Parks, people, and power: the social effects of protecting the Ngel Nyaki Forest Reservc in eastern Nigeria A Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Anthropology in the University of C a n t e r b u r y B y Fraser Macdonald University of Canterbury 2007 Table of Contents MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS: Map of Nigeria, showing the location of the Ngel Nyaki Forest Reserve, Taraba State………………………………….……..9 Map of Ngel Nyaki Forest Reserve and adjacent settlements…………………………………………….……………………………46 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .........................................................................................4 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................6 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................................16 Conservation in sub–Saharan Africa....................................................................................................... 16 The Anthropology of Conservation ........................................................................................................ 24 Displacement and Forced Resettlement.................................................................................................. 35 3. THE SOCIAL, ECOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL ASPECTS OF THE NGEL NYAKI FOREST RESERVE .....................................................................................43 Overview ................................................................................................................................................ 43 A broad picture of social reality .............................................................................................................. 43 The social anthropology of the Mambilla Plateau ................................................................................... 49 Geography and Climate.......................................................................................................................... 51 The Ngel Nyaki Forest Reserve: ecology and history ............................................................................... 53 The contemporary picture...................................................................................................................... 56 The people and the reserve: the history and dynamics of a relationship................................................... 60 4. THE EFFECTS OF PROTECTING THE NGEL NYAKI FOREST RESERVE .......65 2 Overview ................................................................................................................................................ 65 Displacement and forced resettlement .................................................................................................... 65 Economic effects .................................................................................................................................... 72 Social and cultural effects ....................................................................................................................... 78 Psychological effects ............................................................................................................................... 81 5. NEGOTIATING THE EFFECTS OF CONSERVATION.......................................90 Overview ................................................................................................................................................ 90 Migration ............................................................................................................................................... 92 Shifting economic dependence ............................................................................................................... 98 Livelihood Diversification .................................................................................................................... 104 6. CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................111 BIBLIOGRAPHY...................................................................................................122 Published Materials.............................................................................................................................. 122 Unpublished Materials ......................................................................................................................... 130 Websites............................................................................................................................................... 130 Official Reports.................................................................................................................................... 130 3 Acknowledgements There are a number of people who contributed importantly to this piece of work that I would like to acknowledge. Firstly, I would like to tender my thanks to Dr Hazel Chapman of the Department of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, New Zealand. She provided me with the opportunity to go to Nigeria, allowed me to use her field station at the Ngel Nyaki Forest Reserve as a platform for my fieldwork, and also employed an assistant as well as a cook to assist me during my stay, all of which I now wonder how I could have ever done without. In addition, she has been an endless source of enthusiasm regarding my research. Next I would like to acknowledge my supervisors, Patrick McAllister and Richard Vokes, both of the School of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Canterbury. Throughout my undergraduate and postgraduate career in anthropology at Canterbury, Patrick has been an invaluable source of advice and guidance, and his contribution to this piece of work has been no different. Whenever I became confused or misled, he was always there to straighten things out in a straightforward and practical manner and his ideas and suggestions have importantly influenced what follows. Richard's contribution has also been fundamental. It was through him that I first became aware of Hazel's project and the possibility of working at the reserve. He has also been an important source of intellectual guidance, encouraging me at all times to think with imagination about the data I had collected and how it might best be theorised. At the University of Kent, David Zeitlyn provided me with valuable ethnographic material. I must also thank Dan Brockington of the University of Manchester for reading over the drafts of this thesis during his time at Canterbury. This thesis would not have been possible without money. For financial assistance I have two main parties to thank. Firstly, I was fortunate to be a recipient of a postgraduate field research award, allocated by the New Zealand Agency for International Development (NZAID). All other costs involved in this research were covered by a University of 4 Canterbury Masters Scholarship, which I was thankfully able to receive an advance on before I departed for Nigeria. Perhaps most importantly, this research would not have been possible without the local people who participated in it. Before I arrived in Nigeria I had fears that the 'culture shock' would be extreme and that local people may not take very warmly to me. When I arrived at the reserve, however, these fears were quickly dispelled. The atmosphere at every settlement I visited was welcoming and friendly and for this treatment I extend my many thanks to all of the local people who participated in the research. In particular, I would like to thank my assistant, Wayas Agogo, for being informant, translator and friend and I would also like to thank my cook, Satu, for keeping me fed. 5 1. Introduction Since the end of the 19th century, individuals and groups with a concern for the natural environment and the biodiversity it possesses have gone about establishing protected areas that they deem to be especially important or representative. These protected natural areas have been called forest reserves, game sanctuaries, national parks and so forth. Over the past century, this phenomenon has spread throughout the world, to the point where today nature and wildlife conservation is a global phenomenon: the World Database on Protected Areas states that 11.58% of the earth's surface is currently under protection (http://sea.unep-wcmc.org/wdbpa/). The intentions lying behind the efforts of conservationists and environmentalists to protect sections of the planet's surface are generally noble: the protection of rare plant and animal species, the security of national economies as well as the over–arching goal of perpetuating humanity into the long–term future. Indeed, without conservation, many nation–states in particular, and the world in general, would be facing far greater challenges than they are today. However, whilst usually well–intended, the establishment of protected areas has, historically, been very problematic. This is because where there are areas rich in biodiversity and natural resources there are often humans too. From this situation comes an obvious problem: conservationists, usually using a model of conservation based on 'western' science, wish a particular area to be protected, but there are indigenous people present who often have long historical links with the area and depend on it for their ongoing survival. Both groups have interests in the area that necessarily clash: one wants the area protected; the other wants the area used. What happens, then, when conservation and local people