By Dr Ekwoge Abwe
A few years ago, one of our field staff was bitten by a tree viper deep in the forest. It took nearly ten hours to evacuate him to hospital. Yet when he arrived, he was not in the critical condition we had feared. Before reaching modern medical care, he had received treatment in a nearby village using remedies drawn from the forest.
For communities living in remote areas of Cameroon, the forest is a supermarket, hardware store, entertainment space, and – as my colleague found – a pharmacy.
This is why the theme of World Wildlife Day this year, highlighting aromatic and medicinal plants, is both appropriate and overdue. For decades, conservation discourse has centred on big charismatic animals: elephants, gorillas and chimpanzees. These species deserve protection, and in Cameroon, they are rightly classified as Class A species: totally protected.
But what is less widely recognised is that plants are also threatened, with some species as fully protected in law as a Class A chimpanzee or gorilla.
The difference lies not in legislation, but in perception.
When a gorilla is killed, it becomes a national issue. When a protected plant species is cut down, nobody knows about it because their conservation status is often unknown. “It is just a plant,” people say. Yet this mindset ignores a fundamental truth: primates do not live in space. They live in habitats constructed by plants, valleys, mountains and complex forest systems. If we destroy the botanical foundations of these ecosystems, the wildlife we celebrate cannot survive.
Our work in the Ebo forest began with great apes. Since 2002, we have documented small populations of gorillas previously unknown to outsiders, and over the years expanded efforts to chimpanzees and other large mammals. Early on we recognised that we could not conserve these species in isolation. If habitats are degraded, apes and elephants inevitably decline.
For that reason, we partnered with the National Herbarium of Cameroon and Kew Gardens, London to understand the botanical significance of Ebo. More than 30 new plant species have been described from this forest, many endemic to this landscape. Ebo has since been designated a Tropical Important Plant Area. This is a reservoir of botanical diversity as well as an animal stronghold.
In recent years, as logging pressures have increased, we conducted rapid botanical surveys to map habitat types and quantify plant diversity. Significantly, areas with the highest plant diversity often overlapped with zones supporting key wildlife species. The same refuges that shelter chimpanzees and elephants frequently protect rare and endemic plant communities.
The ecological interdependence is clear.
Yet plants face their own direct threats. A case in point is Garcinia lucida, traditionally used to treat stomach disorders and ferment traditional beverages. Historically, harvesting was small-scale and sustainable. Now researchers suggest it has antimicrobial properties and could treat hypertension, or chronic kidney disease. Demand has led to intensified extraction. Entire trees are felled. Sacks of bark are being trucked out of the forest.
This trajectory is uncomfortably familiar. We have seen how unsustainable demand has devastated wildlife populations. With elephants, ivory is the driver; with apes, city bushmeat markets have exerted heavy pressure. The difference is that wildlife exploitation attracts headlines and enforcement. The large-scale destruction of a medicinal plant rarely does.
This imbalance is dangerous. We may be losing species whose medicinal properties we have scarcely studied. In other forests of Cameroon, botanists have documented plants reduced to a handful of surviving individuals, sometimes confined to small patches on farmland. Their economic or medicinal potential remains largely unknown.
We have an opportunity to recalibrate our priorities. Protecting plants is not an argument against protecting megafauna. It is an extension of it. If we are serious about conserving gorillas and chimpanzees, we must be equally serious about conserving the forests that sustain them. If we celebrate biodiversity, we must recognise that biodiversity begins with flora.
There is also a development dimension. Unlike elephants or apes, many plant resources can be harvested sustainably, if properly regulated. Medicinal plants and non-timber forest products could contribute to livelihoods and national economies, but only if extraction does not destroy the resource base. Sustainable use requires monitoring, enforcement and community engagement.
In our conservation work, we have seen the impact of community-led approaches. Through Gorilla Guardian and Chimpanzee Guardian Clubs, local volunteers participate in monthly monitoring, and since 2008, we have recorded no gorilla killings in the areas under active community stewardship. This success demonstrates what happens when communities see conservation as their responsibility and interest.
This community-led model was recognised internationally when our work received a Tusk Conservation Award, a distinction that brought both visibility and practical support to expand monitoring and livelihood initiatives in Ebo. Such recognition matters, not for prestige alone, but because it strengthens local conservation efforts and connects them to a wider African network of practitioners.
As nominations for this year’s awards have recently opened, I would encourage colleagues across Cameroon to put forward deserving conservation leaders whose work merits greater national and international attention – whether on wildlife or plants. Conservation should not stop at charismatic animals. The law already recognises the conservation importance of both plants and animals. Our attitudes and enforcement must follow.
Cameroon possesses extraordinary biological wealth, from forest elephants to newly described endemic plants. The challenge before us is to ensure that the species we know and the species we are only beginning to understand are not lost through neglect. This World Wildlife Day, we should reaffirm a simple principle: in nature, every species has weight. Our policies recognise this. It is time our practice did the same.
>> Dr Abwe is the Country Director of the Cameroon Biodiversity Association and Co-Leader of the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s African Forest Conservation Hub. He won the Tusk Prince William Award for Conservation in Africa in 2023.
See www.tuskawards.com to apply for this year’s awards.