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Strategies Towards Sustainable Development in Nigeria's Semi‐Arid Regions
Author(s) -
Toro S. M.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
water and environment journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1747-6593
pISSN - 1747-6585
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-6593.1998.tb00175.x
Subject(s) - desertification , arid , sustainable development , irrigation , agriculture , water resources , water resource management , natural resource economics , scale (ratio) , geography , environmental planning , business , environmental science , economics , political science , ecology , cartography , archaeology , law , biology
During the last three decades, there has been a steady decline in rainfall within Northern Nigeria where the total annual amount has declined below the 30‐year mean; this could be either a permanent or temporary phenomenon. Whatever the trend, the continuous deterioration in climatic conditions, combined with uncoordinated resources planning, are paving the way for a crisis of dramatic proportions in the sub‐region. In the rush to combat this threat, like most third‐world countries, Nigeria embarked upon large‐scale constructions of dams and irrigation‐infrastructure facilities without proper planning and coordination. Consequently, the schemes have now failed to achieve their forecast output. The paper attempts to establish the important role which the naturally available water‐resources potential of the sub‐region could play towards sustainable irrigated agricultural development under increasing risks of drought and desertification within the area.