The French telecommunications group Orange and the consulting firm Sia Partners, based in Paris, France, are committed to the reforestation of mangroves in Cameroon. The two companies are financing the CAMERR project, which aims to restore 1,000 hectares of mangroves in Cameroon.
Toute l'actu sur la protection de l'environnement
The French telecommunications group Orange and the consulting firm Sia Partners, based in Paris, France, are committed to the reforestation of mangroves in Cameroon. The two companies are financing the CAMERR project, which aims to restore 1,000 hectares of mangroves in Cameroon.
Douala, the economic capital city of Cameroon hosted on Friday, November 4, 2022, the official launching ceremony of CAMERR (Cameroon Mangrove Ecosystem Restoration and Resilince). A project aimed at restoring 1000 hectares of mangroves in the estuary areas of Cameroon.
In addition to its impact on biodiversity and climate, this project should also have a significant societal impact on local communities. Awareness-raising workshops will be organised for children and local residents to empower them to become mangrove guardians. The project will also promote sustainable income-generating activities.
Nearly 3,000 hectares of mangroves disappear every year
The project, funded by the French telecommunications group Orange and the Paris-based consultancy firm Sia Partners, will be coordinated by Planète Urgence, a nature protection association. The project will be implemented through the involvement of Cameroonian non-governmental organisations (NGOs), carbon and biodiversity experts, traditional authorities and local and national authorities.
« Mangrove forests are valuable ecosystems for Cameroon. In particular, they protect the coasts from flooding and promote the development of fish resources that come to feed and reproduce there. We must therefore act quickly and massively so that the coastal populations can restore these mangroves and reappropriate these ecosystems in the long term », explains Amandine Hersant, the Director General of Planète Urgence.
In Cameroon, 66% of mangroves are degraded. And according to estimates by Planète Urgence, nearly 3,000 hectares of mangroves disappear every year, which is the equivalent of more than 4,200 football pitches per year.
Fanta Mabo
Ras Mohammed Marine Nature Reserve, Egypt’s oldest national park, has just received the Green List certificate from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The award recognises Egypt’s efforts to protect its natural ecosystems, including coral reefs, mangroves and seagrass beds in the Red Sea, as it hosts the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) from 6 to 18 November 2022.
Ras Mohammed Marine Nature Reserve, established in 1983 as Egypt’s first national park, has just been awarded a Green List certificate by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The announcement was made by the Egyptian authorities on the sidelines of the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27), which they are hosting until 18 November 2022.
Spanning 850 square kilometres at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula in eastern Egypt, Ras Mohammed is one of the world’s top 10 sites recognised for the effective management of its marine ecosystems, and the first marine protected area in Africa and the Middle East to be included in the IUCN Green List.
The reward for 10 years of conservation
To achieve this level of conservation recognition, the Egyptian Ministry of Environment, through the National Conservation Sector (NCS), has partnered with the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The three partners worked together from 2010 to 2020 on a project targeting protected area financing and management systems.
This included supporting the NCS’s efforts to minimise the impacts of tourism on coral reefs around Ras Mohammed, including near diving sites. The project also included a study to document the status and threats to the Red Sea’s marine resources, and the initiation of a monitoring programme focusing on coral cover in the South Sinai region.
Coral reefs flourish
In Ras Mohammed, coral reef monitoring has revealed up to 90% live coral cover in some areas, with an average of over 65%. This is significantly higher than areas outside the reserve, which has around 20-30% live coral cover.
Coral reefs are among the most biologically diverse and valuable ecosystems on the planet. According to the IUCN, about 25% of the ocean’s fish depend on healthy coral reefs and about one billion people worldwide benefit directly or indirectly from the ecosystem services provided by coral reefs.
Established in 2014 at the World Parks Forum, the IUCN Green List is a global campaign for successful nature conservation. At the heart of this campaign is the Green List Sustainability Standard, which is a global benchmark for how to meet the environmental challenges of the 21st century. As of September 2021, it contains only 59 sites worldwide.
Fanta Mabo
EGYPT: Ras Mohammed Reserve joins the IUCN Green List
Ras Mohammed Marine Nature Reserve, Egypt’s oldest national park, has just received the Green List certificate from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The award recognises Egypt’s efforts to protect its natural ecosystems, including coral reefs, mangroves and seagrass beds in the Red Sea, as it hosts the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) from 6 to 18 November 2022.
The Belgian Development Agency (ENABEL) has just signed financing agreements with the Brussels-Capital Region and the Walloon Region. Of the €6 million defined by the agreements, €5 million is intended for the complementary financing of climate resilience projects in Burkina Faso, Senegal, Burundi, Rwanda and Mozambique.
The climate programme of the Belgian Development Agency (ENABEL) has just received support from the Brussels-Capital and Walloon Regions, located in the west and south of Belgium respectively. Through financing agreements signed on 7 November 2022, these regions are allocating a total of 6 million euros to enable the agency to finance climate resilience projects in six countries, five of which are African.
The envelope released by Wallonia amounts to €2 million. It will support Enabel’s ‘Sahel’ thematic portfolio in Senegal and Burkina Faso. In these two West African countries, the projects concerned aim to restore, manage and sustainably develop forest ecosystems in the context of the Great Green Wall. The funding will also allow the installation of solar panels in the water analysis laboratories in Bujumbura, Burundi, where the Lake Tanganyika Management Authority is located.
Solar-powered desalination plant
The Brussels region will provide two million euros from 2023 to 2025 for the construction of flood protection infrastructure in the towns of Rubavu, Musanze and Rwamagana in Rwanda. These activities are part of the Belgian governmental cooperation project for sustainable and resilient urban development.
The Brussels-Capital Region will also allocate one million euros over the period from 2024 to 2026 to equip certain villages in Mozambique with a drinking water supply and desalination network powered by renewable energy. This project complements the Belgian government’s cooperation portfolio with Mozambique.
« The fight against climate change is the challenge of this century, and this requires new types of partnerships for greater impact. I am delighted that the Walloon and Brussels regions are joining forces with the federal level to strengthen the climate projects implemented by Enabel in various countries. This strengthens our collective impact », explains Jean Van Wetter, Enabel’s managing director.
Fanta Mabo
AFRICA: ENABEL receives €5m to finance climate resilient projects
The Belgian Development Agency (ENABEL) has just signed financing agreements with the Brussels-Capital Region and the Walloon Region. Of the €6 million defined by the agreements, €5 million is intended for the complementary financing of climate resilience projects in Burkina Faso, Senegal, Burundi, Rwanda and Mozambique.
A suspected intermediary in the illegal ivory trade has just been arrested in Fougamou in southern Gabon. This event comes three months after the arrest in the same locality of a suspected trafficker with 12 ivory tusks. All of which attests to the fact that Gabon, considered one of the last bastions of forest elephants, remains exposed to ivory trafficking.
Nearly three months after the arrest of an alleged ivory trafficker with 12 elephant tusks in Fougamou in the south of Gabon, the agents of the judicial investigation police of Mouila, those of the administration of Water and Forests with the support of the organization Conservation Justice have just arrested again a lady, who according to the circumstances would be involved in ivory trafficking.
Indeed, the elements of the joint team deployed an intervention mechanism following a report given by a team on duty near a place where a transaction was to be held on 2 November 2022. When they arrived at the scene, the mixed team immediately proceeded to arrest the suspect, who intended to deceive the investigators with a bag of cassava cuttings. But her ruse did not work, and the investigators eventually discovered another bag of rice, which contained 4 ivory tusks for sale.
According to information gathered from a source close to the case, the ivories would come from a village near Ikobe, a rural locality in south-west Gabon. The Ikobe area, which is landlocked and close to the Waka National Park, is home to one of the last remaining indigenous or pygmy peoples in Gabon, the Babongo. With unique forest skills, whether in conservation or, conversely, wildlife trafficking because of their daily proximity to wildlife, they can be the armed arms of traffickers or informants for wildlife law enforcement officers.
The arrested suspect will be transferred to the special court of Libreville where she faces a sentence of up to ten years in prison. Considered the last great bastion of forest elephants in the world, Gabon is home to an estimated 95,000 forest elephants, according to official figures. « Faced with the threats to this wealth of wildlife, it is necessary to implement an inclusive approach to the conservation of wildlife and endangered species, » says the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Conservation Justice.
Fanta Mabo
GABON: One of the last strongholds of forest elephants, exposed to ivory trafficking
A suspected intermediary in the illegal ivory trade has just been arrested in Fougamou in southern Gabon. This event comes three months after the arrest in the same locality of a suspected trafficker with 12 ivory tusks. All of which attests to the fact that Gabon, considered one of the last bastions of forest elephants, remains exposed to ivory trafficking.
Rainforest Alliance produit un guide d’orientation sur les zones à haut risque de déforestation et d’empiètement. L’Ong propose des mesures pour mettre sur le marché des produits certifiés et pratiquer une agriculture à impact mineur sur les forêts.
Dans sa stratégie d’aménagement du territoire, notamment en ce qui concerne la protection de ses forêts denses et de ses aires protégées, le Cameroun est soutenu par ses partenaires. Dans le volet agricole, des dispositions ont été prises pour délimiter le territoire en spécifiant de façon précise des zones et des conditions dans lesquelles les forêts peuvent ou ne peuvent pas être exploitées à des fins agricoles. Toutefois, comme le relève Arnaud Afana, chargé d’études assistant à la Direction de l’aménagement du territoire au ministère de l’Economie, de la Planification et de l’Aménagement du territoire (MINEPAT), les aires protégées sont menacées. Il évoque entre autres raisons les actions anthropiques, c’est-à-dire l’intervention de l ’Homme : l’élevage, l’agriculture, la coupe abusive du bois de chauffe dans la partie septentrionale du pays, etc.
Face à ces menaces, l’Ong Rainforest Alliance a présenté le 3 novembre dernier à Yaoundé, un guide d’orientation des zones à haut risque de déforestation et d’empiètement dans les aires protégées du Cameroun. Selon le représentant de la directrice régionale de Rainforest Alliance pour l’Afrique centrale, William Mala, « il est important de trouver une cohabitation entre les pratiques agricoles et la conservation de la biodiversité. Les acteurs agricoles doivent également être préparés à se conformer aux exigences des marchés ». Notre source explique que les pratiques agricoles à l’intérieur du domaine forestier camerounais (le patrimoine forestier couvrant 46% du territoire national, ndlr) doivent être « encadrées ».
Les produits agricoles doivent respecter le label Rainforest Alliance
La production de ce guide considéré comme un outil d’aide à la décision est justifiée par la volonté de Rainforest Alliance d’éliminer la déforestation des chaînes d’approvisionnement des commodités agricoles, surtout le cacao. Concrètement, tel que l’explique Achille Tuete, Senior Associate for Standard & Assurance à Rainforest Alliance, il s’agit d’aider un investisseur privé national ou étranger à déterminer, dès le départ, si la zone sollicitée pour établir son agro-industrie est appropriée, selon la règlementation forestière. « Cela permet d’anticiper sur tout conflit au risque de voir le projet abandonné à un moment donné », soutient-il. Ces investisseurs ont donc la latitude de choisir de façon « stratégique » les sites où ils peuvent créer leurs exploitations, pour bénéficier de l’accompagnement de Rainforest Alliance dans le processus de certification, selon le nouveau standard obligatoire depuis le 30 juin 2020.
Lors d’une évaluation initiale réalisée par l’Ong, il est ressorti que sur les 70 000 producteurs avec qui elle est en partenariat, 2000 d’entre eux se trouvaient dans une aire protégée ou dans une zone à risque de déforestation. « Cela représente environ 3%, mais c’est énorme vu l’impact que cela pourrait avoir sur le petit producteur. Etant donné que s’il vend le cacao certifié, il aura des bénéfices que le standard n’a pas », indique Achille Tuete. L’autre fait majeur : sur les 2000 ayant empiété le domaine forestier permanant de l’Etat, près de 600 se trouvaient dans les aires protégées, les parcs nationaux, les sanctuaires de faune et dans les réserves forestières. Ils estiment qu’historiquement, ces espaces sont les leurs et que le classement a été fait après que leurs aïeux se soient installés.
Face à cet imbroglio, Rainforest Alliance veut amener l’administration à prendre en compte certaines considérations, en déterminant notamment des enclaves à l’intérieur de ces aires protégées ou de toute autre composante du domaine forestier permanent. Ce scénario, s’il est implémenté, permettrait à ceux qui sont déjà installés de vendre leurs produits sous le label Rainforest Alliance, à travers une notification délivrée par l’administration.
Les actes de déforestation peuvent être anticipés
Le guide présenté permet en outre au Cameroun de se projeter dans ses missions d’aménagement du territoire et de définir des actions à mener, que ce soit des actions d’atténuation ou de compensation, poursuit le responsable au MINEPAT, M. Afana. Le volet conservation de la biodiversité n’est pas négligé. A s’en tenir aux alertes de Global Forest Watch (GFW) rendues publiques par World Resources Institute (WRI) en 2021, l’on a constaté une perte du couvert arboré de 11,1 millions d’hectares, dont 3,5 millions d’hectares de perte dans les forêts humides tropicales.
L’agriculture est citée comme le principal moteur de perte de ce couvert arboré. Cela peut être un est indicateur des risques potentiels de déforestation. Mais, selon le coordonnateur de WRI pour le Cameroun, Duclaire Mbouna, la situation est relativement stable dans les aires protégées, à part quelques alertes observées au niveau du parc de la vallée du Mbéré à Meiganga, région de l’Adamaoua, en raison de la guerre en Centrafrique.
KENFACK
Protection des aires protégées du Cameroun
Rainforest Alliance produit un guide d’orientation sur les zones à haut risque de déforestation et d’empiètement. L’Ong propose des mesures pour mettre sur le marché des produits certifiés et pratiquer une agriculture à impact mineur sur les forêts.