The government hopes to reduce greenhouse effects by 32 percent in the next twenty years.

The United Nations Conference on Climate Change opening today in Paris has as ambition, the initiation of an agreement which will bind all signatories; but this agreement is expected to be a compendium of sorts in which the various contributions of participating countries feature. To this end, Cameroon is coming to the Paris conference with the promise to reduce its greenhouse gas effects by 32 percent circa 2035.

The desire to preserve the environment in Cameroon is predicated on the foundation law of the land or the Constitution which, in its preamble, states that every citizen is entitled to a healthy environment and that the protection of same is the responsibility of all while the State ensures the defence and protection of the environment.

The environment therefore, is a matter of utmost concern. It is necessary to explain why so much hope has been placed in the Paris conference given the number of failed initiatives before on reaching an agreement in spite of the looming threat engendered by changing climate and its visible effects in many parts of the world and notably in our own country or sub-region where livelihoods are being threatened with changing seasons. For example planting seasons have been affected by the absence of rains at the usual moment, causing alterations in planting periods and sometimes causing outright famine.

The drying up of waterways has not only limited farming activity but has also affected fishing which is a source of living for hundreds of thousands of people. The effects on the national economy, notably on cash crops -  on which many citizens rely -  has also been devastating, especially as rains falling at unexpected times and places make it difficult to transport highly-valued commodities from production zones because of the degradation of roads. In the Central African sub-region Lake Chad stands out as the most scandalous effect of climate change where an area of over 25 000 square kms of water has been reduced to under 5 000km2 in a matter of years.

In order to efficiently fight climate change, Cameroon set up a National Climate Change Observatory on December 10, 2009 and its principal officers were recently appointed indicating the political will to take up the issues creditably. Its role is inter-alia to follow and evaluate the environmental and socio-economic effects of climate and to propose prevention, attenuation and/or adaptation to the negative effects and risks linked to these changes. Apart from this body, other measures have been taken to check the effects of climate change with the most visible being the creation of protected zones in some of the nation’s forests, as well as regeneration with some three million trees planted so far. This has been crowned with the introduction of legal instruments governing the felling of lumber.

To check desertification, the government has also re-launched the “operation Green Sahel” in 2008. To date some 16 000 trees including fruit trees have been planted. Cameroon also believes that the solution to global warming requires a global approach and that is why it is a founding member of the Forestry Commission of Central Africa, COMIFAC.
With these national strategies, Cameroon hopes to efficiently contribute to the main stakes of the Paris conference. One: reversing the disturbing trend of warming which is between 3° and 5° by the end of the century.

To do this, the agreement has to deal with attenuation which reducing greenhouse emissions so as to keep global warming at a maximum 2°. Two: financing the fight against climate change. The objective here is to obtain USD 100 billion a year by the developed nations from public or private sources by the year 2020. This will enable developing countries to fight climate deregulation while ensuring sustainable and rightful development. Part of this funding will be used in a Climate Green Fund, meant to sustain attenuation and adaptation linked to climate change in the countries of the South.

The conference hopes to come up with a World Gas Emissions Authority, a kind of gendarme following up climate change and policy issues. From the foregoing, discussions are expected to be very heated… provided the conference comes up with a real solution to this veritable threat.