Water managment and conflicts in the Bamenda grassfields of Cameroon, 1902-1998

Abstract

This study discusses water conflicts in the Bamenda Grassfields of Cameroon. The Republic of Cameroon just like many African countries continues to suffer as a result of conflicts over water, which has always been a constant nightmare. The study argues that, before the advent of the Fulani into the Bamenda Grassfields, water conflicts existed, but they were not as when they arrived in 1916 and factors that drove such conflicts were; population growth, climate change, pollution and poor agricultural practices. Conflicts are inevitable in human societies because these have variations in interests. The main research question that guided this thesis was: what has been the contributions of stakeholders to the understanding and resolution of conflicts related to water management in the Bamenda Grassfields? To better appreciate the problem posed in this study, we adopted the historic-deductive method that consisted of a critical review of primary and secondary sources. This embodied the identification of sources in the form of books, articles and journals, which had some information on certain aspects of the study. Following the critical analysis of diverse sources, the main fact emerged that many reasons accounted for the numerous water conflicts in the Bamenda Grassfields Region of Cameroon. Although much has been done by stakeholders such as the Government, Traditional Authorities and NGOs to manage this phenomenon; there still continue to be some challenges, which need to be addressed immediately. This has prompted us to propose some solutions which will go a long way to ameliorate the situation in the Region.