He added that the lessons learnt from 16 years of conservation and sustainable management of natural resources in nine countries in the sub-region were such that all stakeholders in environmental issues can draw from as the area contains 25 per cent of the world’s rare tree and plant species. Government takes the sustainable management of forest resources seriously as they are a great source of employment and income-generation, said the Technical Adviser Number One in the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, Machia Abdoulaye. While lauding the support of the US government, he promised Cameroon’s continuous support to all conservation efforts. “We expect greater participation of states in the sub-region and the civil society as the programme enters the third phase in October this year,” said CARPE’s coordinator for Cameroon, Antoine Eyebe. He said some of the key achievements of the programme over the past 16 years were the management of 12 forest landscapes, strengthening of civil society organisations to serve as watchdogs for environmental issues, and the institutionalisation of natural resource monitoring.
The 262-page report entitled “Landscape-scale Conservation in the Congo Basin,” documents case studies based on empirical experience of CARPE’s 27 partners implementing applied conservation activities on the ground in 12 landscapes and 37 protected areas since 1995 when the programme went operational. A critical element of the publication is the “people-centred approach to conservation.” “Conservation can only succeed if populations find viable alternatives to current natural resource use patterns that degrade the environment,” says the report. The lessons learned are also part of CARPE’s exit strategy to ensure that national institutions carry on after the programme ends. CARPE’s activities are overseen by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, IUCN.
