Cameroon

Programme Summary

Exciting work was initiated in the early 1990s with 60 farmer groups in the Northwest Province of Cameroon and nearly 170,000 trees planted in the Kumbo area.  2008 saw partnering organisations working throughout 3 Provinces, with meetings and agro forestry training with farmers, schools, NGOs and community groups, massive quantities of tree seeds were disseminated and over 2 million trees were planted this year with over 2000 farmers! In addition, partnering organisations are developing a School Forest Garden program and are currently working with 8 schools in the Southwest Province. More recently the program has initiated formal collaboration with Municipalities in the Western Highlands region to tackle critical watershed management problems.

Partners Network
COMINSUD - NDEF - ANCO - SHF - FAP - SIRDEP - VOGASPAD - PEW - RUWDEC - fpfcameroon - RUDEC - ERUDEF conservation - R.H.F.S.R.D&C - savethenature - naturecameroon - CEPIC - FORUDEF - FEEDER - FAAFNET - United Action For Children


Background

With a population of over 18 million and up to 9 million people who live in rural communities the consequences of an overworked land, deforestation, heavy degradation resulting from the industrial logging; over half of Cameroons people live in dire poverty. Twenty two million hectares of forest are home for the majority of people and they are dependent upon forest resources for their livelihoods. However when the forests are harvested for wood to meet local energy needs with over 80% of the forests under some type of allocation to the timber companies, as the logging industry forms a large portion of the backbone of Cameroon's economy, it’s easy to understand how the locals livelihoods are under threat.


Farmers who grow their food and cash crops here are often extremely poor and have been pushed out of the fertile countryside. The last remnants of forest which leaves the mountainsides more vulnerable to erosion are being removed by both men and women. Substantial loss of biodiversity and native plant and animal habitat are the result of the removal of productive forest, as well as loss of life and property for marginalized rural communities. Over 900 bird species, 50 of which are endemic to the Afromontane highlands, and 15 which are globally threatened live here in the Western Cameroon Highlands. The Bamenda  Highlands to the north are the only place on earth the Bannerman's Turaco and Banded Wattle-eye bird species are found. Endangered primates such as chimpanzee, Drill and gorilla also live in the forested highlands, and are extremely sensitive to human development and habitat fragmentation. These animal species depend in large part on the watersheds that give rise to life-giving rivers, such as the Cross River in the Southwest Province.

However, following numerous policy reforms in the mid-1990s, Cameroon has moved towards a more equitable system of sharing its natural resources and the work has begun.

The Response

The Cameroon Program is newly revived after a seven-year hiatus. A new Field Representative is now working with local NGOs in the West, Northwest and Southwest Provinces on tree-planting activities including alley cropping and live fencing. Over 200,000 seedlings were planted after seeds were distributed to these groups in early 2007.


The Cameroon Program in 2009 will continue to focus its attention in the Western Highlands of Cameroon (in the Provinces of South West, West and North West). In 2009, the program in Cameroon is placing its emphasis on development of agro-forestry technologies on farmers' fields, capacity building and effective monitoring at three levels namely partnering organisations Cameroon Program level, NGOs and Farmers' Networks. Many of these Municipalities have been identified in 2008. In this region the program will continue to identify and focus on impoverished farmers and households.


The program will seek to plant about 2 million trees through reinforcement of the specific agro-forestry technologies and beneficiaries' capacity building throughout the Western Highlands region of Cameroon. So far collaboration with 88 local organizations of farmers is proving successful. Over 8,000 people are participating in the program and, so far, over 1.5 million trees have been recorded in tree nurseries.


The farmer's projects are quite diverse throughout the three provinces both in the agro forestry technologies implemented and the number of trees planted. For example, in the Western province a number of farmers are planting Calliandra Calothysus, Acacia angustissima and Leucaena leucocephala as alley cropping and for the production of animal fodder. In the Southwest and Northwest Province, Sesbania sesban and other species are being planted with bee boxes to develop apiculture businesses. Throughout all three provinces, trees are being planted within fields and along hillsides to increase soil fertility and decrease soil erosion.