Community Interactions in Natural Resource Management a Creative Analytical Practice Ethnography of the Mambilla Montane Highland in Nigeria
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COMMUNITY INTERACTIONS IN NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT A CREATIVE ANALYTICAL PRACTICE ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE MAMBILLA MONTANE HIGHLAND IN NIGERIA By Talitha Tukura Pam A THESIS Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Community Sustainability - Master of Science 2018 ABSTRACT COMMUNITY INTERACTIONS IN NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: A CREATIVE ANALYTICAL PRACTICE ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE MAMBILLA MONTANE HIGHLAND IN NIGERIA By Talitha Tukura Pam Decades of unsuccessful natural resource management strategies have caused policymakers and scholars to reconsider the role of community in resource use and conservation. The community’s role is especially important since communities contain various resource users who rely on and relate to the land in multiple and conflicting ways. Relying entirely on qualitative methods and a storytelling activity that the author designed, she investigates her experience to place. The research illustrates how issues pertaining to land tenure, citizenship/ownership, economic and societal status, governance, gender, institutions, residual post-colonial and international paradigms impede sustainable natural resource management. The research shows that sustainability is specific to individual communities and people as they draw upon different factors when considering sustainable development. The research concludes that untangling the web of complexities that inhibit sustainable management of natural resources requires a different, unconventional step. This integrated approach suggests that in addition to technical assistance, natural resource management should be approached through the heart rather than the head, by facilitating practices that encourage love, friendship, generosity and empathy. This is an essential step for creating an enabling environment that can instigate good governance, transformative policies, strong institutions and responsible followership amongst others. Linked to new material realities this has the potential to engage the community in managing the natural resources and promote the transition to sustainable development. Copyright by TALITHA TUKURA PAM 2018 For My boys - Teyei, Jason and Ethan Pam. I love you all unconditionally! iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to start by acknowledging my advisor Prof. John Kerr for his patience and thoughtful insight into everything that I brought before him. You are a wonderful and gifted mentor and teacher. Thank you also to the other members of my committee Dr. Laurie Thorp, your reading in CSUS 802 changed my graduate school experience. Dr. Lissy Goralnik, thank you for your critique and guidance. Dr. Nancy DeJoy, I lack words to express what your contribution to this project meant to me. Thank you all for always making time for me! Big shout out to my CSUS family (faculty, staff and students). You guys are awesome! Education took on a whole new meaning with you! Many, many thanks to the Yelwa Community and the entire staff of the Montane Project. Without your valuable support and contribution this would have not been possible. Thank you also to the MasterCard Foundation whose gracious scholarship made it possible for me to return to graduate school after many years. Thank you to my family at Eden Nigeria and A Rocha International. I look forward to all the great things we will do together! My family, I love you all truly, madly and deeply. Thank you for believing in me! Thank you for supporting me! Thank you for praying for me! Most importantly I want to thank my Father in Heaven!! Your grace and love I cannot comprehend. Thank you!! v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................................... ix KEY TO ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................................................ x INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Early years and awareness ............................................................................................................... 1 My Quest ........................................................................................................................................... 3 Mismanagement of Resources in Nigeria ........................................................................................ 4 History of Community-Based Management in Nigeria ................................................................... 6 Community-Based Management and the truth about communities ............................................. 7 Objectives ....................................................................................................................................... 10 Research Questions ....................................................................................................................... 13 Importance/ Significance of Study ................................................................................................ 13 BACKGROUND AND HISTORY ............................................................................................................. 15 The Journey .................................................................................................................................... 15 The Mambilla .................................................................................................................................. 20 The Ngel Yaki Forest Reserve: Ecology.......................................................................................... 23 The Ngel Yaki Forest Reserve: History .......................................................................................... 25 Displacement and Forced Resettlement (From Ngel Yaki to Yelwa Village) ............................... 28 METHODOLOGY.................................................................................................................................. 32 How It All Began ............................................................................................................................. 32 The Experience of a Lifetime ......................................................................................................... 36 How and Where? ........................................................................................................................... 36 Who and Why? (Meeting the Community) .................................................................................. 38 About my Research Questions ...................................................................................................... 40 Data Collection ............................................................................................................................... 44 Formal and semi-formal interviews .......................................................................................... 44 Participant observation ............................................................................................................. 45 Tales by Moonlight..................................................................................................................... 46 Visiting the Temple: Archival Documents ................................................................................. 46 Making Sense of it all (Data Analysis)............................................................................................ 51 Telling Stories ................................................................................................................................. 54 No, it’s not just a story ................................................................................................................... 56 Validity and Reliability ................................................................................................................ 56 Crystallization ............................................................................................................................. 58 vi FINDINGS ............................................................................................................................................ 65 SUMMARY OF RESULTS ................................................................................................................. 65 THE FARMER ................................................................................................................................... 65 That Night ................................................................................................................................... 71 THE FULANI PASTORALIST ............................................................................................................. 76 AFRICAN TRADITIONAL MEDICINES AND HERBALIST ................................................................... 87 Unfortunate Circumstances ...................................................................................................... 94 THE LOGGER ................................................................................................................................. 103 NON-TIMBER FOREST PRODUCTS: FOUR WOMEN, ONE STORY ............................................... 113 The woman I did not meet: ....................................................................................................