300px, Yobe River catchment area showing location of the Hadejia-Nguru wetlands The Hadejia-Nguru wetlands in Yobe State in northern Nigeria, which include Nguru Lake, are ecologically and economically important. They are threatened by reduced rainfall in recent years, a growing population and upstream dam construction.

Geography

The wetlands lie in the Yobe-Komadugu sub-basin of the

Chad Basin The Chad Basin is the largest endorheic basin in Africa, centered on Lake Chad. It has no outlet to the sea and contains large areas of semi-arid desert and savanna. The drainage basin is roughly coterminous with the sedimentary basin of the sam ...

. They are formed where the Hadejia and

Jama'are Jama'are is a Local Government Area of Bauchi State, Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Jama'are. It has an area of 493 km and a population of 176,883 at the 2006 census. The postal code of the area is 751. It is populated by a Ful ...

rivers meet lines of ancient sand dunes in a northeast-southwest alignment and break into numerous channels. They are drained by the

Yobe River The Yobe River, also known as the Komadougou Yobe or the Komadougou-Yobe (french: Komadougou Yobé), is a river in West Africa that flows into Lake Chad through Nigeria and Niger. Its tributaries include the Hadejia River, the Jama'are River ...

, which flows east towards

Lake Chad Lake Chad (french: Lac Tchad) is a historically large, shallow, endorheic lake in Central Africa, which has varied in size over the centuries. According to the ''Global Resource Information Database'' of the United Nations Environment Programme, ...

. They lie between Sudanian Savanna to the south and the drier

Sahel The Sahel (; ar, ساحل ' , "coast, shore") is a region in North Africa. It is defined as the ecoclimatic and biogeographic realm of transition between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian savanna to the south. Having a hot semi-arid c ...

to the north. Some of the land is permanently flooded, while other parts are flooded only in the wet season (August and September). Annual rainfall ranges between 200–600 mm, during the period late May–September. At one time the wetlands may have covered up to 3,000 km². Between 1964 and 1971 over 2,000 km² were flooded. By 1983 less than 900 km² were flooded, and less than 300 km² were flooded in the drought year of 1984.

Ecology

The Hadejia-Nguru wetlands are on the

List of Ramsar wetlands of international importance This is the list of Wetlands of International Importance as defined by the Ramsar Convention for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands, recognizing the fundamental ecological functions of wetlands and their economic, cultural, scientif ...

. Nguru Lake and the Marma Channel complex (58,100 ha) are designated a

Ramsar Site A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) **

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

waterbirds. The estimated waterbird population varies between 200,000 and 325,000. 377 bird species have been seen in the wetlands, including occasional sightings of the near-threatened pallid harrier and

great snipe The great snipe (''Gallinago media'') is a small stocky wader in the genus ''Gallinago''. This bird's breeding habitat is marshes and wet meadows with short vegetation in north-eastern Europe, including north-western Russia. Great snipes are mig ...

species. The Bade-Nguru Wetlands sector of the

Chad Basin National Park The Chad Basin National Park is a national park in northeastern Nigeria, in the Chad Basin, with a total area of about 2,258 km2. The park is fragmented, with three sectors. The Chingurmi-Duguma sector is in Borno State, in a Sudanian S ...

covers 938 km² of the wetlands. Parts of the wetlands are protected by five

Forest Reserves A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...

, a Wildlife Sanctuary and a

Ramsar Site A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) **

Quelea quelea'', in the process killing non-target species. Marginal land is now coming under cultivation and tree cover in the forest reserves is being depleted.

Economy

The area supports about 1.5 million farmers,

herder A herder is a pastoral worker responsible for the care and management of a herd or flock of domestic animals, usually on open pasture. It is particularly associated with nomadic or transhumant management of stock, or with common land grazing. ...

s and fishermen. The wetlands support wet-season rice farming, flood-recession agriculture and dry-season farming using irrigation. Crops include peppers and wheat. The wetlands support fishermen, who often also farm, and provide fuel wood and leaves used for making mats and ropes. The lands are also grazed by Fulani cattle.

Issues

The wetlands have suffered from increasingly severe droughts in recent years. Since the 1980s, the use of small gasoline-powered irrigation pumps has increased the land that can be used for farming, causing conflicts with the cattle herders and disputes over land ownership. Dams have threatened the viability of the wetlands, particularly the

Tiga Dam The Tiga Dam is in Kano State in the Northwest of Nigeria, constructed in 1971–1974. It is a major reservoir on the Kano River, the main tributary of the Hadejia River. Description The dam was built during the administration of Governor Aud ...

and the

Challawa Gorge Dam The Challawa Gorge Dam is in Karaye Local Government Area of Kano State in the Northwest of Nigeria, about 90 km southwest of Kano city. It is a major reservoir on the Challawa River, a tributary of the Kano River, which is the main trib ...

, which now control most of the water flow in the Hadejia river and have reduced seasonal flooding and overall water supply. It is estimated that the Tiga dam on the Kano river has reduced flooding by about 350 km². A dam was built on the Hadejia river just upstream from the wetlands for irrigation purposes, completed in 1972, which has also affected flooding. The proposed Kafin Zaki Dam on the Jama'are river could pose a further threat. Due to these changes, large areas of farming and grazing land and important fish ponds have either dried up along channels blocked by invasive

Typha ''Typha'' is a genus of about 30 species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Typhaceae. These plants have a variety of common names, in British English as bulrush or reedmace, in American English as reed, cattail, or punks, in A ...

grass, or have been flooded.

External links

* G.E. Hollis, W.M. Adams & M. Aminu-Kano ''The Hadejia-Nguru Wetlands-Environment, Economy and Sustainable Development of a Sahelian Floodplain Wetland''. 1993.
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References