Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
sustainability of project interventions and thus end the ICDP cycle of
donor support.
Monitoring and evaluation coni rms project success
The Uluguru ICDP
has undertaken various forms of biological, social, habitat, disturbance
and attitude surveys since 1993.
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Most of these studies are baselines
against which future trends can be measured. A few studies have also tried
to look backwards in time to assess what has changed over time, in terms
of habitat and species values (see for example, Burgess et al., 2002b). The
WWF-World Bank Management Ef ectiveness Tracking Tool has been
recently used to gauge the impact of project activities on the Uluguru
Forest Reserves, showing an improvement over time. The other system
that might have been used to measure the impact of conservation interven-
tions is the 'Threat Reduction Assessment' methodology, which measures
the extent to which the projects have reduced pressures/threats in the area
(Salafsky and Margolius, 1999).
Conservation and development in the Bamenda Highlands, Cameroon
The Bamenda Highlands support remnant areas of montane forest of
global biodiversity importance for endemic species, within a landscape
dominated by farmland and high human population densities. People are
poor and derive most of their livelihoods from farming and exploiting
natural resources. Most of the natural forests remaining in this area are
managed either by traditional authorities, or by the more remote govern-
ment forest department.
The Kilum-Ijim forest (Figure 3.5) forms the core area of the community-
based conservation in the Bamenda Highlands Programme. This forest
extends over about 17 300 hectares on the slopes of Mount Oku (3011
metres) and the adjoining Ijim Ridge and is the last signii cant remnant
of Afro-montane forest in West Africa. Mount Oku lies in the Bamenda
Highlands, part of the Cameroon Mountain chain. The forest is a globally
important centre of endemism: 15 bird species endemic to the Cameroon
Mountains can be found at Kilum-Ijim, of which Bannerman's turaco
(
Tauraco bannermani
) and the banded wattle-eye (
Platysteira laticincta
)
are restricted to the Kilum-Ijim forest and a few other forest remnants
within the Bamenda Highlands. Both species are threatened and the forest
represents the only possibility of conserving viable populations of these
two species. Surveys of other taxa also demonstrate very high endemicity,
not only of the Bamenda Highlands, but of the Kilum-Ijim forest.
The alternative forest conservation strategies suggested at the start
of the project in the 1980s were either to advocate the establishment of
a protected area (an option that had been proposed and attempted, by
