Promoting community wildlife management and regenerative agriculture

Project title: Promoting community wildlife management and regenerative agriculture around the Bakossi National Park

Project background

Our conservation targets is concentrated around 4 villages bordering the Bakossi National park and found within the Mbwogmut Clan in the  Bangem sub division.Created by Prime Ministerial Decree N° 2007/1459/PM of 28 November 2007, the Bakossi National Park covers a surface area of 29,320 ha, and straddles 3 sub-divisions (Bangem, Tombel and Nguti) of the Kupe-Muanenguba Division, South West Region. It is the only National Park in the Cameroon Highlands Forests Ecoregion. . The Bakossi forests support an abundance of small streams, cascading waterfalls and deep pools. The Mungo River takes it rise from the west of the park before flowing southwards into the coast of Douala. Along the way, thousands of people far beyond the Bakossi forests depend on the river for their livelihoods through activities such as fishing, sand extraction, logs and food transportation .One peculiarity of the river is that it keeps the same volume of water with its unique brown colour as it flows silently southwards to empty into the Atlantic Ocean. Part of the River is currently being channeled through a pipeline to serve an important population of Douala that has been having water problems for over a decade.

The Bakossi Forest Reserve is a 5,517 square kilometres (2,130 sq mi) reserve within the Bakossi Mountains in Cameroon and a home to many rare species of plants, animals and birds. Ndenecho Neba (2009). The Forest Reserve in turn contains the Bakossi National Park created by a decree in early 2008.  Bakossi National Park was created to protect plant diversity and watersheds. Its highest peak, the Muandelengoh (1895 m), stands towering near the Muandelengoh, Ndun, and Mualong villages south of the Mbwe valley, and is very noticeable from Bangem. The park holds a high floral and faunal biodiversity, with a high rate of endemism. The sacred forests and groves belonging to the local people but situated in the National Park have significantly higher plant species diversity than the nearby Mount Cameroon.The Bakossi Landscape Area is part of the Cameroon Highlands ecoregion. The Bakossi landscape area includes a wide range of habitats at different heights. The IRAD-National Herbarium of Cameroon worked on preparing an inventory of plants in the Kupe-Bakossi region between 1995 and 2005. The area had not been known to have particularly rich diversity of plant life.

It is a region mainly inhabited by the Bakossi people but the population also includes Mbo, Manehas, Bakem, Baneka and immigrant Bamiliki people.In the last few decades, there has been rapid growth in the human population who all peasant farmers thus pressure on the need for expansion of farmlands .The indigenous people practice logging, with the wood used for construction of homes and for making furniture and harvest forest plants. This has an impact on the rain forest especially homes for some species like birds and bats. The local population especially the men cultivate cocoa and coffee as their main cash crops and grow plantain while the women grow cocoyam, cassava, beans, maize  and pepper for their own consumption and for sale to improve on  household income.

Encroachment and destruction on wildlife habitats is a concern. Most of the people hunt for bush meat, which is an important source of protein and also for sale. A 2003 report from the ministry of wildlife and nature protection said this activity had reached unsustainable levels and was putting large mammals especially the great apes at stake.

The Bakossi National Park is a biodiversity hot spot and one of the most diverse ecosystems in the South West Region of Cameroon. It is one of the country’s protected areas and home to many rare and threatened wildlife species including endemic primates like the Drill (Mandrillus leucophaeus), one of the most endangered primate species in the world and the Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes). Other primates include Preuss’s red colobus, Red-eared guenon, Preuss’s guenon, Putty-nosed monkey, Mona monkey and other important mammals like Blue duikers, Red river hog, Red-fronted duiker, Black-fronted duikers, Sitatunga, and Long tail pangolin, Birds like the parrots,  the bats and butterflies   and even  African forest elephant(PSMNR-SWR, 2014).

  Project description

Our project is aimed at strengthening the conservation of the declining wildlife populations in the Bakossi National Park (BNP) by raising awareness on the rights of animals (ethical reasons) and maintaining the beauty of the ecosystem in the protected area (aesthetic benefits). It is intended to prevent further destruction of wildlife habitats through unsustainable agricultural practices like shifting cultivation, slash and burn by restricting peasant cocoa farmers living around the area in the existing portions of farms through regenerative agriculture precisely regenerating of aging cocoa farms using inga alley cropping and other nitrogen fixing trees

Project objectives

1.   To raise and rekindle community awareness and educate them on the rights of animals and plants (ethical reasons), the importance of wildlife conservation and the dangers of possible extinction (aesthetic reasons)

2.         To get local communities actively involved in the conservation and management of natural resources in the BNP

3.To empower them on regenerative agriculture (nitrogen fixing tree nursery) so as maximize returns on the existing portions of land through the planting of improved cocoa and nitrogen fixing trees on aging farms

4.To preserve the tropical rain forest that serves as a habitat for many endangered species and support of small streams, rivers cascading waterfalls and deep pool by reducing the local community dependency of the forest for shelter, income and fuel

5. To improve soil fertility, increase farmers’ income and yields through resilient and adaptive techniques of inga alley cropping

6. To restrict the peasant cocoa farmers bordering the park on the existing portions of farms through improved farming techniques

7. To reduce CO2 in the atmosphere – which benefits all life on earth – create habitats, fresh water, and food for wildlife, the biodiversity and the ecosystems in which wild animals live, giving them (and the entire ecosystem) better conditions to thrive.

8. Restore degraded natural ecosystems and contributes to climate action

9 Empower smallholder farmers and rural communities with sustainable land practices, improved food security and income

 The main goals of this project are:

-To strengthen the conservation of the declining wildlife populations in the Bakossi National Park  by raising awareness on the rights of animals (ethical reasons) and maintain the beauty of the ecosystem in the protected area (aesthetic benefits).

 -To restrict peasant farmers on existing portions of farms through regenerative agriculture so as to reduce their dependency on the protected forest while restoring their degraded soil caused by unsustainable farming practices like shifting cultivation and slash and burn

-To train and assist over 200  cocoa peasant  regenerate existing old farms through improved cocoa/ inga  alley cropping and other nitrogen plant nurseries so as to reduce the pressure on the rain -forest for fuel, wood, food that destroy the habitats of  these endangered wildlife

- Produce and distribute over 200 T-shirts carrying sensitization slogans and conservation educative messages like "The Drill monkey is endangered please don't kill it". These T- shirts shall be printed in English language and Pidgin so it is circulated by the workshop participants to the entire community both near, far and wide

- In addition to reducing CO2 in the atmosphere – which benefits all life on earth – trees create habitats, fresh water, and food for wildlife. Trees also benefit biodiversity and the ecosystems in which wild animals live, giving them (and the entire ecosystem) better conditions to thrive.

-. Produce and distribute over 200 calendars’s carrying animals and birds that are endangered and  has almost reached the  level extinction so that messages are spread even to illiterates since diagrams often serves as icon for memory retention

- Assist the community draw up action plan against defaulters

-Assist the communities with improved planting materials like machetes, hoes, spades, watering cans, wheel barrows and polyethene bags

- Train the communities in nursery creation, management and set up 2 giant nurseries of over 10,000 species in each village on improved cocoa, inga and other fixing nitrogen trees.

At the end of 6months, the cocoa/ inga and other nitrogen plant nurseries would have been matured. The seedlings are distributed to each farmer to be transplanted into their various farms. Thus the farmers will be benefited from knowledge on wildlife management, know species that are endangered and how they are to be protected, gain improved farming tools and regenerated aging farms. The regenerated farms return will solve the following problems

-Increase cocoa yields from barely 200kg/ha to 1000kg/ha through improved cocoa varieties and improved farming techniques

-Reduce the phenomenon of excessive dry leaves currently being witnessed in cocoa farms through use of nitrogen fixing agroforestry trees like Acacia,Inga, Luecane

-Increase family income from barely $200 a year to over $5000

-Restore soil fertility and eliminate the use of chemical fertilizers;

-Solve the phenomenon of climate change on existing farming system

-Reduce further pressure from the rain-forest as the constant pruning of Inga will provide firewood for domestic use;- Regarding using Inga Idulis in cocoa farms, Dr. Valle, from the University of Honduras (Central America) where they have done much work with the Inga says 'Yields of cocoa associated with Inga can be 130 kg in the second year, increasing progressively up to 1000 kg/ha in year eight.' Inga is very good at improving cocoa production with it qualities of non-dominance, fast growth and it property of improving soil fertility. This eliminates the need for chemical fertilizers

  Project activities

1. Sensitization and capacity building workshop targeting over 200 peasant farmers within 4 villages bordering the Bakossi national park on wildlife conservation. The essence of this activity is as follows

-To implement strategies to be adopted by participants that will lead to the involvement of beneficiaries and successful implementation of the project.

-           Enable Participants know their responsibility and that of CENCUDER and to respect this throughout the project life.

-           Enable Participants know CENCUDER and the foundation

-Enable participants knowledge on  targets endangered species, raise and rekindle community awareness and educate them on the rights of animals and plants (ethical reasons), the importance of wildlife conservation and the dangers of possible extinction (aesthetic reasons)

-To get local communities actively involved in the conservation and management of natural resources in the Bakossi National Park 

- Exchange ideas and experiences on wild life and regenerative agriculture

- To receive material support from CENCUDER. This activity will take place within the first month of project approval

2.Train and assist over 200  cocoa peasant farms on how to  regenerate existing old farms through improved cocoa/inga and other nitrogen plant nurseries so as to reduce the pressure on the rain -forest for fuel, food that destroy habitat of endangered wildlife. This activity will take place on the second month of project approval and their importance is

-To gain knowledge on climate change education, global warming, and regenerative agriculture; understand the role of inga and other agroforestry trees in farming

-To gain knowledge of agroforestry farming systems, alley cropping, contour farming, mixed cropping as well as bad agricultural practices that affect our planet, ecosystem and biodiversity currently being practice in the area.

-Be trained on how to make and manage a nursery

- Acquire knowledge and skills on good farming practices that can combat hunger and unemployment and live in harmony with nature

 -Gain knowledge on unsustainable activities that destroy wildlife habitat and prune them to vulnerability

3. Nursery establishment, management and transplanting to individual farms

This is to  enable communities get improved and alternative survival techniques that will enable them remain on existing portions of lands with maximum returns without having them to move from one virgin portion of land another.  This is will also enable them reduce poaching because of improved yields and income that enable them buy protein like fish and meat from the markets which are not bush meat

4. Produce over 250 T-shirts carrying slogans and conservation educative messages like "The Drill monkey is endangered please don't kill it". This activity is an outdoor awareness and sensitization campaign about the importance of wildlife and their rights to life

5. Produce calendars of species that are endangered. This is to enable the communities around the protected know the animals or species that the project is talking about and how human activities is causing their vulnerability and possible risk of extinction

6. Monitoring and evaluation. Monitoring is a monthly activity that will take throughout the project cycle of 12months. It is to ensure that take tasks or activities are going on as planned while evaluation will be conducted at the end of the project to ensure project objects are met. It will be a joint responsibility of CENCUDER staff and the beneficiary communities