Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
(under management plans drawn up by the community and approved by
the Ministry of Forests and Wildlife (MINFOF)).
8
Scale is appropriate
Initially the project focused only on the Kilum-Ijim
forests. But over time the approach was requested by more and more
surrounding villages with their own patches of similar forest and similar
development issues to be solved. Therefore, whilst the Kilum-Ijim forest is
still the top conservation priority, the project was expanded to a regional
scale of approach, and the scale of operations became the wider Bamenda
Highlands. Under this enlarged programme, communities in the region
were invited to approach the project for assistance - but support came with
conservation-related conditions attached. This aimed to ensure genuine
commitment on behalf of the village before any work commenced. The
project also comprised components focused on building a local constitu-
ency in support of forest conservation (a diverse education and awareness
programme) and components focused on capacity-building for supporting
community forest management within government (MINFOF) and local
NGOs. Indications are that this approach had signii cant success in some
components - especially the education and awareness programme.
9
Possibly
as a result of the success of this awareness campaign, many more communi-
ties approached the project for support for forest management than had
been anticipated (the project planned to work with 30 communities, and
focus on supporting the eight highest priorities, but received over 60 appli-
cations for support). The project was reluctant to turn communities away
and so initially attempted to respond to all inquiries. However, it was clear
that limited resources required activities to be more focused, and the project
subsequently prioritized ten key communities who received high levels of
direct support, 15 communities who received limited direct support, and
supported the remaining communities indirectly through local NGOs.
Within the context of national and local constraints (for example, a
poorly resourced and motivated civil service, political interference, inad-
equate levels of funding), the regional, landscape approach was judged a
success. It allowed cost-ef ective use of resources and materials (trained
staf , methodologies, awareness materials), encouraged engagement of a
wider constituency both in government and civil society (since Bamenda,
the Provincial capital, lies at the heart of the project area) and has the
potential, through the institutional structures built through the project,
to justify a mechanism for the long-term management of the forests (see
below). The attention to the wider Bamenda Highlands landscape has also
revealed the biodiversity importance of many of the smaller forest frag-
ments, which had previously not been well surveyed, and helped to put
Kilum-Ijim into a wider context. This approach would seem to be suited to
