Implications of anthropogenic induced perturbations on Nigerian National Park rangelands

Abstract

This paper reviews the implications of anthropogenic induced perturbations on national Park rangelands. It aimed at investigating the degradation, effects and sustainability of national park rangelands in Nigeria. The proximate causes of rangeland degradation include overgrazing, logging, hunting, unsustainable fuelwood use, mining, and plowing of rangelands with subsequent loss of soil productivity while ultimate causes are typically associated with policies, socio-economic changes or interactions of socio economic and governance factors with climatic stressors such as drought, desertification, erosion and flood. The loss of biodiversity is the end product of a wide range of factors causing rangeland degradation. Social and economic systems provide the context and rationale for rangeland management in national parks. Sustaining rangeland ecosystems requires attention to the social, economic and ecological conditions. National parks play a pivotal role in biodiversity conservation efforts since they are the means of protecting species that cannot sustain in anthropogenic interference ecological settings. It is also the place of natural evolution and forthcoming ecological restoration. Hence, conservation of rangelands in national parks is a vital issue that needs to be addressed for sustainable development.