"GEF Project/D 9604: REMOVING BARRIERS TO BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION, "GEF Project/D 9604: REMOVING BARRIERS TO BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION, LAND RESTORATION AND SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT THROUGH COMMUNITY-BASED LANDSCAPE MANAGEMENT -COBALAM."
The project rationale derives from the need and opportunity to develop policy implementation structures and practical field-based implementation to strengthen biodiversity conservation while Cameroon pursues its economic growth strategy. Over 80% of population in the WHC is dependent on natural resources for their livelihoods. In the south of Cameroon, with over 70% of the rural population dependent on healthy forests, sustainable management of forests and land is the only long-term solution to the growing environmental and economic pressures. Cameroon has committed to restoring an ambitious target of over 12 million hectares of deforested and degraded land by 2030, which is the biggest commitment in the Congo Basin under the Bonn Challenge initiative. While close to 46% of Cameroon is covered in forests that are highly valued for their biodiversity, unsustainable use and management of natural resources, increasing internal and external pressures, lack of appropriate coordination mechanisms and stewardship have contributed to the deforestation and degradation at an alarming speed. The uniqueness and richness of biodiversity of both the WHC and the south of Cameroon and the global significance of the country’s biodiversity, the dependence of communities on sustainable use of natural resources, the absence of existing working solutions for CBNRM in the country, require a concerted action and scalable solutions that this project sets out to address.
COBALAM will focus field activities in the montane North-West and West regions of the WHC, as well as in South region, which is home to lowland tropical forest. While these two parts of the country are sharply differentiated (one a highland region that is heavily populated and experiencing continuing processes of land degradation, and the other a sparsely-populated lowland expanse, largely covered with closed canopy natural forest), both are threatened by unsustainable practices that are affecting the entire ecosystem.
The project will integrate CBNRM in these two regions by developing a participatory local governance system for the preservation of biodiversity and sustainable land management, while enhancing the livelihoods of communities. It will also address the legislative and regulatory barriers to improve the protected status of HCVF and KBAs. It will address the pressures on natural resources from competing land uses across landscapes through participatory land use planning that builds commitment to reducing the extension of the agricultural frontier into natural forest lands.
To achieve this, COBALAM will improve agricultural practices and land management around HCVF areas and KBA by promoting sustainable agricultural practices for the most important food crops and, where applicable, cash crops, such as avocado, cocoa and coffee, supporting NTFP enterprise and assisting producers and harvesters with improved access to markets. Local CSOs and municipalities will play a key role in embedding landscape- based approaches into national practices within the decentralization processes currently being strongly backed by the government.
