March/April 2008 edition AANTINTI--POACHINGPOACHING Fighting illegal Ivory trade in southeast Since WWF started working to protect the rich biodiversity of South East Cameroon in the mid 90s, a lot of progress has been made on the ground. Apart from providing scientif- ic data about key species such as elephants and that are highly threatened in the area, the WWF Jengi project has boosted its actions by giving support to government to recruit and train game rangers. The presence of these rangers with- in and around the national parks of the South East of Cameroon is yield- ing conservation gains. Forest crimes, especially poaching, are now being increasingly detected, arrested and punished in law courts. Over the past year, dozens of arrests have been made and hundreds of kilogrammes worth of bush meat as well as ivory have been impounded thanks to the work of these rangers supported by forces of law and order. In March 2008 game rangers working in , a town situated some 630km east of Cameroon's capital, Yaoundé, confiscated 13 elephant tusks and made some arrests. The ivory tusks were hidden away in a tight corner of a truck transporting timber from the East of the country to the port city of Douala. Elephant tusks seized from poachers Last year, TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade be making progress out of the sourc- three countries, deep inside the monitoring network, reported that ing zone of illegal ivory trade. Congo Basin rainforest, an extraordi- Central Africa is currently hemorrhag- nary transformation is taking place. ing ivory and cited Cameroon as Lobeke National and its periphery Where poachers, illegal loggers and among three countries in the sub have a high density of African forest traffickers operated at will by simply region most heavily implicated as the elephants estimated at about 5000. crossing a river or driving across the sources for trafficking illicit ivory to But unchecked poaching may cause border, can now be chased, arrested international markets. fragmentation of the population of this and prosecuted. Park rangers from flagship specie in and around the While lauding WWF support to the three countries communicate via park. improved law enforcement which has radio, conduct joint anti poaching resulted in rigid checks and arrests, WWF has spearheaded efforts to pro- sweeps and meet regularly to discuss the Regional Representative of WWF tect endangered species and their anti poaching strategies. Results of CARPO, Laurent Some notes howev- habitats in the area over the years. this pioneering transboundary initia- er that " experience has shown that Agreements have been reached with tive are many with multiplication in this (improved law enforcement) can logging companies and sport hunting numbers of arrested poachers and drive the ivory smuggling circuit fur- outfits in a concerted move to fight confiscation of thousands of snares. ther underground". The Regional poaching. Joint patrols are regularly Many years ago, there was little Representative expressed optimism organized with game rangers and cooperation in this part of the Congo that with the present enthusiasm and security forces from Cameroon, Basin plagued with internal political determination exhibited by Congo Brazzaville and Central Africa conflicts. Park rangers remember sit- Cameroon's department in charge of Republic within the framework of the ting on the river bank in intense frus- Forests and Wildlife, in addition to Tri-national de la Sangha (TNS). tration, watching poachers escape support from some Non governmen- across the Sangha River in to anoth- tal organizations, the country could In a park system spanning the above er country. WWF Jengi Newsletter, March/April 2008 edition 2 AANTINTI--POACHINGPOACHING Armed trafficking: threat to wildlife Kalashnikov and a grenade from legal trade in elephant tusks poachers. This is a new phenome- has witnessed an upsurge non we are getting to grip with in in Southeast Cameroon IlIl this region,” says Pandong Eitel, thanks to increase in the circulation head of forest and wildlife depart- of firearms. This is buttressed by ment in Yokadouma. the number of firearms confiscated from poachers since February The control of arms however, does 2008. These included eleven 12 not depend on Cameroon’s caliber rifles, a Kalashnikov, 50 Ministry of Forest and Wildlife ammunitions and a grenade. alone, especially at the frontiers. It requires the interplay of various Arms flow into Southeast government departments and the Cameroon through the country’s collaboration of neighbouring coun- porous borders with Central Africa tries. Given that cases involving Republic and Congo Brazzaville, war arms are handled by a military both countries that have known tribunal, Cameroon Ministry of several years of war. A recent Forest and Wildlife, has been rein- investigation carried out by WWF forcing collaboration with the forces Jengi Research Assistant for Nki of law and order and the Ministry of National Park, Charles Bassama, Territorial Administration to address revealed the circulation of ammuni- this issue. tion in , a town on Cameroon’s border with Congo With the rise in arm trafficking, it Brazzaville. “Arms come from stands to reason why elephants Punga in Congo and are transport- and other wildlife species remain ed by individuals with double increasingly threatened in nationalities (Cameroon and Southeast Cameroon. Congo),” he disclosed. Such peo- ple easily cross the borders into According to Albert Mounga Abana, Congo where guns are said to be Conservator for Lobeke National cheap. “At least 20 caliber 458 Park, an inventory of the number of rifles are smuggled into Moloundou firearms in the region is crucial. every week.” “We shall identify legal and illegal gun owners.” A vast awareness The consequence is increase raising campaign on the acquisition poaching. “The circulation of war and use of firearms is also envis- arms is boosting elephant poach- aged. ing. We recently confiscated a Poachers arrested with war arms (Ph. Bassama) 353 parrots beheaded in Lobeke the parrots species in Cameroon, and can be cap- around Lobeke tured upon issuance of a special authori- National Park, zation by Cameroon's Ministry of Forest which harbors a and Wildlife. Parrots remain one of the huge number of sources of revenue for the Wildlife African grey par- Ministry. Cameroon's official capture rots and has been quota as determined by CITES (the under pressure Convention on International Trade in from capturers. Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and The suspect told Flora) stands at 12000 parrots a year. But game rangers a it is believed 15000 parrots are smuggled witchdoctor cur- out of the country each year, to mostly ing his mentally ill Europe, Asia and South Africa. Most of brother requested the birds come from Southeast 353 parrot heads (Ph. Zambo) parrot heads and Cameroon, where illegal capturers have red tails to contin- been active. ue treatment. me rangers in south- An illegal capturer, Atangana Roger, had east Cameroon For the last eight months, capturers have earlier being arrested by gendarmes in a Garecently arrested a resorted to cutting off the head and pluck- village near Lobeke. He too had once suspectGa illegal capturer with 350 parrot ing the red tails of parrots unlike in the been caught with 167 beheaded parrots. heads and 2000 red feather tails. The past when the birds were captured alive. Under Cameroon's law, persons found capturer was coming from Pokola in the Some 600 parrots have been butchered guilty of illegally capturing or killing pro- Republic of Congo Brazzaville, on his way around Lobeke this year. tected species could serve up to one year to the West Province of Cameroon. jail term. Rangers suspect he must have captured Parrots are Class A (totally protected) WWF Jengi Newsletter, March/April 2008 edition 3 BakasBakas ppyygmiesgmies inin ffororestest rreevvenenueue manamanaggementement committeescommittees ore Baka pygmies have local population. The latter is sup- been elected into local posed to be spent by local commit- MMcommittees charged with tees to carry out micro projects in vil- managing revenues accruing from lages. forest exploitation in Boumba et The 16 committees receive some Ngoko Division East Province of FCFA 200 million each year but man- Cameroon. Fourteen Baka pygmies agement of this fund has been poor now hold positions in some of the 16 resulting in the non-completion of committees. The Baka pygmies were projects, to the detriment of local unanimously chosen during elections people. This prompted the organiza- that took place in the various vil- tion of a forum on the management lages. The inclusion of these indige- and impact of forest royalties in nous forest people in these commit- January 2006 in Yokadouma. tees portrays efforts to forestall fur- ther marginalization. The forum adopted a road map that proposed greater autonomy and sep- According to Akolea Joseph, one of arate bank accounts for the manage- the elected Baka delegates, the elec- ment committees. It was also tions have paved the way for greater resolved that unlike in the past, when participation in the management Mayors or their appointees headed committees. “I am happy about it and the management committees, com- hope my presence will help address munity members would directly elect the needs of Baka pygmies in this their leaders. committee,” said Akolea. “At last the road map is being execut- Each committee is made up of six ed. We hope the massive participa- members and has a mandate of five tion of the population in the renewal years renewable. They are charged of the management committees pre- with managing 10 percent of money supposes better management of the paid to the state by logging compa- 10% forest royalties destined for local nies. According to the law 50% of the people,” stated Louis Ngono, WWF money goes to the state, 40% per- Collaborative Management Officer. cent to local council and 10% to the Baka pygmies cast vote (ph. Bassama)

Management of community forest enterprises improved mmunity forest managers in Southeast East Cameroon CoCorecently acquired skills in financial and administrative management, during a two-day training workshop organized by WWF Jengi.

Participants, mostly members of the Network of Community Forest Managers, REGEFOC, were drilled on financial and administrative management and handling of accounting documents. They learnt plan- ning, monitoring and evaluation of communi- ty forest; the importance of communication and leadership skills.

The workshop came at the backdrop of a recent evaluation report that revealed that Jengi Finance & Administration Officer lecturing community forest managers (Ph. Pegue) community forest enterprises are wanting in administrative and financial management. 5,223,120 was generated as income wholly community forests. This workshop was thus because exploitation of some forests began tailored to improve the situation," stated Community forests are 5000 ha of forest late. Claude Chendjou, WWF Assistant Forest portions given to local communities by the Officer. "The assiduity and active involve- state for exploitation for 25 years renewable. There was general optimism after the work- ment of participants in this workshop is tes- Money generated from the forest is expect- shop that things will be better. "We have timony of the importance they attached to ed to be spent on micro-projects in villages. acquired much and we think this will improve the training. We are convinced the applica- However a 2007 evaluation report of these the running of community forest this year," tion of knowledge acquired will enhance forest enterprises showed that not much stated Balonlognoli Maurice of Essayons transparent management of community for- was achieved in terms of village projects by Voir community forest. est enterprises and win the support of local community forests, due partly to misman- people," Chendjou explained. "We realized that managers did not have agement. Moreover, only a paltry FCFA the needed skills to manage the finances of WWF Jengi Newsletter, January/February 2008 edition 4 WWF supports fishpond construction a bid to provide alternative source of protein for local peo- InInple, WWF has supported the construction of a fishpond in Tembe Piste, a village on the outskirts of . An initiative of a Community based Wildlife Resource Management Committee, (COVAREF No 6) the fishpond measures some 5000 meters square. Some 2000 young tilapias have been dropped into it and the first harvest is expected in April 2010.

Part of the harvest will be distributed to the over 1031 villagers of Tembe Piste while some quantity will be sold to main- tain the pond and sponsor micro projects. Mario Malomo, of COVAREF No 6, said during harvest, the fishpond will be drained off. "Each family will have enough fish to eat," Malomo said. "We have creat- ed a management committee which will Fishpond under construction (ph. Pegue) establish a plan to reinforce security of the pond," he said. A shed shall be con- WWF alongside GTZ have been support- such initiatives. "WWF contributed posi- structed for visitors who come around to ing initiatives aimed at providing alterna- tively in the realization of this project, watch the fish swimming in the pond. tive sources of protein other than bush through technical and financial support," meat consumption. The fishpond is one of Malomo said. WWF seeks better anti-poaching law enforcement in Ngoyla-Mintom WF Jengi recently organ- ized seminars aimed at WWchecking illegal exploita- tion of wildlife resources and ensur- ing implementation of management plans in logging concessions in the Ngoyla-Mintom corridor. The corridor is Cameroon’s segment of the TRIDOM (Dja- Minkebe - Odzala) inter zone that links protected areas of Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville and Gabon respectively. Through these seminars, WWF hopes for better application of the law that regulates hunting and the reinforcement of col- laboration amongst the various actors involved in the fight against WWF Jengi Collaborative Management Advisor drilled participants at seminar poaching. Participants were drilled on hunting monitoring proceedings related to wildlife been learnt during the seminar,” he said. law, how to prepare inquiry reports, viola- cases in court was put in place. The Ngoyla-Mintom Inter-zone is home to tion and sanctions meted out on poachers “I am upbeat by the enthusiasm exuded one of the largest population of iconic caught red-handed. by participants to these seminars,” species such as forest elephants, man- Various actors in the chain of law enforce- declared Dr. Louis Defo, WWF Jengi drills and great apes ( and chim- ment, including administration, judiciary, Collaborative Management Advisor. “We panzee). A veritable super highway for forces of law and order and economic noticed there was lack of law enforcement animal migration, the corridor has been operators, committed to fight poaching. A in the Ngoyla-Mintom area. The various under intense poaching pressure, posing collaborative platform involving different actors agreed to meet regularly to evalu- serious threats to the rich biodiversity of actors was established and a system for ate the degree of application of what has the area. WWF Jengi Newsletter, March/April 2008 edition 5 HHEEAALLTTHH Ten traditional midwives trained in Boumba Bek n women, amongst them three Baka TTeepygmies, have been trained as traditional midwives in the north of Boumba Bek National Park. The Yokadouma health district carried out the training with assistance from WWF.

The traditional midwives will carry out child delivery in enclave villages situated some 40 km from the nearest health centre. Local health district officers said only 0.5/5 of pregnant women go for pre-natal checks in health centres. A large majority is deliv- ered of their babies by traditional midwives. But the conditions under which these babies are delivered remain poor.

The traditional midwives were taught how to identify pregnancy, Midwife learns how to wear gloves (ph. Njounan) monitor pregnant women, carry out risk- According to health officials, the tradition- line with WWF Jengi population-health- free delivery and post natal care. The 10 al midwives will help roll back pre-natal environment project. "Through this train- participants were given a set of equip- death as they would respect basic rules of ing we shall be saving the lives of a gen- ment including gloves, scissors and band- hygiene. The midwives will also help track eration of children yet to be born against ages to enable them start work immedi- the rate of childbirth in their respective vil- AIDS. This is giving conservation a ately. The women all tested HIV negative lages by keeping records of children human face," said Njounan Tegomo, after a screening test conducted after the delivered in enclave areas. WWF Jengi Senior Field Research training. Assistant for Boumba Bek. The training of traditional midwives falls in WWomenomen healthhealth andand conserconservvaationtion societysociety functionalfunctional inin LobekLobekee and sanitation…). During such meetings, women are taught how to treat water for local con- sumption. Sarah also teaches them English. "Our objective is to train them so they can in turn share the knowl- edge acquired with their associ- ates," remarked Sarah. The meeting also provides opportu- nities for exchange of views and serves as a forum for discussing other important issues. Women at meeting (ph. Sarah) "We think WWF recognizes our importance and we do not have the women adhere to WWF's actions, men Health and the impression we are in a class- is by informing and involving them in Conservation room," said one of the participants. conservation work. Society, WHCS, WWoo The WHCS also provide a platform has been created to help improve the Few women are involved in conser- for integration of Baka pygmy health conditions of women while vation activities whether in the eco- women. "Despite difficulties in under- involving them in WWF Jengi project logical monitoring team or as health standing and problems linked to activities. Based in Mambele, a vil- scouts. To change this situation, a timidity, their (Baka pygmy women) lage near Lobeke National Park, meeting bringing together 25 women presence is very important for WWF WHCS is the initiative of Sarah Kuhn, is held every week to raise aware- as well as for the reinforcement of a Peace Corps Volunteer. Sarah ness of conservation and health community spirit," said Sarah. believes a better way to encourage issues (malaria, diarrhea, hygiene WWF Jengi Newsletter, March/April 2008 edition 6 Management plans for 3 more community forests validated

Community forest managers display management plans (ph. Pegue) The head of forest and wildlife department for Boumba et ree more community forests enterprises Ngoko, Pandong Eitel, urged the local communities to have been attributed to local communities exploit the forests in conformity with the prescription of in Boumba et Ngoko Division, East ThTh the simple management plan. "This document (simple Cameroon. A convention signed by the local administra- management plan) is like a Bible for management of tor for Boumba et Ngoko and managers of the three com- community forest. "It is an engagement with the state. munity forests, attributes these portions of forest definite- The forest is for local development and sustainable devel- ly to the communities. The aim is to encourage sustain- opment is a collective tasks. This forest is not owned by able management of the forest while improving the living any individual," he said. conditions of local people.

ourteen local committees charged with managing 10% of forest rev- FFenues have been renewed follow- ing elections organized in different villages in Boumba et Ngoko Division, East Province of Cameroon. Democratically conducted, it is hoped the new commit- tees would do better in terms of managing forest revenues. The general feeling has been that local people have not benefited much from these revenues in the past. Each year, about FCFA 200 millions is allocated to local communities found in areas where timber exploitation takes place.

This money is supposed to be used to finance projects aimed at improving the living conditions of locals. But the commu- nities have little to show for due to mis- management. It was this bleak situation that prompted WWF and GTZ to organize a forum on the management of forest rev- enues in Yokadouma in January 2006 dur- ing which far reaching resolution were taken and a road map established.The new committees have many Baka pyg- mies as members and it is hoped increase representation will impact on their living Local casts vote for transparency (ph. Ngono) conditions. WWF Jengi Newsletter, March/April 2008 edition 7 Wildlife film projection raises conservation fever recent awareness raising cam- paign through film projection AAenabled WWF Jengi to directly exchange views with local people. A cross-section of the population of Ngoyla, a district located near Nki National Park, East Province of Cameroon, were treated to a documentary on Great Apes (gorillas and ) projected on a giant screen to draw attention to endangered wildlife species. Locals watched with awe the striking resemblance and characteristics human beings share with gorillas and chim- panzees, making them understand that WWF jengi Regional Coordinator addressing audience before film show (ph. Pegue) man is not so different from his "cousin of the jungle." Forest and Wildlife and other stakehold- Leonard Usongo, WWF Jengi Regional Locals had the opportunity to express ers to address the problems," explained Coordinator, who took part in the projec- their worries and to question some of Hilaire Ndinga, WWF Park Assistant for tion. WWF's actions aimed at protecting Nki. Nki National Park covers a surface area wildlife in the area. The active participa- These sensitization campaigns are very of 309365ha and harbors rich flora and tion of the public helped WWF to evaluate important in remote places like Ngoyla faune, with an increasing number of forest the degree of awareness of local people where poverty and high rate of unemploy- elephants, estimated at 2955, and a rela- with regards to conservation and protect- ment are partly responsible for intense tively stable population of chimpanzees ed wildlife species. "We need to urgently poaching. "It is necessary to ameliorate and gorillas. However, poaching pressure extend these campaigns to different vil- the living condition of local people in order on the northeast and trans-boundary lages around Nki. Thanks to this meeting, to encourage them adhere to our actions poaching in the southeast of the park are we are able to know the grievances of the and in turn contribute to the conservation posing increasing threats to the wildlife local people with regards to our work. We of protected wildlife species," stated Dr. population. are poised to work with the Ministry of

Fanfare in Ngoyla upon arrival of Jengi team (ph. Bierschwale) Quizz winner rewarded (Ph. Pegue)

Publisher: WWF Jengi Southeast Forest Programme Editor-in-Chief: Pegue Manga ([email protected]) Editorial Advisers: Peter Ngea ([email protected]) Dr. Leonard Usongo ([email protected]) Collaborators: Ophelia Bierschwale, Zacharie Nzooh, Louis Defo, Alphonse Ngniado, Expedit Fouda, Charles Bassama, Louis Ngono, Njounan Tegomo, Jean Paul Mahop, Patrice Ngalla, Ndinga Hilaire and Vincent Anong, Mathew Kuhn, Sarah Kuhn & Claude Chendjou Website: www.panda.org/Jengi Design & Layout: Pegue Manga