Monitoreo de la Calidad del Aire en el municipio Sabaneta

According to Blaikie (2012), much farming systems research over the last 50 years are standard political ecology because they examine, ‘multi-disciplinary perspectives on adaptation to en- vironmental change, the market, population growth – all key issues in political ecology but explored from quite different perspectives and disciplinary backgrounds without so much as a mention of PE’. In this vein, a lot of research on the environment and natural resource man- agement in northern Nigeria can be termed PE- retrospectively (Blaikie 2008). One of the clas- sical works of political ecology was Watts (1983a, 1983b) study of famine and food production in northern Nigeria mentioned at the beginning of the chapter. In environmental change the most influential and widely cited work is that of Michael Mortimore and his colleagues. Mor- timore’s long term studies on the northern Nigerian environment and on the Kano Close settled zone in particular spanned decades, and led to many influential publications. Adapting to

drought (1989) was based on 13 years of field work after the drought of 1969-1973 and focused

on detailing the survival strategies and responses of people to the drought and famine that ac- companied it (Mortimore 1989). It was noteworthy in its refusal to place the blame on the local population as was the conventional wisdom at that time. Following other studies that showed the intensification and innovation of agricultural activity as a response to environmental change

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and population growth, the so called ‘Machakos’ hypothesis (Tiffen et al. 1994). Working the

Sahel (1999), based on the field research of Mortimore and his colleagues in several villages

in northern Nigeria has become a bench mark study of dryland systems and livelihoods (Mor- timore & Adams 1999). It covered soil fertility management and livelihood strategies and re- mains an influential study into the socio economic aspect of the dryland environments. The thesis of the book is that degradation in the drylands can be contained, and to a large extent is, by the people of the drylands themselves using the resources and capabilities available to them. Mortimore & Adams contend that an increasing population provides more of the most critical variable in dryland farming which is labour and coupled with indigenous and introduced tech- niques, creates a sustainable system of intensive agriculture.

Mortimore’s research formed part a growing body of literature in the Sahel studying rural farm- ing systems and highlighting the adaptive responses and resilience of local people to environ- mental change in their use of labour, crop diversity and livelihoods strategies. Related studies focused on the intensification strategies of farmers (Mortimore & Adams, 2001; Mortimore, 1993) and on the relationship between land degradation and population growth (Mortimore, 1993). More recent long term studies directly challenged the concept of desertification in the drylands of northern Nigeria and three other countries in sub Saharan Africa. They contested the concept of desertification as a result of exploitation of natural resources by examining rain- fall records, crop yields and population growth patterns over a 40 year period (1960-2000), and concluded that rainfall variability had the most important influence on annual crop yield (Mor- timore & Turner 2005; Tiffen & Mortimore 2002). They found no evidence of declining crop yield that was not linked to rainfall variability and their results did not support the theory that increasing populations has led to widespread degradation or a decline in crop yields.

Since desertification is seen largely as degradation of soil and vegetation, soil degradation stud- ies also formed an important aspect of research on environmental change. Such studies usually

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involved analysis of physical and chemical properties of soil. Essiet (2001) analysed soil sam- ples from farms in the drylands to examine the sustainability of agriculture, and concluded that sustainability could be maintained as long as measures were taken to conserve the soil against erosion. Other studies into the management of soil fertility on small holder farms, explained how farmers manage nutrient flows into farms and achieve sustainability through crop and livestock integration (Harris 1999; Mortimore & Harris 2005), and the use and management of manure (Harris & Yusuf 2001). Hoffman et al. (2001) also describe how farmers in Zamfara manage soil fertility by combining crop planting patterns and application of farmyard manure and livestock corralling. This is in stark contrast to the long held views that an increasing pop- ulation leads to environmental degradation by increasing pressure on natural resources to pro- vide food and energy – the neo-Malthusian view.

The conventional wisdom is that increasing populations lead to an increase in wood cutting for energy, and this leads to loss of vegetation. In further deconstructions of this fuelwood ortho- doxy, and criticism of policies based on it, Cline Cole et al. (1990a) in their much cited book refuted the theory of a wood fuel gap in their investigation into fuelwood trade, consumption and management in Kano in the 1980s. The study also investigated the socio economic factors that determine fuelwood use, and concluded that on the contrary, there was an annual rise in the tree density between 1972 and 1981 in the densely populated areas of Kano. Further studies on the change in vegetation after conversion of woodland to farmland concluded that this con- version does not necessarily lead to a reduction in vegetation (Mortimore et al. 1999). Cline– Cole (1990b) looked at the fuel wood orthodoxy linking fuelwood use to increasing deforesta- tion and questioned the assumption of a direct linear relationship between population growth and increased consumption of wood. Other variables such as urbanisation and demographic characteristics of the population influence this relationship.

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Most of the studies enumerated above share a theme of optimism and acknowledge the adap- tation and resilience of local land users, and take the stance that their land use activities do not lead to degradation. This is known as the Boserupian hypothesis after Boserup (1965), who posited that population growth can in many cases have a positive impact on the environment and lead to agricultural intensification and adoption of new technologies, rather than to degra- dation.

With regards to vegetation, Odihi’s (2003) study in the north east noted that socio economic conditions have led to people clearing vast tracts of woodland to make way for new farms as a way of pursuing alternative livelihoods. He argues that deforestation is happening in the north east. Recent studies by Naibbi (2013) and Naibbi & Healey (2013) supports this view. Their analysis of Landsat images of vegetation in the north east areas of Yobe & Borno states show that significant vegetation loss has occurred in the past three decades, and they surmise that fuelwood use by an increasing population , and socio economic stress, as well as rainfall vari- ability are significant drivers of this vegetation loss.

More recent research in the mould of ‘critical’ political ecology (Forsyth, 2003), Maconachie (2007) examined local people’s knowledge and perceptions of environmental change in the urban fringes of Kano, and how these influence their land use decisions and found different interpretations of land degradation by individuals. In the two decades since the earlier cited studies which detailed sustainable land use in Kano, this study found that changing economic and social and demographic conditions may now compel farmers in drylands to unsustainable use of land. Farmers’ perceptions regarding vegetation, fuelwood and decline in soil fertility and crop yield, seemed to mirror the so called orthodoxies and suggested that population pres- sures and land use are negatively affecting environmental change. Maconachie’s study is im-

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portant because it argues that global economic forces and present economic conditions in Ni- geria significantly influence land use decisions of local actors, and may threaten these once resilient systems.

What is largely missing from these studies from northern Nigeria is a gendered perspective of these issues of environmental change. This research uses such a framework of feminist devel- opment theory to examine multiple perceptions of land degradation and power relations that govern access to and control of resources within the household.