Deforestation
Deforestation is a scourge that is particularly prevalent throughout sub-Saharan Africa. There are many reasons for this cataclysm. Among them, the traditional practice of slash-and-burn agriculture is wreaking havoc. Many African peoples, including the Bantus of Cameroon, practice slash-and-burn agriculture. This involves setting fire to a plot of forest during the dry season, cultivating it for two or three years, then migrating to another plot and repeating the process.
Timber exploitation is also in the dock, as Cameroon has historically been one of the world's biggest exporters of logs, or unprocessed wood.
Last but not least, wood is still largely present in the country's energy mix, while domestic energy consumption is largely made up of firewood and coal.
The result: Cameroon has already lost 100,000 ha of tropical forest by 2020, according to Global Forest Watch. Yet deforestation poses even more serious problems, since it involves the destruction of the second largest forest in the world: the Congo Basin forest. Deforestation not only leads to soil degradation and loss of biodiversity, it also poses a major social threat. Indeed, the Pygmies, a people who have lived in the forests of Cameroon for 5,000 years, are seeing their way of life threatened by deforestation and the loss of their resources, and are now being forced to settle down, which implies a significant deterioration in their quality of life.
Cameroon, however, is planning solutions to halt deforestation. The CEMAC (Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa) intends to ban the export of logs by 2025, after a first unsuccessful attempt in 2023. On the other hand, the government is working to improve the energy supply, thanks in particular to several hydroelectric power station projects currently underway. In addition, tree-planting campaigns are flourishing all over the country, even if they are not yet succeeding in reversing the trend.
The forest school
To avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, Cameroon has also set up a national forestry school in Mbalmayo, south of Yaoundé. More than just classrooms, the school boasts 1,000 ha of forest, comprising some one hundred species of tree. The school, which welcomes 250 students each year, teaches them about the forest and its living species. Above all, it passes on the importance of sustainable management methods, teaching them about the capacity of forests to storeCO2 and thus combat global warming.
Poaching in the spotlight
While habitat loss plays an important role in the disappearance of many Cameroonian species, poaching also plays a major role. Cameroon's three species of pangolin, for example, are hunted for sale on the Asian market, where they are used in traditional Chinese medicine. As a result, the pangolin is one of the most heavily poached species in the world, and is on the brink of extinction. Elephants, whose tusks are highly prized in Asia, suffer a similar fate. Gorillas and chimpanzees, meanwhile, have become the symbol of the fight against poaching. Their populations are declining dangerously, to the extent that the common chimpanzee(Pan troglodytes) is classified as an endangered species, and the western gorilla(Gorilla gorilla) as critically endangered. Since the 1980s, this great ape, found only in a small region of Central Africa, has seen its population decline by 50%. The practice of poaching, although prohibited, is difficult to curb for a number of reasons: corruption on the part of certain forest rangers, the threats they receive, high prices for animals on the market, particularly internationally, and the sometimes difficult cohabitation between villagers and certain animals they consider to be looters..
Solutions do exist, even if they are not yet sufficient to completely curb the problem. There are a number of conservation sanctuaries, such as Méfou Park, whose mission is to provide a refuge for primates. Managed by the NGO Ape Action Africa, the park is home to 25 gorillas, 120 chimpanzees and 10 groups of other ape species. More original, the Sanaga-Yong center was founded by an American veterinarian with a passion for primates, like Jane Goodall. Sheri Speede wanted it to be an orphanage for chimpanzees, which takes in apes that have fallen victim to poaching.
Nature parks to preserve biodiversity
All along Cameroon's nearly 500,000 km2 surface area, protected areas help preserve the country's rich biodiversity. The Bénoué National Park is one of the oldest of these. It covers 1,800 km2 of savannah, stretching along the river of the same name. This protected area is all the more essential as it is home to many endangered species: African elephant, African lion, wild dog, hippopotamus and even giant eland, the continent's largest antelope.
Another emblematic park, Waza National Park, is certainly the country's most popular. As well as being part of the network of parks dedicated to the conservation of African lions, it is one of the last parks in the world where the Kordofan giraffe(Giraffa camelopardalis antiquorum) still lives in the wild. This subspecies of giraffe is classified as critically endangered, due to habitat destruction and poaching.
Lobéké National Park, in the south-east of the country, covers 2,000 km2 of equatorial forest in the Congo Basin. While it is renowned for its high concentration of gorillas, it is also home to plants that are all the more precious given that the Congo Basin forest is particularly threatened by deforestation. There are 300 species of tree, mainly from the Malvaceae family, such as the abachi(Triplochiton scleroxylon), while the undergrowth is made up of numerous plants from the Marantaceae family, well known to houseplant enthusiasts.
