Meet the civilians reforesting Cameroon

The Kilum Forest in Oku, Cameroon's Northwest Region, stands as West Africa'slast remaining Afromontane forest, serving local communities for farming, water, medicinal and various other needs. But in recent years, the detrimental impacts of climate change have been threatening its survival.

George Bilufenyen, a community leader in the area, is concerned about the risks. Population growth in the region is having an impact on the forest, he told FairPlanet, as more people fell trees for wood. Some areas, he added, have been farmed for too long, leaving them barren.

This is why Bilufenyen never hesitated when Green Planet, a local group of environmental activists based in Tiko, Southwest Cameroon, contacted him, saying they wish to reforest Oku. 

Green Planet decided to embark on this journey after observing Oku's hilly landscape and the relentless chopping of eucalyptus trees in the Kilum forest area, which they said has been resulting in soil erosion. Through reforestation, the collective seeks to combat both desertification and poverty in the area, highlighting that these trees eventually yield fruits that can be sold and generate income in communities.

In August 2023, an array of tree species was planted in Oku, while similar initiatives have been underway since 2019 in other communities like Santa, Mamfe, and Tiko, spanning both Northwest and Southwest Cameroon. Green Planet's leader, Enow Richard Tabot, 38, said that after holding awareness campaigns in these areas, they dedicated two weeks to planting over 1,000 trees in the Kilum forest region, with support from the local population.

"The Entire population of Oku depends on that forest. It is something like a reserve, because Oku depends on it for water, bee farming and medicine," Bilufenyen said.

Following the initiative led by Green Planet, Bilufenyen said, their efforts to plant as many trees as possible have continued, recognising both the risks they face and the benefits of their actions. He added, however, that the impact of these efforts would not be immediate, saying that he hopes for a positive change to be felt in the future.

Children involved in reforestation 

Currently, the grassroots communities in Bamenda, the North West Regional headquarters, and Buea, the South West Regional headquarters, are increasingly involved in reforestation efforts.

Voice of Nature (VoNat), another organisation based in Buea, is working to conserve biodiversity in Cameroon. Founded by Ndimuh Bertrand in 2019, the NGO launched a programme titled Planet Action, which involves working with kids to plant trees in degraded watershed. The children - aged 10 to 20 and hailing from various neighbourhoods in Buea and Bamenda - planted over 2,000 trees across five degraded watershed areas in Bamenda, the capital of Cameroon’s Northwest region in 2022. This initiative aimed to rejuvenate these depleted zones and ensure the protection of vital water catchment areas.

Many of the kids involved in the planting effort said they want to safeguard a future with enough food and clean air for everyone. "It is going to help us in the future; plants serve as food and provide the oxygen we breathe in," said Awu Laurene, a primary school pupil in Buea. Akam Wisdom, in Bamenda, Northwest Region, said the initiative has helped him prepare for life as an agriculturalist. 

Having little children to plant trees, said Manga Victorine Bissong, the head teacher of one of the schools where the initiative took place, can encourage them to care for their environment later on.

Saving Humanity With Trees

In 2019, a small group of environmentalists in Douala, Cameroon's commercial hub, witnessed the significant amount of timber transported to Douala's seaport for export. This raised their concernsabout the future risks if measures weren't taken to replenish what was being lost. They then began formulating strategies to mitigate the flooding frequently afflicting Limbe and Tiko - coastal communities in the Southwest of Cameroon - and to address the escalating heat in the Northwest, which is exacerbated by deforestation.

Since then, membership in their group has increased to 25 people, ranging in age between 22 to 41 years old,  who have thus far planted more than 3,000 trees in over than 12 communities across two of the 10 regions in Cameroon. 

Meanwhile, Tabot from Green Planet pointed out to FairPlanet that the effects of climate change and desertification are visible in communities across Cameroon. 

"For instance, in coastal communities like Limbe, flooding is recurrent," he said. "In the Northwest, we see how forested places are exposed to excessive heat because trees have been cut down. Excessive heat is also lowering the productivity of our soil, hence reducing our agricultural produce."

Tabot emphasised that by introducing a wide range of tree species, including fruit trees, they aim to motivate communities to take part in reforestation efforts. He noted the long-term nature of their impact, saying that the benefits of trees planted since 2019 would take time to materialise, as these trees need years to mature.

He mentioned that a species like eucalyptus, for example, takes over 15 years to reach maturity, adding that communities can harvest them for economic gains while continuing to plant new ones.

They invest their own personal funds to buy trees, cover transportation costs and conduct feasibility studies, which include physical assessments and data analysis from the National Climate Change Observatory (ONACC, by its French acronym). 

The Challenges 

Some communities in Cameroon, lamented Tabot of Green Planet, have yet to recognise the vital significance of reforestation. He decried that sometimes trees they planted end up being stolen.

"The protection of these trees is of prime importance. At times we plant and people come and uproot them and take them to their areas," he told FairPlanet.

Aside from that, convincing youths and other community members to get involved and acknowledge the importance of their work, remains a challenge, Tabot said. In communities where awareness of the climate crisis is lacking, they must spend time engaging in sensitisation through workshops, village gatherings and classroom sessions at schools.

He added that to overcome these obstacles, they are attempting to persuade local authorities to assist them in safeguarding trees from theft, citing the benefits to the entire community. 

The government in 2017 pledged to restore 12 million hectares of deforested and degraded land as part of the Bonn Challenge Initiative. This commitment by the government and other initiatives by NGOs could encourage tree planting by working with different ministerial departments, civil society and communities. 

According to Delphine Ikome, Regional Delegate of Forestry and Wildlife in the Southwest, the various interventions are customised to address the specific characteristics of each area where trees are being planted.

In protected regions, the government mandates that farmers plant trees and vacate the land once the trees maturate. This approach aligns with the government's tree-planting campaigns, which are part of its 2017 pledges to the Bonn Challenge.

"We take the GPS coordinates of each tree planted so that we know that in this area we planted this number of trees in this position so that we can track the trees planted to determine the survival rate," Ikome explained.

Deforestation: A Threat To Humanity

According to statistics from WeForest, a Belgian-based organisation providing science-backed solutions to climate issues, the world lost 473 million hectares of tree cover. Forests, according to researchers at Crowtherlab, have the potential to capture 226 Gigatonnes (Gt) of carbon.

In Cameroon, over 80 per cent of households continue to rely on fuel wood for cooking energy, highlighting the rapid pace at which the country, located in the Congo Basin Rainforest, is depleting its forests.

A study conducted by Cameroonian researcher Daniel Gbetnkom examining at the consequences of deforestation between 1970 and 2000, indicated that "the progressive disappearance of a tropical forest constitutes one of the major environmental problems in both industrialised and developing countries."

Other reports also show that deforestation in Cameroon is responsible for the loss of biodiversity, erratic climate patterns,  soil erosion and water cycle disruption in the country, among other adverse consequences. In addition, the nation of Central Africa has attributed numerous incidents of death and property destruction to deforestation, which frequently results in landslides. 

Efforts by organisations such as VoNat and Green Planet aim to reverse the concerning deforestation trend in Cameroon and contribute their part to the worldwide reforestation movement.

Image by VoNat