Posted on 28 January
2010 - Yaoundé, Cameroon: A new park
created by the Cameroonian government that
encompasses the highest mountain in West
and Central Africa will help protect some
of the rarest ecosystems in the Congo Basin.
The government of Cameroon
recently signed a decree creating the 58,178
hectare Mount Cameroon National Park, which
includes the 4,095-metre high Mount Cameroon
– also one of the largest active volcanoes
on the African continent.
“A park of such importance
will help animal populations to rebuild,”
said Atanga Ekobo, Manager of WWF Coastal
Forest Project, which covers the region.
“It will also encourage the sustainable
use of natural resources by introducing
and promoting alternative sources of income
to the local communities”.
Mount Cameroon is an
important refuge and home to many species
found nowhere else, including high numbers
of plants. A very isolated population of
forest elephant also lives there.
For many years, poor
land-use planning, land clearance, increasing
agriculture, and the bushmeat trade damaged
the area’s forest resources and high biological
diversity.
But if well managed,
the new park will both conserve the remaining
natural richness of this fragile ecosystem
and improve the livelihoods of local people,
according to WWF.
About 300,000 people
live the area, which provides them with
large amounts of non-timber forest products,
protects their water supplies and shelters
sacred sites for many traditional communities.
In addition, Mt. Cameroon
has a great potential for eco-tourism, according
to WWF. The conservation organization expects
the creation of the park will increase this
potential.
“Cameroon is once again
showing its will to protect and properly
manage the environment,” said Natasha K.
Quist, Regional Director of WWF in Central
Africa. “The park has been created in an
area where human activity has been intense
over the years and the management plan will
be developed with the participation of local
villagers to define how they can still use
their natural resources.”
Creation of the new
Mt Cameroon National Park is the result
of intense efforts and collaboration since
2007 between MINFOF (Cameroon’s Ministry
of Forestry and Fauna) and WWF, with the
financial support of the German Cooperation
(KfW). WWF Sweden also provided specific
support to track and monitor activities
of three forest elephants through radio-collars.
