THE IMPERATIVE OF SAND DUNE STABILIZATION IN SEMI ARID ZONE WITH FOCUS ON JIGAWA STATE, NIGERIA.

Usman A.K.*, Ahmed, M. and Salisu, M. and Ibrahim, A.A.

Increasing climate variability has increased desertification process in the drylands of Nigeria which make sand dune stabilisation imperative. This study focuses on the menace of sand dune and its stabilisation process in Jigawa state. Sand dune is an accumulation of sand usually in a dry or coastal environment. The extreme Northern part of the country has been experiencing a devastating with the problems of Sand dunes. This research aimed at analysing sand dune stability in the study area. Two different methods of dune stabilisation were used for this study these are Biological and Mechanical. In the Biological three exotic, resistant and fast growing tree species were selected and sorted out for planting. These species include Azadirachta indica, Acacia senegal and Eucalyptus camaldulensis. While the in the Mechanical methods fences are erected at right angle to the prevailing wind direction and at a distance of not more than 2.5 meters on the windward side. The result shows that Biological method is more effective than the Mechanical and that Eucalyptus camaldulensis was found to have performed better than the other species with about 77.30% of survival rate. The study recommend for more studies on the other species that will tolerate the hash condition for survival and also there need for more studies using GIS and Remote sensing to deterring their movement particularly the direction.

Key words: Biological, Climate, Mechanical, Sand dunes, Stability.