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P.O. Box 2743, Portland
OR 97208
info@sanaga-yong.org
971-544-7772

Forest And Wildlife Protection

The Story of Cameroon’s Shrinking Forests and Plummeting Wildlife Populations

In Cameroon, logging, mining and commercial agriculture, largely by international companies, as well as subsistence agriculture spurred by a burgeoning national population with little economic opportunity, are destroying and fragmenting wildlife habitat. At the same time, commercial hunting is decimating chimpanzee, gorilla and other wildlife populations and rendering the remaining forests silent.

Currently, logging is the most widespread and destructive extractive industry in Cameroon. Since the country’s forests are heterogeneous and loggers seek only certain species of trees, they log selectively rather than clear cutting. But each tree that a company cuts brings down other trees as it falls, and loggers cause irreparable damage as they access and remove trees. Their roads slice into pristine, once inaccessible forests, and human settlements follow the roads.

Some people who eventually settle along the logging roads come first to work for the logging companies; others are commercial hunters who come to provide meat for logging company employees. These hunters also use the logging roads, and often the logging trucks, as conduits to transport their bushmeat to urban markets. They are often among the first to settle along logging roads, and they stay long after the loggers are gone. Wives, extended families and friends follow, establishing villages of farmers and poachers that keep expanding over time. With a population that is increasing by several hundred thousand per year while job opportunities are not increasing, Cameroon people are pushing farther and farther into the forests, hunting and farming to survive. The logging roads come first, then the poachers, the new settlements and the slashing and burning for subsistence agriculture.

Chimpanzees and Gorillas, large and slow-moving, are particularly vulnerable to poachers with shotguns. Female great apes carrying nursing infants are slower and easier to kill, and are sometimes targeted specifically because they have infants. The babies can be sold alive as “pets” in Cameroon or smuggled out to meet the growing demand for African wildlife in Asian zoos.

SYCR
SYCR

Wall-Mbargue Wildlife Reserve

Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue Center is located in the Mbargue Forest, which is surrounded by a logging road at its periphery. We spent years lobbying for the creation of a protected area in the forest surrounding the Center, which would prevent further logging and allow for the allocation of eco-guards to fight poaching. We carried out dozens of meetings with national, regional and local government officials, as well as with village chiefs and other community leaders, and we facilitated meetings and negotiations between various stakeholders and government officials. In addition, we invested in wildlife and social surveys and created reports to provide strong evidence in support of forest protection.

Finally, in August 2017, we hosted a governmental commission to hear stakeholder input and establish final boundaries for the protected area. The commission signed a document creating the Wall-Mbargue Wildlife Reserve, consisting of 28,265 acres. The document still must be signed by the Prime Minister as a final step. Protecting this forest with eco-guards will save the lives of chimpanzees, gorillas, monkeys, pangolins and other endangered wildlife. The formal decree still awaits the Prime Minister’s signature, after which permanent eco-guards will be assigned to the forest. In the meantime, Sanaga-Yong has been monitoring and reporting illegal logging and poaching in the designated Reserve to Cameroon’s Ministry of Forests and Wildlife (MINFOF), which had taken steps to stop them.

While we await the Prime Minister’s signature and as a part of our efforts, we will be making and posting 200 hand painted metal signs around the boundaries of the Reserve. The sign posting team will also meet with village populations, educating them about what is and is not allowed in the Reserve. And as they post the signs, they will remove barbaric and illegal traps, which maim and kill wildlife, wherever they find them. It will provide immediate protection against poaching and deforestation in this area of global biodiversity significance.

Once the eco-guards are assigned, Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue will provide their housing. And we are currently in discussions with the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife (MINFOF) to define our role in managing the Reserve.

Sikondi Forest

Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue also has conducted wildlife and social surveys in the Sikondi Forest, which is located across the Sanaga River from the new Wall-Mbargue Wildlife Reserve. It is habitat for one of the few remaining populations of chimpanzees of the subspecies Pan troglodytes ellioti. This is the most endangered subspecies of chimpanzee, with only a few thousand remaining individuals in the world. We are using our surveys, which document the presence of the chimpanzee population, to begin lobbying for protection of this forest.

Inga Alley Cropping

We are sponsoring an agroforestry program called Inga Alley Cropping in villages at the periphery of the Reserve. This program hedgerows fast-growing Inga trees between rows of traditional crops. The Inga trees increase soil fertility and the yields of crops planted between them. Their fruit is a delicious treat, and the cooked fruit seeds are an excellent source of protein, often compared to chickpeas in consistency. Additionally, the Inga tree trimmings are a good source of firewood. Our goal with this project is to decrease slash and burn agriculture, the exploitation of wildlife for food and the use of trees for firewood. We have brought in an expert to teach the method to farmers in 10 villages and have, in 2021 and 2022, distributed 3,400 saplings that we’ve grown in our nursery. We have planted over 3000 seeds in our nursery this year, and the seedlings will be distributed to farmers in 10 other villages in July.

Community Conservation Patrols

In 2021, the Minister of Forests and Wildlife asked Sanaga-Yong to clearly mark the boundaries of the Reserve. More evidence of the Ministry’s serious Intent to protect the forest and its precious wildlife. Since then we have been working to mark the boundaries with 200 hand painted metal signs to help prevent hunting, logging and farming.

As a part of our efforts to protect wildlife within the boundaries, the sign posting team also meets with village populations, educating them about what is and is not allowed in the Reserve. And as they post the signs, they remove merciless and illegal traps wherever they find them. Providing immediate protection against poaching and deforestation in this area of global biodiversity significance.

We also have Community Conservation Patrols to educate people and stop illegal hunting and logging. 

Contact

Email: info@sanaga-yong.org
Phone: 971-544-7772
Address: P.O. Box 2743, Portland OR 97208

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