Conservation and Sustainable Resource Use in the Hadejia–Jama

ORYX VOL 30 NO 2 APRIL 1996 Conservation and sustainable resource use in the Hadejia-Jama'are Valley, Nigeria

William M. Adams and David H. L. Thomas

Sustainable development is increasingly being seen as a legitimate, and locally critical, element in wildlife conservation. However, relatively few studies of projects attempt to combine conservation and development goals. The Hadejia-Nguru Wetland Conservation Project in Nigeria grew out of a concern for wildlife (particularly wetland birds), but has expanded to address issues of environmental sustainability and economic development at both the local and the regional scale. This paper assesses the achievements of the project's approach.

Conservation and sustainable people are likely to oppose the establishment development of parks unless 'strenuous and imaginative efforts are made from the start to involve them Eltringham (1994) asked 'Can wildlife pay its in planning and development of the park', way?' and by posing that question he marked and to see that they benefit from any employ- a major shift in the way in which we under- ment generated (p. 725). The creation of new stand and conceive of conservation. During economic opportunities in a buffer zone the last decade, ideas about wildlife conser- around a national park may take human vation based on the designation of protected pressure off the national park itself. areas have increasingly given way to attempts Development here is being used as a means of to integrate human needs and conservation winning over local opposition to conservation objectives at the local scale and particularly to objectives, the carrot that balances the more a new focus on people and parks (McNeely conventional sticks, such as antipoaching and and Miller, 1984; Brandon and Wells, 1992; land-use control measures. Wells and Brandon, 1992). These new ideas Changes in international conservation have grown from increasing concern about the thinking about protected-area policy in recent failings of conventional exclusionist ap- decades have been deeply influenced by proaches to conservation, particularly in wider debates about sustainable development Africa, and recognition by conservationists of (Adams, 1990). This notion of sustainable de- the validity of developmental claims by poor velopment has become the chief means by rural communities (e.g. Adams and McShane, which conservationists have sought to theor- 1992). The patterns of 'fortress' conservation ize a new relationship between local develop- are no longer seen to be wholly acceptable, or ment and wildlife conservation. The idea that effective. In recent years there has been in- there was some form of development that is creased awareness both of the problems that 'sustainable', in the sense that it maximized can be caused to local people by the establish- human welfare while avoiding environmental ment of protected areas and the impossibility costs, emerged at the 1972 United Nations of achieving conservation objectives without Conference on the Human Environment in addressing socio-economic needs. Stockholm, and was in due course the central New approaches to protected areas include concept in the World Conservation Strategy the notion of zonation and buffer zones, for (WCS; IUCN, WWF and UNEP, 1980), in the example in Biosphere Reserves (Batisse, 1982). report of the World Commission on However, Blower (1984) commented that local Environment and Development (Brundtland, ©1996FFI 131

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1987), in the WCS's successor, Caring for the Conservation in the Hadejia-Nguru Earth (IUCN, 1991), and at the UN Conference Wetlands, Nigeria on Environment and Development in Rio in 1992. Sustainable development has become a The Hadejia and Jama'are rivers drain north- common phrase on the lips of politicians, de- eastwards through Kano, Bauchi, Jigawa, velopment bureaucrats and commentators Yobe and Borno States in north-east Nigeria. (Redclift, 1987; Adams, 1990). The promotion They join near the town of Hadejia before of sustainable development formed one of moving on to flow into Lake Chad as the IUCN's seven programme areas for the period Komadugu Yobe. Between Hadejia and 1985-87. The original plan to revise the WCS Gashua, some 100 km downstream, the rivers every 3 years gave way to progressive adap- flow through an extensive area of low sand tation as national conservation strategies were dunes, between 10 and 30 m in height, and produced under IUCN guidance (McCormick, several km in length (Figures 1 and 2). These 1989). A major revision was discussed at the cause a confused drainage pattern and a range IUCN General Assembly in Perth in 1990. of wetland environments, including season- Conservation is increasingly being seen in ally and permanently flooded land mixed terms of its role in sustainable development, with dry farmland, has developed that has and development (particularly meeting the been labelled the Hadejia-Nguru Wetlands needs of local people) is now widely seen as a (Figure 1). The rainfall of the Hadejia- necessary condition of effective conservation. Jama'are basin ranges from 1300 mm per year None the less, there are relatively few case in the south-west to under 500 mm in the north-east studies of attempts to combine conservation at Gashua. Annual rainfall is variable, with and sustainable development. This paper of- poor rains between 1972 and 1978 and be- fers such a case study. It discusses the practi- tween 1980 and 1987 (Hollis et al., 1993a). cal experience of the Hadejia-Nguru Wetlands Rainfall is concentrated in a single wet season Conservation Project (HNWCP) in northern (c. May-September), and river flow is highly Nigeria, which has tried to implement some of seasonal. Almost 80 per cent of total runoff in these new ideas about the integration of con- the Hadejia and Jama'are occurs in August servation objectives and the needs of local and September. The human population of the communities, using the concepts and frame- floodplain is large (up to 1 million people), work of sustainable development. Both with Hausa, Bedde, Fulani and Kanuri com- authors have been involved with the HNWCP munities. There is a sizeable economy based since 1987, in different capacities and to differ- on rainy season and dry season agriculture, ent degrees, and in describing the problems fishing and grazing (Barbier et al, 1991). the project has faced we are describing to a The rich wildlife of the Hadejia-Nguru large extent the limitations of our own in- Wetlands has long been recognized. sights and understanding*. Our comments are Anecdotal reports by wildfowlers were con- therefore explicitly self-critical, and intended firmed in the 1970s (Elgood, 1977), and a more to be constructive. detailed study demonstrated the national and international importance of the area for Palaearctic and Afrotropical birds (Ash and Sharland, 1986). The area is part of a system of * W.M.A. has carried out research in the wetlands in the Sahel that provides important Hadejia-Jama'are floodplain since 1987 and worked passage and wintering grounds for substantial with the HNWCP for short periods on various numbers of Palaearctic migrant birds, particu- occasions. D.H.L.T. was employed by IUCN as larly waterfowl, as well as important habitat technical consultant to the HNWCP between 1989 for Afrotropical species (Stowe and Coulthard, and 1992 and has conducted research in the area 1990). The area is internationally important for since that time. The views expressed here are the authors' own and do not represent those of any the ferruginous duck Aythya nyroca, support- organization. ing over 1 per cent of the Western Palaearctic

— National boundary

— State boundary

Hadejia-Jama 'are floodplain

0 km 100 I | Figure 1. Location of the 0 km 200 Hadejia-Jama'are Wetlands.

population, and has over 20,000 wintering resource use could be allowed to evolve over waterfowl with significant numbers of com- time in response to environmental, demo- mon shoveler Anas clypeata and comb duck graphic and socio-economic change. Sarkidiornis melanotos in particular (Perennou, In a second protected-area initiative, the 1991). Borno State Government declared a bird sanc- The wildlife importance of the wetlands has tuary in a deeply flooded oxbow lake at the led to several attempts to establish conven- village of Dagonna in 1989 (Figure 2). This tional protected areas, but they have not been lake holds water late into the dry season, and very successful. A bird sanctuary was demar- is an important site for birds, particularly cated in the wetlands by the Kano State comb ducks. The bird sanctuary was inaug- Wildlife Department in 1977, and the Baturiya urated in February 1989 on the occasion of a Wetland Reserve was gazetted in 1985. Seven visit by the President of the World Wide Fund villages were moved out of the area, and one for Nature, but there is now little to show of remains. In order to complete gazettement, the the sanctuary. Game guards were appointed reserve was officially made a 'multiple use re- by the Borno State Ministry, but were not paid serve'. All existing usage rights were ex- regularly or adequately equipped so there has tinguished with the aim of re-establishing been little incentive to do the unpopular job of them at some future date under license. In fact patrolling the area. The site had no effective 'multiple use' is taking place (grazing, fishing, protection and the limited infrastructure fuelwood cutting), but this reflects the lack of (road, bird-watching hide, patrol huts, sign- enforcement of rules rather than 'sustainable boards and commemorative plaque) is in dis- conservation-based development'. In this con- repair. Dagonna villagers have complained of text, 'multiple use' is little more than a strat- poaching by outsiders (people from neigh- egy for softening the impact of the claims of bouring villages and gangs from further preservation. It is not clear how patterns of re- afield), and of their use of poisons to kill birds. source-use could be managed without bureau- The HNWCP was established in 1987 with cratic licensing and enforcement, nor how this the signing of a memorandum of understand-

) 1996 FFI, Oryx, 30 (2), 131-142 133

j metres 0 100 NIGER

•

Dagonna ^a shua •"V ^•^ Nguru -^^/—"" Tarabu / Dapchi / Hadejia %sJ / Gorgoram

1j Katagum^^ ~\ Kano S*

NIGER r—N V L ake Chad)\ Challawa Dam v/Tiga Dam / 1 Kano * NIGERIA \ Kafin Zak i * Baturiya Figure 2. The Hadejia-Jama'are Wetland 0 km 300 • Wetlands and major dams in the Reserve basin.

ing on the 'Lake Chad Wetland Project' be- multi-location park (with some pieces over tween the Federal Government, the Royal 200 km apart); second, none of the fragments Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and has been surveyed and their boundaries are the International Council for Bird Preservation not securely identified, either on maps or on (ICBP, now BirdLife International). The the ground; third, all pieces are remote and in HNWCP aims to promote conservation and the wet season mutually inaccessible; and sustainable development of the Hadejia- fourth, it contains very large numbers of people: Jama'are floodplain. Initially it was sponsored farmers, fishermen and pastoralists. No cen- by the Nigerian Conservation Foundation sus has been carried out, but given the large (NCF), International Union for Conservation number of people living in the wetlands as a of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), whole, it would be surprising if the wetland RSPB and BirdLife International, and field ac- forest fragments within the park did not hold tivities started in January 1987. The promotion at least 50,000 people in the dry season when of sustainable use in the floodplain has taken Fulani graziers move into the area. Most forms place on two scales. The first involved the cre- of human use are prohibited in the park un- ation of community-level development less covered by a permit issued by the park's 'microprojects'. The second addressed a much Director. Thus it is illegal to hunt, capture, de- larger-scale critique of management of the stroy or collect an animal; to uproot, burn or water resources of the whole basin, and in otherwise damage a plant, to kindle a fire or particular the unsustainable development rep- to turn or cultivate the soil or obstruct the resented by dam construction and irrigation course of a stream (Decree 36, 1991, Section upstream of the wetlands. 27). The park thus makes illegal the basis of In August 1991 the Chad Basin National subsistence for a great many people (hunting, Park was created (Federal Government Decree grazing, farming and fishing), yet quite apart 36 1991, Section 2), based on two existing from the welfare implications, the removal of Forest Reserves (Gorgoram and Zurgun this number of people from the park is im- Baderi) plus two other areas (the Chingurmi- possible politically and also financially (unless Duguma Game Reserve and the Bulatura government compensation rates for land ex- Oasis). The new park faces a considerable propriation are ignored). The limitations of range of problems. First, it is a fragmented this approach to conservation are obvious.

Conservation and local development genious solution to the local socio-economic impacts of an imposed conservation policy. In When the HNWCP was established, it rapidly technical terms it was successful (in that the became clear that bird conservation was not new pond, built cheaply in part of a cut-off an objective with which people in the wet- river channel) filled as planned. However, the lands readily identified. The idea of conserv- project was less successful in socio-economic ing wildlife was met with indifference or even terms (Thomas, 1992b). Analysis of the current opposition rather than public support. Birds catch from the oxbow showed that the pre- were seen to provide a source of food, and as dicted production of the fishpond would not pests: cormorants, storks and herons eat fish compensate for lost fish production in the caught in traps or nets; flocks of ruff oxbow lake sanctuary. A switch to fish culture Philomachus pugnax damage rice crops; pied is unlikely to occur unless returns exceed crows Corvus albus eat beans and red-billed those of fish capture, for example if the natu- quelea Quelea quelea attack millet, sorghum ral fish population becomes severely de- and irrigated wheat. Thinking about how to graded. There is no evidence that this was approach conservation in the wetlands was happening at Dagonna, where the capture therefore forced to evolve, and the project's fishery was still buoyant, and attractive as an activities were broadened to try to embrace economic activity. The ineffective ban on fish- human needs and the notion of sustainable ing in the oxbow lake did not provide a suf- use of the wetland's resources. In 1989, the ficient incentive for fishermen to make the HNWCP started to develop a programme of cultural and economic transition from fish 'microprojects'. The hope was that very small- capture to fish culture. The planning of the scale development initiatives could begin to Dagonna fishpond also disregarded the social meet needs of local people in an environmen- importance of the fishing festival. tally benign (and therefore 'sustainable') way The pond represented a completely differ- and could, in the process, create positive en- ent approach to fish production, and the ex- vironmental benefits, particularly for wildlife tent and significance of the social and cultural conservation. change required to make it successful was also The first microproject was the construction underestimated. Unlike capture fishing of a fishpond at Dagonna, Borno State, de- (Thomas, 1995a), fish culture requires a high signed explicitly to compensate for the loss of level of co-operation, collective labour and fishing rights in the oxbow lake included in trust. In the capture fishery of the oxbow lake, the bird sanctuary (Thomas, 1994). The lake is returns to labour were quite high and there an important fishing ground for the people of was a clear relationship between the inputs Dagonna, many of whom are full-time fisher- made by individual fishermen (catch-effort, men with little or no alternative dry-season experience and investment in gear) and their occupation. An associated hamlet, Dagonna returns. By contrast, fishpond production re- Sabon Gari, consists entirely of migrant fisher- quires continuous inputs of labour over a long men from Sokoto in north-west Nigeria, and period (to catch fingerlings and feed them) be- the oxbow lake is the site of an annual fishing fore production is obtained. A community festival that attracts hundreds of fishermen fishpond represents a very different (and less from across northern Nigeria. It was planned individualistic) approach to work and benefits that the new artificial fishpond would be filled from that of the capture fishery that it was by natural river flooding every year and supposed to replace. It demands voluntary stocked with wild-caught fish that would be contributions of time and labour, and a social fed until they reached harvestable size. It was structure that allocates work and benefits in a hoped that the pond would act as a pilot proj- way that is both seen to be reasonable and ef- ect for a 'blue revolution' that might have fective. In the Dagonna fishpond, it was widespread applicability in the wetlands. planned that fingerlings would be provided by individual fishermen, and that the number The fishpond offered an innovative and in- © 1996 FFI, Oryx, 30 (2), 131-142 135

of fish and other inputs provided would be would have more broadly defined benefits in recorded so that returns to each participant terms of environmental conservation. These could be allocated. In practice, the literate and projects included work on beekeeping, tree numerate members of the community kept no nurseries, duck rearing, donkey traction and records, and the fishermen had little faith in a rice farming (Thomas, 1990,1992b; Thomas committee's ability to monitor inputs or dis- and Abubakar, 1992). None of these was en- tribute benefits accordingly. For this reason, tirely straightforward. One problem related the response of fishermen to the new project simply to the way in which the conservatism was poor, and the pond was understocked of indigenous resource managers can inhibit (Thomas, 1994). dissemination of new technologies. A micro- The project was also founded on a simplistic project in the village of Adiani involved exper- understanding of local resource management imentation by two practising beekeepers with institutions. It was assumed that there were the new technology of top-bar beehives. Hives likely to be 'traditional' or 'indigenous' man- are kept in a forest reserve adjacent to the vil- agement systems in the area that (while prob- lage, and it was hoped that widespread adop- ably partly destroyed by modern tion of the new hives would provide an development pressures) could be resurrected economic incentive for the preservation of the and used as the basis for new approaches to reserve. The first hive to be harvested was a resource use and microprojects. For example, great success, but a significant constraint on it was expected that the fisheries in each vil- adoption by other beekeepers emerged. A lage would be controlled by a sarkin ruwa man called the mai zuma (literally 'master of ('chief of water' in Hausa). However, a survey bees') controls who may and may not keep of 30 wetland communities showed that only bees, and how they should work. Two other two of them had a sarkin ruwa with any beekeepers in the village wanted to use the authority to control fishing activity (Jimoh, top-bar hive but would not do so without per- 1989). In part this is because of the influence of mission of the mai zuma, whose magic po- State Fishery Officers and state regulations. tions are the key to safe beekeeping (bees are Although these government officials are con- closely associated with certain spirits). Thus, fined to towns by lack of transport, lack local despite the technical success of the demon- knowledge and are largely ineffective, their stration project, the new technology remained very existence significantly weakens the restricted to a select few (Thomas, 1992b). power of local resource controllers. Research In a number of projects local perceptions of on fisheries resource tenure and control by needs did not always accord with the precon- Thomas (1995a, b) revealed the weakness of ceptions of project planners. In surveys, com- these institutions. In one village surveyed, it munities tend to list better roads, bridges and was reported that the sarkin ruwa had ob- culverts, better medical facilities, better water tained his title through a payment to the vil- supplies and petrol pumps for dry-season irri- lage head and not on the basis of competence gation as their top priorities. These have little in fishing or a recognized position of leader- potential to make a direct contribution to ship among other fishermen (Thomas, 1994). wildlife conservation. Furthermore, the This suggests that even 'village-level manage- HNWCP has lacked the resources to help with ment' might leave much to be desired, both in most of them, either because of limitations of terms of equity and perhaps technical com- funds or expertise. On the other hand, the petence. portfolio of projects that can be offered may The Dagonna fishpond provided valuable not be high priorities with communities. Thus experience, but was not repeated. Subsequent the shortage of trees for fuelwood was widely initiatives to promote sustainable develop- recognized as a problem (almost all fuelwood ment were not linked to protected areas but being bought in from outside). However, there sought to identify independent opportunities was not always enthusiasm for the idea of a to develop income-enhancing projects, which tree nursery. In one village, where a fruit-tree 136 © 1996 FFI, Oryx, 30 (2), 131-142

nursery was eventually established, trees had only 234 trees were produced (Thomas, 1990). been removed from fields because of the Microprojects with community development threat of roosting quelea. The lack of fuelwood and conservation objectives began to be seen was seen as less serious than both the threat primarily as demonstration projects designed from quelea and the need for a better water to explore and illustrate new technology (e.g. supply. Thomas 1992; Thomas and Abubakar, 1992). Not only did local priorities for investment This approach made it hard not to involve a differ in some instances from those anticipated disproportionate number of the wealthier and by the project, but so too could their ideas more powerful people in the community, about social organization. The microprojects partly because they are looked to as leaders were initially built on Western notions of (and may demand to continue in that role) social equality and co-operation. Efforts were and partly because they may be more willing made to ensure that benefits were distributed or able to innovate. It is not possible (even if it as widely as possible. While cultural norms in were desirable) to bypass the village head. In different ethnic groups within the wetlands practice, the HNWCP simply became much embody a strong element of social concern, more selective about which villages to work this is very different from (and much more hi- in, trying to develop projects only in villages erarchical than) this Western model, and there where the head was sympathetic to the proj- was considerable potential for a mismatch of ect's aims and to the needs and interest of his the two systems of values. Interestingly, there villagers. None the less, if microprojects are to are few truly co-operative ventures in the wet- be demonstrations for wider adoption, the im- lands. Major community infrastructure proj- plications of working in less benign environ- ects (wells, clinics, roads) will see the ments will have to be tackled eventually. mobilization of most of the able-bodied men The key to the long-term impact of the in the community, but co-operative action in microproject programme is whether the tech- ventures intended to generate direct economic nologies and ideas introduced are interesting benefits is more rare. Most economic activities enough to participants to be replicated else- (fishing, farming, trading) are carried out on where within the wetland. There are many an individual or household basis. There is constraints on this dissemination. In particu- little support for the idea of co-operative ac- lar, it cannot be assumed that state govern- tion for economic activity nor is the insti- ment ministries will be either welcome or tutional context helpful to formal co-operative effective participants in this process. Problems development. The fishpond at Dagonna de- of lack of transportation severely constrain the manded co-operative action, and the lack of effectiveness of these agencies. Furthermore, this greatly limited its effectiveness. their involvement may be unwelcome, as it After the first year, emphasis on the micro- was in Dagonna where villagers feared that project programme shifted to more individu- they would have to pay a commission for any alistic projects. For example, a communal tree input to the fishpond project (Thomas, 1994). nursery had been started in Tarabu, but suf- In practice the Borno State Ministry was left fered rapid erosion of support because it was out simply because it had no transport to located in the village head's compound. It was reach the village (Thomas 1992a). replaced by a project growing tree seedlings in The move of the HNWCP into development individual compounds. This won greater com- creates problems associated with the risk of mitment, although it suffered technical and loss of distinctiveness, and of increasing dis- administrative problems. For example, it was tance from the core concerns of species conser- found that providing extension services and vation. The HNWCP is not the only agency in visits to 80 small household nurseries was not the area seeking 'environmentally sound' feasible, so that many farmers made errors community-level development projects. In that led to failure and discouragement. Out of particular, the European Community's North 3610 pots distributed in the village and sown, East Arid Zone Development Programme © 1996 FFI, Oryx, 30 (2), 131-142 137

(NEAZDP) has also been operating in the wet- Thomas, 1995b). It is questionable whether lands within Yobe state, with a vastly larger sustainable development (by whatever defi- budget. It has recognized the value of the nition) is possible in the wetlands if upstream HNWCP's work, and replicated some of its projects continue to be developed without projects over wider areas, along with others. consideration of downstream needs. Clearly In Dagonna village, for example, it has re- both wildlife and the local economy de- equipped the clinic, repaired and refurnished manded a focus on sustainability on a large the school, is setting up a community bank scale as well. and a millet-processing plant, and plans to im- Construction of the Tiga Dam (upstream of prove the access road and help with a new the wetlands on the Kano River) and the borehole. This is all admirable, and it is based drought of the 1970s and 1980s brought sig- on a very similar view of the links between en- nificant environmental degradation (Stock, vironmental degradation and development 1978; Hollis et al, 1993a), and both the Tiga needs, and a similar view of community-level and the second dam built in the headwaters of planning to that used by the HNWCP. the Hadejia River at Challawa have altered the However, the level of investment completely timing and size of flood flows (Hollis et al, swamps the HNWCP's microproject pro- 1993a; Figure 2). The timing, extent and dur- gramme and does not draw explicit links ation of flooding in the Hadejia-Jama'are between microprojects and wildlife conser- floodplain depend on both the seasonal flood vation. It also raises all kinds of expectations in the rivers and the status of groundwater be- about levels of investment that the HNWCP neath, which are themselves closely con- will never be able to fulfil. nected. The extent of flooding declined, from over 3000 sq km in 1950 to 1000-2000 sq km in the 1970s. Only 700 sq km were flooded in Conservation and sustainability at the 1987 (Adams and Hollis, 1989) and 525 sq km regional scale in 1992 following completion of Challawa Gorge Dam (Hollis et al, 1993a). This re- This account has focused on some of the diffi- duction is due to drought, water storage in the culties encountered with the development of reservoirs behind Tiga Dam and Challawa the microprojects programme. These criticisms Gorge Dam and abstraction of irrigation need to be seen in context, for many of the water. The effect has been increased since the projects were successful, and the programme dam at Challawa and the barrage at Hadejia, has undoubtedly had a considerable value in which is part of the Hadejia Valley Project, demonstrating ways in which sustainable de- were completed. Further abstraction of surface velopment might be achieved at a local scale. or groundwater for irrigation upstream will However, the significance of all such local at- increase evaporation of water that could tempts to integrate conservation and develop- otherwise support rice farming, irrigation, ment are dwarfed by the question of fishing and other activities in the sustainability at a much larger scale. Both the Hadejia-Jama'are floodplain. Reduced river economy and ecology of the Hadejia-Jama'are floods will also threaten downstream users, floodplain are threatened by dams and water particularly rice farmers and irrigators below abstraction for irrigation upstream within the Gashua, whose demands for water are leading Hadejia and Jama'are river basins, particularly to renewed interest in an attempt to channel- in low-rainfall years (Hollis et al, 1993a; ize or bypass the complex channel system be- Carter, 1995; Thompson and Hollis, 1995). tween Hadejia and Gashua (Hollis et al, Lack of floodwater presents a threat to both 1993a). In addition, there is increasing aware- wildlife conservation interests and economic ness of the probable importance of river flood- activities such as fishing and agriculture that ing in recharging of groundwater well beyond transcends any conflicts that might exist be- the boundaries of the floodplain, suggesting tween them (Kimmage and Adams, 1992; that reduced flooding could have economic

and welfare implications over a wide area ricularly restricted in 1992 due to the closure (Hollis et al., 1993b). of the Challawa Dam. Studies in such years The HNWCP has attempted to demonstrate shows that livestock production can be much the nature and value of economic activities in reduced, and communities report increased the wetlands (Barbier et al, 1991; Kimmage rates of dry-season labour emigration and Adams, 1992). Demonstration of the econ- (Thomas, 1995b). As the resource base shrinks, omic importance of the Hadejia-Jama'are that which remains is used more intensively. floodplain provides perhaps the only argu- Fishing catch-efforts are rising and catches are ment for the maintenance of flood flows into falling (Thomas, 1995b). Serious conflicts over and within the floodplain that might have the land are emerging between cultivators and power to influence government planners. In pastoralists. The microprojects programme the past, the lack of formal development in- has provided evidence that the HNWCP proj- vestment (i.e. identifiable 'projects' run by ect is interested in more than simply bird government agencies) in the floodplain has al- preservation, but the need now is to empha- lowed decision-makers to assume that the size the larger-scale issues of regional water area is relatively unimportant economically. management. This is far from the case: it supports very large numbers of people and produces large amounts of food. Conclusions This line of critique is fairly effective, partly because the economic shortcomings of the Four conclusions can be drawn from this case Nigerian large-scale irrigation schemes are study of conservation and sustainable use in relatively obvious (e.g. Adams, 1991). It has the Hadejia-Jama'are Valley. The first is been possible to demonstrate that there is a simply the enormous importance of making high degree of common ground between the the link between conventional wildlife conser- interests of conservation (focused on the main- vation, ecosystem function and human use, tenance of wetland flooding for migratory and particularly the recognition of the econ- birds) and those of peasant farmers and fisher- omic dimensions of biodiversity (e.g. men interested in the maintenance of floods McNeely, 1993). The integration of economic for their livelihoods. In this sense, wildlife development with species and ecosystem con- conservation is promoting the interests of servation is vital. Conservation in developing local people, and doing so with an ideology countries is unlikely to be successful unless that is fairly effective in capturing the ear of the needs of local people are met and a clear the Nigerian elite through the Nigerian link is demonstrated between conservation Conservation Foundation. aims and local economic needs. It is also true The productivity of the wetlands depends that it is hard to imagine long-term success for on the annual flood. Reduction in that flood conservation strategies in developing countries will shrink the resource base available to that are not fully compatible with (and ideally people and will create a gap too large to be directly contribute to) sustainable economic bridged by microprojects alone. Patterns of futures. Links between wildlife conservation, flooding have been variable in recent years, environmental quality and human welfare but there have been a number of years when need to be extended to be made clear to local flooding has been very limited. Sule (1993) people, the government agencies responsible found that only 52 per cent of the wetland was for environmental management and develop- flooded in only one of the four recent years for ment policy, and the aid donors who fund de- which data were available (1986, 1987,1990, velopment projects. The issue of sustainability 1991), while only 5 per cent flooded in all four is vital to conservation planning. If conser- years (Hollis et al., 1993b). Extensive areas of vation is to win an effective place in the think- the floodplain were left dry in the 1990 rainy ing of those planning the development of the season due to low rains, and flooding was par- tropics, concern must extend beyond the

obvious interest in environmental sustain- practical experience of working with com- ability to embrace social and economic sus- munities, carrying out and interpreting socio- tainability. economic surveys, understanding political The second conclusion from this study is economy, and experience of working with that conservation needs to consider sustain- technicians (particularly engineers), econ- ability at different scales. The most obvious, omists and planners. Many people in conser- although not necessarily the most important, vation will be skilled in these areas already, is the local scale, where problems such as and others will rapidly acquire skills and ex- hunting, illegal forest felling or illegal fishing perience through training and field projects. may have a direct impact on the integrity of In the short term, conservation organizations protected areas. At a slightly larger scale, may well need to buy in expertise in these there is a need to integrate conservation and areas, but the kinds of insights needed cannot development around formal protected areas simply be bolted on to the outside of existing (for example in national park 'support zones') projects. Socio-economic work should be fully to meet the human needs that drive protected- integrated into project planning, and not area degradation. However, not all conser- treated as a separate activity (as, regrettably, vation interest can be represented within development planners still tend to treat en- protected-area systems, and the management vironmental studies). New skills and new of the wider environment will have impli- thinking may demand significant changes in cations both for protected areas (at risk of eco- the way conservation projects are conceived logical isolation and species extinctions), and and organized. This work will not be cheap for the potential for the maintenance of natu- and, to be effective, the new approaches will ral diversity at a regional scale. The manage- have to permeate and influence ideas and ac- ment of ecosystems in these unprotected tion at all levels. Simply to graft a develop- landscapes will depend on the success with ment component on to a conservation project which conservation goals are built into econ- is unlikely to be any more effective than tack- omic development plans. Wetlands such as ing an environmental study on to the back of a those in the Hadejia-Jama'are Valley demon- development project. strate the importance of these unprotected Lastly, this case study makes clear that landscapes (for wildlife and people), the po- while it may be essential to seek to integrate tentially great common ground between con- conservation and development it is far from servation and the needs of people, and the easy to do so. We believe that these issues are need to look beyond the immediate horizon to important to the future of conservation, par- consider the implications for both conser- ticularly in Africa, and that practical and criti- vation and sustainability of development cal debate of past practice is essential if we are some long distance away, in the river basin to learn, and to develop the professional skills upstream. Conservation planning needs to necessary to tackle the challenges ahead. Two take account of sustainability and to do so at a things are vital. First, that we are not unre- range of different scales. alistic about the ease with which conservation The third conclusion is that the work of de- and sustainable resource use can be inte- velopment demands skills that are different grated. We must be realistic about what can be from those required by conventional conser- achieved, and not taken in by our own wishful vation projects. This point was also made by thinking. Second, we must be prepared to Stocking and Perkin (1992) in the context of an learn from our mistakes, and that means we 'integrated conservation and development have to discuss them professionally. Unless project' in the East Usambaras in Tanzania. It we do that, all the enthusiasm in the world is is social science rather than biological science not going to achieve much on the ground. that is going to be most useful in building an interface between conservation and development. Important skills are those gained from

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