Residents of two communities in northwest Cameroon are working to restore water sources and reforest their community forests to address challenges related to climate change.The two nongovernmental organizations spearheading the efforts say they have already restored some 15 water sources and approximately 50 hectares (125 acres) of degraded land and planted more than 7,000 trees in the region.Both NGOs are among more than a dozen across Africa supported through the Global Landscapes Forum to work on restoring landscapes in cooperation with communities.
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In Bamukumbit village in northwestern Cameroon, residents have traditionally depended on natural water sources. However, these springs, streams, and rivers have deteriorated and become polluted over time as a result of intensive human activities, including agriculture, deforestation, pastoralism and livestock herding. Thanks to a project implemented by the nonprofit Support Humanity Cameroon (Suhucam), these water sources are being restored.
This hot, semi-arid region of Cameroon is not connected to the national water supply network. Suhucam’s coordinator, Sunday Geofrey, told Mongabay: “People farm right up to the water sources and cut down the surrounding trees. As a result, these water sources dry up during the dry season.”
Additionally, local Mbororo herders’ livestock frequently enter these water sources, contaminating them with waste and increasing the community’s risk of waterborne diseases.
The project area has frequently experienced food insecurity due to a mix of climatic factors and human pressures.
Droughts often cause crop losses, while livestock sometimes destroy crops, leading to conflicts between local farmers and pastoralists.
Suhucam is working to restore these compromised sources of water by establishing surrounding vegetation with tree species adapted to the environment, such as raffia palm, acacia and gmelina. Geofrey explains, “We started building a kind of reservoir in the water sources using local materials (stones), with integrated capture devices that allow more than 3,000 people in the communities to now access sufficient amounts of drinking water.”
A similar project is being conducted in another part of the region, onin Nkambée, by the NGO Youth Development Organization. Yodo-Cameroon has already restored 11 springs in and around the villages of Bih and Ndu, with the support from local authorities. “They say that water is life. If water sources are not protected, it means that we are not protecting life. If there is no water, agriculture cannot exist,” Yodo-Cameroon coordinator Faï Cassian told Mongabay in an interview.
Villagers draw water from a compromised water source in Bamunkumbit. Image courtesy of Suhucam.
Last August, Yodo-Cameroon planted more than 800 Prunus africana trees to restore a sacred site in Bih village and 1,350 trees to rehabilitate a local watershed. This effort is part of a two-year project aimed at restoring natural and heritage sites in the region, promoting youth involvement in restoration activities and encouraging collaboration with traditional institutions to safeguard small patches of biodiversity within the communities.
Yodo-Cameroon and Suhucam are among the African beneficiaries of the Global Landscapes Forum (GLF). Both have actively involved communities in an inclusive approach to restore sacred forests in their respective territories. Between them, they claim to have restored fifteen15 water sources and, around 50 hectares (125 acres) of restored land, and planted more than 7,000 trees.
Baudelaire Kemajou, Director of Cameroon’s Technical Center for Communal Forests, emphasizes the importance of adopting context-specific solutions for the successful restoration of degraded landscapes. As a representative of the Association of Forest Communities of Cameroon, an NGO dedicated to advancing the development of local communities in Cameroon, he advocates for tailored approaches that account for the unique characteristics of each region.
In an interview with Mongabay, Kemajou stressed the importance of conducting a preliminary study to understand the types of soil present in an area before selecting plant species most suitable for landscape restoration. “This study shows the soil characteristics and provides information on the type of species.”
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The 2024 edition of the Global Landscapes Forum will be held Sept. 17 in Nairobi, Kenya, under the theme: “Greening the African Horizon.”
Inspection of a water source by Suhucam NGO teams and communities before the start of restoration work. Image courtesy of Suhucam.
The forum aims, among other things, to convene and engage diverse and action-oriented stakeholder groups on solutions and partnerships for just and sustainable landscape restoration in Africa. It also aims to provide a dynamic platform for collaboration and showcase transformative locally led solutions to address agribusiness, climate, biodiversity, restoration and livelihood challenges in Africa.
Suhucam and Yodo-Cameroon have been working toward these goals for years now, with financial support from GLF and numerous donors including the Japan Water Forum, the Mellon Foundation, the Heritage Management Organization , Robert Bosch Stiftung, New England Biolabs Foundation and the African Climate Reality Project.
In Nkambe and Bamukumbit, NGOs have chosen species such as P. africana, raffia palm, acacia or gmelina that are suitable for wetlands; while mahogany, erythrina, wenge (Millettia laurentii), calliandra, leucaena, eucalyptus and fruit trees (avocado, orange) have been used for land restoration, reforestation and agroforestry in drier areas.
The selection of species adapted to the local environment is a crucial first step before moving on to what Kemajou called the “silvicultural itinerary.” This itinerary involves the technical procedures required to maintain the tree seedlings, ensuring their healthy growth and development.
Kemajou highlighted the importance of ensuring that communities retain access to their lands in the context of landscape restoration projects. He stressed that the permanent access of local communities to lands being restored must be respected.
“If we want to plant on their lands,” he explained, “they should be trees that fertilize the soil and enable the practice of agroforestry, so that communities derive ecological, social or economic benefits from the project.”
Villagers at a reforestation site managed by Suhucam. Image courtesy of Suhucam.
An Mbororo woman shows off the fruits of her labor. Members of this pastoralist community have embraced training allowing them to supplement their income from herding livestock with farming. Image courtesy of Suhucam.
Community conservation and insecurity
In Bamukumbit, Suhucam created a framework to improve the management of natural resources within the two communities, which facilitates cohabitation between different ethnic groups by involving them in solutions to environmental problems specific to their area.
For example, Mbororo women are trained in sustainable agriculture, using agroecological practices such as incorporating organic matter, like cow manure, to restore degraded land. This approach supports the cultivation of food crops such as carrots, onions and cabbages, both for subsistence and as an income source.
“The Mbororo did not consider themselves villagers, and their only activity was pastoralism. The villagers were solely engaged in agriculture. We encouraged the Mbororo communities to take up agriculture, and they came to understand its importance and the need to protect crops from animals. As for the villagers, they can now collect cow manure from the Mbororo to fertilize their fields,” Geofrey explained.
The communities have also been trained in beekeeping and agroforestry, which are practiced in reforested community forests. Geofrey said these could be eligible for climate finance in the future.
“In the long term, these forest and land restoration projects that we are carrying out will contribute to carbon sequestration to combat climate change, and therefore create a potential market for carbon credits, and locals will be able to benefit from the financial spin-offs linked to these nature-based solutions.”
The towns of Nkambe and Bamukumbit are situated in a conflict zone. Despite the challenging context, the projects under the GLFx chapter show promise, as these towns are not targeted by separatist fighters clashing with Cameroonian defense forces. Cassian Ndi explained to Mongabay: “In the northwest, there are red zones and green zones. Nkambe is fortunately part of the green zones. We only carry out our activities in this town, not outside.”
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Banner image: An Mbororo woman in a cabbage field. Image courtesy of Suhucam.
This story was originally published Sept. 3 here, on our French website.
Source link : https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/in-cameroon-forest-and-water-source-restoration-offers-sustainable-solutions/
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Publish date : 2024-09-03 07:00:00
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