The WWF Projects

Cameroon - Protection for the green heart of Africa

Man and nature

Central Africa is home of the second large block of rainforest, just after the Amazon. The original inhabitants of the area are pygmys, with 250 000 individuals the largest people who live in part still as hunter/gatherers.

Different bantu tribes started to settle much later on the edge of the magnificent Congo-Rainforests. They lived traditionally in a kind of symbiosis with the pygmys, in which they swapped crops for game meat and other forest products.

This role sharing now has almost disappeared. More and more pygmys swift to a sedentaric lifestyle, cultivate fields and hunt for the bantu with modern weapons. Robbed of their social and cultural traditions, they now often lead a miserable life on the edge of the bantu villages. Their dependence is used without scruples.

By the immigration of people from outside, population pressure increases and leads to overuse of natural ressources. Especially poaching has become a serious problem.

The pygmys are important partners for conservation. Their traditional knowledge on plants and animals of the rainforest is immense.

Despite the fact, that the Congo Forests cover only 7% of Africa, they host more than half of all plant- and animal species. Most rainforests are poor in bigger animals, but the Congo Forests come close to our childhood imagination of a jungle full of big game. Elephants and red buffalos roam the thickets. Numerous antelope species, from the often only hare sized duikers to the beautiful bongos which weigh more than 200 kg. Almost nowhere live more monkey species, in special chimpanzees and gorillas. Birdlife with parrots and hornbills is rich, too.

The flore is less diverse than on Borneo or the Amazon, but there are still more than 300 different tree species.

The threat

Similar to Borneo logging is a key factor in forest destruction. Asiatic countries like Malaysia, who overexploite their forests, now press increasingly in the african logging business and acquire concessions in the forests of the Congo Basin. In the period from 1990 to 1997 the timber volume exported from Africa to Asia increased 10 times. In Central Africa there are only few trees of commercial value per hectare. Because of that heavy logging damages like in Southeast Asia are less common. But the logging roads open the forest for new settlers, who establish their villages near the pists. Illegal hunters get easy access to otherwise almost impassable forest areas. Game meat always played an important factor in nutrition.

But the commercial hunting of today which supply the town markets, has in many regions led to a strong decrease in animal numbers. Even endangered species like elephants, gorillas and chimpanzees are not spared.

The exploitation of oil- and mineral ressources contributes to forest destruction, too. 4 million hectares of forest are lost every year in Africa.

Hope for the Central African rainforests

Fortunately african governments have realized the importance and increasing threat of their forests. In march 1999 an international forest conference was held in Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon. The presidents of Cameroon, the Central African Republic (C.A.R.), Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial-Guinea and Gaboon were present.

During the last two years different independent, but over the borders connected reserves with a total area of 10 000 sqkm were established in the triangle of Cameroon, Congo-Brazzaville and C.A.R.. Greater cooperation in administration of the reserves was agreed upon in Yaoundé WWF Germany's main present focus are the C.A.R. reserves Dzanga-Sangha, Dzanga Ndoki and the bordering last year established Lac Lobeke in Cameroon.

A little sensation was the resolution to form another transborder conservation initiative. Between Cameroon, Gaboon and Congo-Brazzaville already existing and new reserves should be linked to build a continous block of protected rainforest with an area of 35 000 sqkm. That's larger than Belgium! These reserves will protect the probably largest, intact rainforest block of the Congo Basin.

For WWF this success is not that sudden. Since many years WWF urged the responsible governments to protect more rainforest. Extensive preparations and plannings are necessary before such success can be realized.

The work of WWF in Centralafrica includes numerous further steps: Just by good training and equipment of the rangers, it can be ensured that the reserves are effectively protected. Illegal hunting of elephants and gorillas in C.A.R. reserves where WWF is active was almost eliminated by this way.

The involvement of the local population is in Africa, too, a key factor of every conservation strategy. This includes health programmes, training of teachers and village representatives and the support of small businesses who sell forest products, extracted with sustainable methods. Ecotourism is another part of the so called "Conservation- and Development" projects of the WWF. In Dzanga-Sangha, the C.A.R. reserve, tourists can already observe the shy forest inhabitants from a platform on the edge of a natural salt savannah. Employment of local people is considered very important.

The poor african countries can't fully waive on the revenues from logging, so the establishment of sustainable, ecologically sound logging practice is an important focus for WWF. To run the forest on a long term basis with steady returns, instead of destruction by quick, ruinous exploitation for maximum profit, must be the goal.

Our journey in Cameroon will lead to three reserves in the northern part of the newly proposed transborder conservation initiative. The already established Dja-Reserve with 5000 sqkm is bordered on three sites by the namegiving river. It is recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage site. Nki (1950 sqkm) and Boumba-Bek (2330 sqkm) were officially established on the forest summit.