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Space, Time and Sustainability in the Hadejia‐Jama'are Wetlands and the Komodugu Yobe Basin, Nigeria
Author(s) -
Thomas David H L,
Adams William M
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
transactions of the institute of british geographers
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.196
H-Index - 107
eISSN - 1475-5661
pISSN - 0020-2754
DOI - 10.1111/j.0020-2754.1997.00430.x
Subject(s) - sustainability , riparian zone , context (archaeology) , wetland , flood myth , geography , structural basin , floodplain , drainage basin , vegetation (pathology) , environmental planning , environmental resource management , environmental science , ecology , habitat , archaeology , cartography , geology , medicine , paleontology , pathology , biology
Debates about sustainability still take insufficient account of the significance of space and time. In this paper, their significance is demonstrated empirically through an account of the complex environmental and socio‐economic impacts of dam construction on flood‐plain wetlands in the Hadejia‐Jama'are river basin in Nigeria. Socio‐economic data from a rapid rural appraisal exercise and household questionnaire survey (data on patterns of production in the flood plain and patterns of mobility) are appraised in the context of patterns of environmental change and of inundation (analysis of riparian vegetation and time‐series aerial photographs). The paper concludes that sustainable river basin development requires more attention to be paid to the perspectives derived from different scales of analysis. This calls for appropriate institutions allowing communication at the interface between village‐level producer and river basin manager.