PROTECTING THE PANGOLIN IN THE MBAM AND DJEREM NATIONAL PARK (CAMEROON)

Type of mission

The Mbam and Djerem National Park boasts the greatest diversity of habitats of any protected area in Cameroon. Considered a stronghold for pangolins, the park is home to three species (Smutsia gigantea, Phataginus tricuspis et Phataginus tetradactyla).

However, the park is classified as an area of special concern for their conservation. Heavily hunted for their scales, meat and protein, pangolins are threatened with extinction due to over-exploitation.

With the park's wildlife in imminent danger of extinction due to community pressure on ecosystems, urgent action is needed to remedy the situation. The project in the park aims to raise awareness among local communities of the importance of the site as a biodiversity sanctuary, and to get them involved in protecting the park's species. Reducing the pressure on the forest and its resources by offering alternative livelihoods to illegal and unsustainable logging is at the heart of the project.

CONTEXT AND AMBITIONS

The Mbam et Djerem National Park, covering an area of 416,512 ha, is located in Cameroon on the southern slopes of the Adamaoua plateau and at the northern edge of the closed canopy rainforest of the Congo Basin. The park is around 260 km from the capital.

It is home to a multitude of species of global conservation concern, including around 60 species of mammal, including the central chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes troglodytes), the African elephant (Loxodonta Africana), the giant pangolin (Smutsia gigantea), the African forest buffalo (Syncerus caffer nanus), the leopard (Panthera pardis) and several species of antelope.

MAJOR CHALLENGES

In order to conserve the natural wealth and promote tourism in the Mbam and Djerem conservation area, the park was set up by the Cameroon government in 2000. Despite its creation multiple users continue to take an interest in the park's resources for consumption purposes, including poachers, illegal loggers and transhumant herders.

As a result, the park continues to face increasing threats from unsustainable human use of its resources. The situation is exacerbated by a low-income population, which is often forced to exert pressure on forest resources for its subsistence due to a lack of alternative activities and economic difficulties.

ACTIVITIES AND IMPACTS

The project aims to create a wildlife protection and conservation programme in the park, while improving the socio-economic conditions of local communities based on the sustainable exploitation of non-timber forest products and other livelihood activities.

The alternatives promoted by the project include beekeeping and the sustainable harvesting and marketing of non-timber forest products, in particular njansang and Guinea pepper.

Cooperatives will be set up in each target village and a business model will be developed with the aim of strengthening the agricultural sector.

The project also includes a major component on the protection of pangolins, with the aim of reducing direct (hunting, poaching) and indirect (habitat degradation) human pressure on this species in and around the Mbam and Djerem National Park.

The project will therefore implement community education programmes, awareness-raising, law enforcement capacity-building and behaviour change campaigns in and around the park, in order to gain the support of the local community for the conservation of pangolins.

The specific objectives of the project are to :

Contribute to the development of sustainable industries in and around the park;
Improve biodiversity conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources by communities;
Capitalising on and disseminating the results and making the models sustainable over the long term by encouraging public and private players to take ownership and by strengthening civil society.

PARTNERSHIP WITH ABOYERD

ABOYERD is a Cameroonian conservation organisation whose mission is to promote the protection of wildlife and its ecosystems, while ensuring a future for the communities that live in them, through scientific research, community environmental education, conservation awareness-raising and community involvement in priority conservation areas.

In 2017, ABOYERD conducted a scientific study to assess the distribution of pangolins and the threats to the species. Seeing that urgent conservation action was needed to save the species, ABOYERD initiated the "Ngouroumoutou Project" in 2019, which has since been working to conserve the three pangolin species in and around the Mbam and Djerem National Park through a community-based approach.

Download

Learn more

OUR TECHNICAL PARTNERS

ABOYERD

ABOYERD is a Cameroonian conservation organisation whose mission is to promote the protection of wildlife and its ecosystems, while securing a future for the communities that live in them, through scientific research, community environmental education, conservation awareness and community engagement in priority conservation areas.

https://aboyerd.org/

SAVE PANGOLINS

Save Pangolins' mission is to conserve pangolins by transforming the relationship between people and pangolins, and by creating the safe conditions necessary for the eight species of pangolin in the wild.
Save Pangolins raises public awareness of pangolins, provides expertise/leadership in coordinating pangolin conservation efforts worldwide and runs campaigns that mobilise the public and generate funds for conservation.

http://www.savepangolins.org

Contact

Find out more and support our projects (skills sponsorship, purchase of pro-biodiversity products, partnerships, etc.).

CAMILLE AFFANA NKOA

Cameroon Coordinator
caffana@noe.org

THESE PROGRAMMES MAY BE OF INTEREST TO YOU

BIONAT : ORGANIC AND NATURAL PRODUCTS (CAMEROON)

The approach aims to involve all local and national players who have a role to play in the sectors identified, from collection and production to processing and marketing, as well as the management of areas and species.

L'une des ambitions des Prairies de Noé est de restaurer des zones de refuge, de reproduction et d'alimentation en faveur des insectes pollinisateurs et de l'ensemble de la biodiversité prairiale. Ce programme répond aussi à fort besoin d'amélioration des connaissances sur les pollinisateurs sauvages.

Learn about the program

ECONOBIO : ECONOMY AT THE SERVICE OF BIODIVERSITY (GHANA)

The aim is to put the economy at the service of biodiversity protection by encouraging sustainable modes of development, on the one hand by making economic use of natural resources, and on the other by strengthening governance and community management of these resources.

L’Opération papillons est un observatoire de sciences participatives lancé en 2006 et porté par Noé et le Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle. Il propose à tout un chacun, néophytes comme naturalistes confirmés, de recenser et compter les papillons de jour de son jardin, balcon ou parc public en vue d'améliorer la connaissance et la recherche scientifiques.

Learn about the program