THE ECOLOGY OF NOMADIC HABITATS IN FAR NORTH CAMEROON Haman UNUSA, Gerard PERSOON, Han Van DIJK, Hans De IONGH

The findings of the research showed that the presence or absence of water, pastures, and diseases impact pastoral mobility and choice of habitat location. The periodic scarcity of water imposed limits to vegetation growth, compelled some herders to resort to waterholes, while others opted for distant migration in search of water and pasture. It was evidenced that pasture degradation emanated from diverse activities of man, including overgrazing, trampling, firewood harvesting, slash-and-burn agriculture, bush fires, thorn bush invasion, and adverse climatic circumstances. Wide-ranging response strategies involving migration, market integration, herd diversification, feed supplementation, sales and slaughter, and social organization were put in place by the herders to curb the ecological threats. Generally, mobility and choice of habitat of the herders was above all motivated by the search for water and pastures for livestock, escape from inter-occupational conflicts, and avoidance of household and livestock illnesses. It was equally observed that the use of indigenous knowledge in rangeland and cattle management, exemplified in the ecological analyses, illustrates how pastoralists have over time adjusted to difficult circumstances.Conclusively, traditional pastoralism in Far North Cameroon is witnessing increasing perturbations, including ecological and climatic adversities, dwindling space due to population growth, expansion of dry-land farming and irrigation agriculture, lack of competitiveness, inadequate policy support, and agro-pastoral conflicts that exacerbated migrations.