The Mambila plateau in Nigeria features unique physical and climatic c
onditions for human settlement as for cattle breeding: it is within su
ch an environment that the Mambila farmers have settled and developed
as a dense population. During the 19th century the highlands became th
e main sources of slaves for the Muslim Fulani kingdoms of Banyo and G
ashaka. Although resisting strongly, the Mambila villages fell one aft
er the other. This resulted in a demographic collapse: by 1930 the Mam
bila were reduced to a population of 16,000. In the 1920s Mbororo and
Fulani graziers began to settle in the region: their livestock became
the main cause of environmental degradation. Severs erosion of the gra
zed land can now be observed, mainly characterized by the deepening of
the river beds and the collapse of river banks. Such a phenomenon is
attributed to a change in the rainwater flows due to the exhaustion of
the vegetation cover. The uncontrolled growth of livestock has been f
ollowed by high competition for land between the graziers and those Ma
mbila farmers who survived the Fulani occupation. The graziers holding
most of the political power have progressively deprived the farmers o
f their lands: the latter are now confined within isolated small encla
ves. They have lost their economic independence and are reduced to wor
k for the graziers or to emigrate to Cameroon. Furthermore, in a large
part of the Mambila plateau, the pastoral range has been divided betw
een the graziers, excluding the Mambila farmers, as well as the poores
t Fulani, from land ownership and enhancing their dependency on the gr
aziers. Such an explosive situation is illustrated by two surveys of t
he Kuma and Leme regions. Over the 78 km(2) studied in Kuma, the Mambi
la possess only 22% of the area; the survey found 132 herds (at an est
imated total of 9475 cattle) with a population density of 1.5 cattle p
er ha, almost totally owned by Muslim graziers. The area studied in Le
me covers 113.5 km(2) of uneven land. Although confined to nine enclav
es, the Mambila owned 32% of the land, while the Muslim graziers posse
ss 67%. 145 herds have been counted (at an estimate total of 10,215 ca
ttle): 63% are owned by the Mbororo, 20% by Fulani and the Haoussa fro
m Gembu, 10% by the Mambila, and 7% by the recent Yamba migrants.