By Noela E. BISONG
African Voices for Africa’s Forests (AVAF), decentralised government institutions, community leaders and local civil Society organisations have resolved to draft a policy document on environmental conservation and protection in a bid to cushion the effects of greenhouse emissions.
They took the commitment during a one-day workshop in Limbe on May 31, 2024 on the theme “Congo Basin Preservation through Sustainable Community Forest Conservation”.
In her opening statement of the “Sink our CO2 campaign” workshop, AVAF Director and UN climate change Ambassador, Ewi Stephanie Lama revealed that Cameroon has one of the oldest Forest growth in the world which is an asset and should be protected from deforestation. Ewi explained that policies can only become the game changer if there is effective implementation through public private partnership initiatives
“The sink our carbon workshop is part of three objectives of a series of workshops with the aim of building capacities of rural women on heli-culture and climate leadership across Cameroon. Fortunately for us the US Embassy in Yaounde took interest to ensure implementation, so the ‘sink our carbon’ workshop actually focuses on bringing together policy makers that are concern with the management of the Bimbia-Bonadikombo Community Forest,” Ewi stressed.
She added that the intention was to put rural women on the spotlight so that their voices should be heard in decision making platforms in the management and protection of community forests.
Discussions during the workshop focused on topics such as; Empowering local women in Sustainable Forest Conservation: a key to Preserving the Congo Basin, and Sustainable Forest management and carbon sequestration with online interventions from Karina Weinstein and Green Peace Africa.
Some participants who spoke to the press summed their feedback in this manner. “This workshop has opened a gateway for collaboration; we wish to call on civil society organisations working on environmental issues to submit their proposals to us so that they can be included in the budget of the Council”, Nkwen-Tamo Pamela, SG Limbe 1 Council.
“We try as much as possible to implement practices that have an inverse reaction on the environment”, Ngoh Albert KFS.
On his part, the Regional Delegate of Water and Energy Resources called on civil society organisations and even local councils to invest in renewable energy as a means of curbing deforestation since many communities rely on the Forest for wood. He reiterated government’s resolve to give technical assistance even at the level of the project proposal. It was also agreed that more sensitisation needs to be done on community Forest management especially around the Bimbia-Bonadikombo Community Forest area.