Old-Style Scheme of Soil Water Preservation in Djingliya-Mandara Mountains- Cameroon

The relief and high population densities of ≥150 inhabitants/Km2in the Mandara Mountains and the drastic displacement of internally displaced persons towards these Mountains have brought about severe effects on water and soil resources. This environmental and socio-political crisis, have made agricultural production not to meet demand for food and hundreds of these rural people go hungry each day. This has constrained the inhabitants to develop various tactics of soil water preservation and landscape restoration towards fighting deficiencies in crop production to ensure food security. This study analyzes terracing as a traditional system of soil water conservation adopted by the farmers in Djingliya villages found on the Mandara Mountains. Through secondary source of information, field observation, interviews and questionnaires administered on 100 persons in five villages of the study area, results show that: soil degradation via soil resources overuse and erosion is checked by terraces. Also, the tendency of adopting local techniques is harnessed through the cultivation of plants which increase infiltration, agroforestry, crop rotation practices, Forest Landscape Conservation, Mosaic Landscape Restoration and Valorizing Local Plant Species to ensure sustainable farming activities that restore degraded land in general and terraces in particular.

Contribution of remote sensing and GIS to the location of dam sites for groundwater recharge and flood control: case study in Cameroon (Mandara Mountains)

Contribution of remote sensing and GIS to the location of dam sites for groundwater recharge and flood control: case study in Cameroon (Mandara Mountains)

Impact of Human Activities on Woody Vegetation in Gallery Forests in the Mandara Mountains (Far North, Cameroon).

This study was conducted in the Mandara Mountains in Cameroon and aimed to assess the effects of human activities on woody vegetation in gallery forests, based on floristic inventories and observations made by the government. Firstly, the inventories were carried out in 150 plots of 1000 m2 each, installed on the banks of watercourses following the band of plant formations. In each plot, woody species were counted and those showing at least one sign of degradation were noted. Secondly, the survey was conducted in 18 administrative structures made up of delegations (MINFOF, MINADER, MINEPDED, and MINEPIA) and town halls. One hundred woody species, grouped into 63 genera and 30 families, have been inventoried, in which 45 species showed at least one sign of damage caused by human being. The species most affected are Anogeissus leiocarpus (67 stems), Azadirachta indica (46 stems), Diospyros mespiliformis (43 stems), Acacia albida (42 stems), Andira inermis (30 stems), Acacia sieberiana (23 stems), Khaya senegalensis (19 stems), Ficus sycomorus (13 stems), and Acacia polyacantha (10 stems). The most recurrent activity in the gallery forests is pruning (212 stems), followed by cutting (93 stumps), then picking (71 individuals). However, there are fewer debarked trees (11) and trees with fire trail (6). According to the responses provided, logging (77.78%), agriculture (72.22%), population growth (44.44%), grazing (33.33%), and bush fires (33.33%) are the main causes of the degradation of plant formations in the Mandara Mountains. These main factors could have a negative impact on biodiversity if appropriate integrated management measures are not taken. To maintain these vital ecosystems, an integrated management plan must be put in place, limiting human activities to a minimum.

Éloge de l’indocilité: regard colonial et appropriation locale, Monts Mandara du Cameroun

This article examines the colonial discourse on populations living in the Mandara Mountains in Cameroon, and the way in which they practiced mimicry to appropriate symbols of the dominant culture, diverting them from their original significance and reinterpreting them to promote their own cultural experiences. It shows how the clichés of rebels and savages through which the colonial power strove to define them were reinvested to defend the image of the mountain dwellers as strong, hard-working people. This process of reappropriation continued during the big tourist boom that began in the 1950s and continued until the mid-2010s, which saw the first forays of Boko Haram in the region. During this period, people staged the supposed cultural authenticity of the Mandara Mountains to fuel the tourism industry. The article is based on archival data collected in various archives in Cameroon, notably in the National Archives in Yaoundé, as well as on data from oral interviews conducted with thirty-nine participants.

Traditional and new houses, old and new paths to social status in the Mandara highlands, Cameroon

ABSTRACT This article suggests that in the Mandara Mountains, houses, whether traditional or modern, are means by which social relations are continuously created, reproduced, justified and transformed. This approach has relevance for the literature insofar as authors have mainly focused on the role of elite and public buildings in the generation and maintenance of power and hierarchies, while domestic architecture has been studied mainly as a symbol of group values. Building materials and architectural shapes of houses are continually morphing in the Mandara Mountains, but the social practices related to the use of the inhabited space remain unchanged. The study is original because the existing literature on the Mandara Mountains focuses more on traditional architecture. While this area has surfaced in the news as a hinterland of Boko Haram in neighbouring Nigeria, recent cultural and, in particular, architectural transformations have not received much attention.

Diversity and ecological importance of plants in traditional agroforestry of Sudano-sahelian domain of Cameroon: case of Meri in the Mandara Mountains

Sudano-Sahelian domain is the poorest in biodiversity because of the climate which is unfavourable compared to the equatorial climate. The unsustainable agricultural practices associated with this climatic roughness are among the main factors of habitat destruction, hence the destruction of biodiversity in this phytogeographic environment. In order to valorize and conserve sudano-sahelian plant resources, a study was carried out in seasonal agrosystems in the Mandara Mountains. The Diversity and the floristic diversity were assessed. Inventories of woody plants were done in 16 plots (100 m x 100 m) grouped in 4 localities/villages. The circumference of the trunk of all the inventoried plants (circonference ≥ 10 cm) was measured. In total, 64 species grouped 45 genera and 27 families were inventoried. The highest FIV was obtained for Mimosaceae (FIV = 104.51) and Combretaceae (FIV = 51.22), the other families had FIV < 30. Diversities in the localities (Shannon index ranging from 2.82 to 2.86 bits) were lower than diversity in whole stand (Shannon index = 3.09 bits). Acacia albida (IVI = 53.52, RI = 6.25), Acacia nilotica (IVI = 9.18, RI = 18.75), Acacia seyal (IVI = 5.19, RI = 43.75), Anogeissus leiocarpus (IVI) = 41.82, RI = 0), Balanites aegyptiaca (IVI = 14.23, RI = 12.50), Diospyros mespiliformis (IVI = 9.91, RI = 37.50), Tamarindus indica (IVI = 16.35, RI = 12.5), and Ziziphus mauritiana (IVI = 9.52, RI = 31.25) were observed in all localities. There were considered as characteristics and represent the floristic background of the stand. Traditional agrosystems can be considered as tools for the conservation of wild species useful to local populations. It would be imperative to conserve in situ wild species, source of genetic diversity for their sustainable use.

Phytoecological Characterization and Carbon Sequestration of Gallery Forests in the Mandara Mountains (Far North, Cameroon)

Phytoecological Characterization and Carbon Sequestration of Gallery Forests in the Mandara Mountains (Far North, Cameroon)

La panthère des monts Mandara, de l’effroi à l’oubli

Depuis le tout début des années 1980, la panthère (Panthera pardus) n’a plus été vue dans les monts Mandara. Félin redoutable, alter ego du chef dans le monde animal, il était aussi le symbole de son pouvoir. La panthère a structuré la mentalité des montagnards, de leurs comportements au quotidien jusqu’à l’aménagement de leurs habitats sans oublier une prégnance à travers contes et fabliaux. Sa disparition cède la place à des panthères « mystiques », œuvre de sorciers, et son image commence déjà à s’estomper dans ces mêmes fabliaux.

Altitudinal Distribution of Loranthaceae Parasites of Woody Plants on the Mandara Mountains in the Far North Region, Cameroon

Altitudinal Distribution of Loranthaceae Parasites of Woody Plants on the Mandara Mountains in the Far North Region, Cameroon

Boko Haram, bandits and slave-raiders: identities and violence in a Central African borderland

ABSTRACT Boko Haram is a religiously motivated insurgency with a complex history in Nigeria and origins in urban Maiduguri. Through most of its existence Boko Haram has shown an affinity for border regions: the frontier zones between Nigeria and Niger, the Mandara Mountains on the border with Cameroon, and the shorelines and islands of Lake Chad. This paper argues that this is an historically mediated process. Boko Haram as a borderland phenomenon echoes the hijra of Usman dan Fodio, but also structured forms of violence and wealth creation that have historically united elites and their followers in the region. Moreover, there are continuities between the actions and actors associated with earlier phases of border violence and processes involving Boko Haram today. This suggests that Boko Haram will not be “defeated,” but rather that the region will see a reversion to forms of border violence that were prevalent as recently as the early 2000s.

Evaluation of Wind Resource Potential in Mountainous Region: A Case Study of Mandara Mountains

Evaluation of Wind Resource Potential in Mountainous Region: A Case Study of Mandara Mountains

SLAVERY AND ITS AFTERMATH IN THE MANDARA MOUNTAINS

AbstractBased on long-term oral historical research in the Mandara Mountains, this article traces the ways in which memories of slavery have been preserved in songs which are usually not part of the more formal oral historical narratives. It historicizes this process by focusing on the selective memories of different generations as well as on the influence of colonial and post-colonial politics, particularly post-1990 democratic politics in Cameroon. The major change over time is the shift from the shameful memory of slavery to be repressed – or treated only obliquely – to its public claim as a political resource after the democratic transition of the 1990s. In retelling the history of being sold as slaves, the residents of the Mandara Mountains reversed the negative meaning of slavery to use it to celebrate their resistance to Islam and to voice political claims. This new narrative congeals around beingkirdi, a new regional and trans-religious identity claimed by Christians and pagans in the mountains.

Boys Becoming Men. Male initiation rites in a North-Eastern Nigerian village

The Chadic-speaking Fali of the southern Mandara Mountains live in well-organised, compact villages of thousands on both sides of the Nigeria-Cameroon border. They are subsistence sorghum farmers whose communal and personal existence depends on having several children and a good annual harvest. Unsurprisingly, these two existential facts determine both the fundamental values and much of the daily life of the Fali. An examination of the biennial initiation cycle and its main rites also reveals that, at the ritual level, these manifest a symbolic equivalence to the developmental cycle of their staple crop, sorghum, and are attuned intime to the agricultural cycle. In my presentation at the IX. MΩMΟΣ conference (Miskolc, 2015) I described in detail, and showed pictures of the 2007 Fimbidi rite (Figs 6–13), the greatest of the initiation rituals of the Jilvu Fali. In this short paper I intend to overview the main characteristics of the whole of the Jilvu male initiation cycle, drawing attention to the complicated web of social relationships, underlying beliefs, personal and communal ambitions behind the rites. Although this picture cannot be but sketchy, I hope it will nonetheless be of interest to archaeologists.This presentation is derived from my husband’s, anthropologist James H. Wade’s early work among the Falifrom the 1970’s onwards, and our joint fieldwork from the 1990’s to 2010. The accompanying pictures, like those of my 2015 presentation, were taken by him.

Evaluation of Wind Resource Potential in Mountainous Region: A Case Study of Mandara Mountains

This study analyzed the evaluation of wind resource potential available at Mubi and Gwoza North-eastern Nigeria; and Guider and Mokolo far North Cameroon stations, respectively selected in Mandara Mountains covering period of six years (2011 to 2016). At all stations the overall maximum mean annual wind speed of 2.82 m/s was found at Guider in 2015 and the minimum of 2.20 m/s at Gwoza in 2012. The occurrences of annual mean wind speed of 2.82m/s was observed in 2015 at Guider reflecting a higher Weibull shape of 10.44 and scale 2.96m/s parameter, respectively. They were respectively observed in 2012 in Gwaza as 2.20m/s, 6.34 and 2.36m/s, while others stations are moderate. The annual Wind Power Density (WPD) potential at all stations varies between 7.15 - 14.25 W/m2 while others are moderate. However, it was observed from this evaluation, that Mandara Mountain is a poor wind power potential site based on the International classification, with the highest value being Guider station. Therefore, the site is applicable for wind energy exploitation in small scale.

English

English

Searching for Boko Haram: A History of Violence in Central Africa, by Scott MacEachern

In this original and timely book, archaeologist Scott MacEachern brings a (very) longue durée perspective to bear on the study of the Boko Haram insurgency in the southern Lake Chad basin, a region with which he has been intimately acquainted for more than three decades. Frequently presented in the Western media as a modern Islamist uprising in a hostile and remote part of the world, Boko Haram, MacEachern contends, can also be understood as the latest product of frontier dynamics which date back to at least the early second millennium CE and the slave trade across the central Sahara. The current spread of religious intolerance and militant Islamist beliefs is certainly important, but it is by no means the only lens through which to make sense of an insurgency which speaks to much deeper social fractures and patterns of conflict as well. This persuasive argument is developed in five substantive chapters organised along progressively shorter timescales. Following an introductory first chapter, Chapters Two and Three stretch over several millennia, tracing the peopling of the edges of a shrinking Lake Chad by agro-pastoralist speakers of ancestral Afro-Asiatic and Nilo-Saharan languages; the coming of iron technology and the growth of socio-political complexity from c.500 BCE; and the rise of expansive, slave-raiding Islamic states to the south of the lake from c.1000. The latter development (as Chapter Four shows) radically transformed the human geography of the area, as it sundered its earlier ‘common Iron Age inheritance’ and brought into being unprecedented ‘dichotomies of place’ (p. 55). In the new cultural landscape ushered in by the arrival of Islam and its trans-Saharan trading connections, the hitherto unpopulated, or underpopulated, Mandara Mountains along the present-day border between northern Cameroon and Nigeria (as well as other, more marginal, environments) were increasingly recast as internal frontiers between plain-based state systems, such as Borno, Wandala and Baghirmi. These zones functioned simultaneously as the targets of, and as safe havens from, raids by mounted Muslim aristocracies who depended on frontier warfare and the enslavement of non-Muslim populations for their economic and cultural reproduction. As MacEachern poignantly reminds us, the victims of Boko Haram’s depredations are only too aware of the historical parallel between their present plight and these earlier experiences of violence and exploitation.

Contribution of time domain electromagnetic and magnetic resonance soundings to groundwater assessment at the margin of lake chad basin, cameroon

At the edge of a semi-arid sedimentary basin, the Piedmont plain of the Mandara mountains is potentially a key area for the recharge of the Lake Chad Quaternary aquifer. We conducted two geophysical surveys based on magnetic resonance sounding (MRS) and Time-Domain Electromagnetism (TDEM) techniques for a better understanding of the aquifer structure at the piedmont scale in aim to identify preferential groundwater recharge pathways. MRS water content and electrical resistivity of the medium confirmed the very heterogeneous and clayey nature of the quaternary aquifer, limiting the recharge to the sandiest areas. Thanks to the geophysical methods, these areas have been highlighted near temporary rivers and upstream of the study area near Maroua city. Because of the thickening of the aquifer downstream, the most transmissive zones are in the mid-slope of the piedmont. The geographical distribution of aquifer properties defined by geophysics and the range of MRS water content (from <2% to 26%) may be used in the future to constrain groundwater modelling and specify the recharge of the quaternary aquifer at mountain front.

Exploring the Sukur cultural landscape in Adamawa State of Nigeria: a methodological discussion

The Sukur Kingdom, one of the ethnic groups located in the west of the Mandara Mountains is within the Sukur District of the Madagali North Development Area in Madagali Local Government Area of Adamawa State, Nigeria. Sukur Kingdom flourished between the early 16th and late 18th centuries as a cultural landscape. In 1999, Sukur cultural landscape became a world heritage site (WHS) and the first to be named in Nigeria. However, the survival of the cultural landscape is in serious doubt, especially with the recent spate of terrorist attacks which have ravaged the northeastern region of Nigeria. This is more worrisome because not many research have been conducted in the area to highlight and document the tourism potentials of the landscape, to help spur more attention. In this paper, we narrate how we conducted our ethnographic fieldwork, selected and interacted with respondents within the Sukur Kingdom and other key stakeholders in the area to help understand the context of the WHS. We also try to share how our ontology and epistemology influenced and guided our research approach during our fieldwork while we equally argue for more rigorous qualitative research to be conducted in the study area as this would contribute to public awareness.