By DOH JAMES SONKEY IN YAOUNDE
The Minister of Environment, Protection of Nature and Sustainable Development, Hele Pierre has disclosed an emergency plan to tackle some 12 million hectares of degraded lands in the country. He was speaking last June 19, 2017 at the Yaoundé Hilton Hotel as Cameroon commemorated the 23rd edition of World Day to Combat Desertification under the theme “Our Land, Our Home, Our Future.”
Explaining the emergency plan, Minister Hele Pierre said “We have in studies classified lands according to highly degraded, degraded and less degraded zones. As a matter of emergency, we shall focus on highly degraded zones that constitute 1/3rd of the degraded 12 million hectares of land in Cameroon. Though we have as therapy tree planting to counter desertification, there is also the use of domestic gas and this year we need to add the fight against poverty to it. Another important element we want to include in the fight is to make water available in arid zones in order to encourage sustainable three planting and agriculture.”
While disclosing that presently, they have succeeded with some FCFA 10 million since 2008 to plant trees in 3 million hectares of land, Minister Hele Pierre pleaded with Cameroon’s partners to support the government in this fight against desertification so that by 2030, Cameroon should no longer have degraded lands.
Observed each year since 1995 on June 17, the World Day to Combat Desertification as explained by Cameroon Minister of Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development, Hele Pierre is aimed at promoting public awareness relating to the international cooperation to combat desertification and the effects of drought with particular emphasis on Africa.
Talking to reporters, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development, Akwa Patrick Kum Bong explained that “desertification does not necessarily mean extreme dryness but it means those conditions that gradually show you that the existence of life is threatened. In Cameroon the most affected areas are the three northern regions and the western island which is the North West and West regions.”
The World Day to Combat Desertification is described as a unique occasion to remind everybody that desertification can be effectively tackled, that solutions are possible, and that key tools to this aim lay in strengthened community participation and co-operation at all levels.