Integrated management of Cameroon’s forest landscapes in the Congo Basin

Objectives

The project’s objective is to strengthen the integrated management of Cameroon’s globally important forest landscapes in the Congo Basin to secure its biological integrity and increase economic and livelihood opportunities for forest dependent people.

Other

Note: Disbursement data provided is cumulative and covers disbursement made by the project Agency.

Target Groups

The project will strengthen the governance and management frameworks for forest management in the Cameroon segments of 3 landscapes, with interventions that are anticipated to deliver socioeconomic benefits in 7 targeted councils or municipalities. These landscapes are multi-use systems that are essential to the culture, food security and livelihoods of forest-dwelling IPLCs who live within them. The ecosystems of the landscapes are also vital to residents of the landscapes, and people beyond, for numerous provisioning, regulation, cultural and supporting services they provide. The project will generate socio-economic benefits by maintaining and enhancing the resource base on which IPLCs in the southern forest belt of Cameroon rely. It will directly address competing demands on this resource base by progressing informed and inclusive land use planning in the councils of Ngoyla and Mintom, thereby helping to secure the access rights of IPLCs to critical resources and serving as an important learning opportunity for how access rights can be formally recognized and respected through the national land use planning framework. In all three of the targets landscapes the project will also support IPLCs in establishing modern and sustainable value chains for NTFPs, including through agreements with private sector operators. Simultaneously, the project will strengthen the development of an ecotourism value chain that engages IPLCs and the private sector in the Cameroon segment of the CMRC landscape. Furthermore, the project will support the establishment of a sustainable and socially-responsible value chain for ebony in Cameroon segment of the TRIDOM landscape. In addition to directly increasing income generation for target stakeholders, the Ebony Project will be used to develop recommendations on establishing models of public-private partnerships involving IPLCs. Each of these efforts aim to realize socio-economic benefits for rightsholders, while incentivizing them to manage their resources sustainably. As such, the project, will work to increase productive and sustainable employment for IPLCs in rural forest areas. The project seeks to achieve a 10% increase in income from enhanced value chains and public-private partnerships for at least 450 people (of which at least 50% women).