INTERNATIONAL TROPICAL TIMBER ORGANIZATION ITTO PRE-PROJECT DOCUMENT TITLE IDENTIFICATION OF A PROJECT FOR THE REGENERATION AND MANAGEMENT OF MANGROVE FORESTS SURROUNDING THE DOUALAlEDEA RESERVE, DEPARTMENT OF SANAGA MARITIME, CAMEROON SERIAL NUMBER PPD 130/06 Rev.1 (F) COMMITTEE REFORESTATION AND FOREST MANAGEMENT SUBMITTED BY GOVERNMENT OF CAMEROON ORIGINAL LANGUAGE FRENCH SUMMARY The specific objective of this pre-project is to develop a project proposal to be submitted to ITTO for financing and technical support in the area surrounding the DoualaJEdea Wildlife Reserve situated in the Sanaga Maritime department. The project to be developed will contribute to the regeneration and sustainable management of mangrove forests in order to achieve the restoration and value-added development of ecological and socio­ economic functions of mangrove forests affected by unsustainable management practices. Through the community forest process and capacity building, communities established in and around the Reserve will take charge of the regeneration of degraded land, including the mangrove, the value-added development of timber and non-timber forest products in order to ensure the sustainable management of this fragile ecosystem and the development of a sustainable, environmentally conscious local economy. This pre-project and the future project are in line with the Government of Cameroon's policy aiming at establishing sustainable forest and environment resource management by involving all stakeholders in the management of these resources. It is consistent with components 2 and 4 of the Forest and Environment Sectoral Programme (PS FE) and will produce a field-oriented, follow-up case study to the national mangrove study implemented by FAO. EXECUTING AGENCY Cameroan Ecology (Cam-Eco) COOPERATING GOVERNMENTS DURATION 6 MONTHS APPROXIMATE TO BE DECIDED STARTING DATE BUDGET AND PROPOSED Source Contribution Foreign Currency SOURCES OF FUNDING in US $ Equivalent ITTO 79,164 Cam-Eco 22,545 TOTAL 101,709 1 I j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j J Contents Page Acronyms 3 Part One 4 1 Project origin 4 2 Sectoral policies 5 Part Two 6 1 Pre-project objectives 6 1.1 Development Objective 6 1.2 Specific objective 6 2 Justification 6 2.1 Problem to address 6 2.2 Reasons for a pre-project 9 2.3 Target beneficiaries 9 2.4 Other relevant aspects 10 3 Outputs 10 4 Activities 11 5 Work Plan 12 6 Budget 13 6.1 Overall Pre-project budget by activity 13 6.2 ITTO Pre-Project Budget 14 6.3 Counterpart Budget 15 Part III - The Tropical Timber Framework 16 1 Compliance with ITTA, 1994 16 2 Compliance with ITTO Action Plan 16 3 Compliance with the ITTO Action Plan for Mangroves (2002-2006) 17 Annexes 19 Annex A Executing Agency's Profile 19 Annex B CV of Key Project Staff 21 Annex C Terms of Reference for Consultants 24 AnnexD Map 25 Annex E Expert Panel recommendations 26 Annex F References 27 2 Acronyms· Cam-Eco Cameroon Ecology COSCBAC Collectif des Organisations de la Societe Civile du Bassin du Congo / Congo Basin Civil Society Organizations Network CBP Capacity Building Programme CWCS Cameroon Wildlife Conservation Society DSRP Poverty Reduction Strategy Document ICRAF Institut de Recherche en Agro-foresterie lRAD Institut de Recherche Agronomique pour le Developpement ITTA International Tropical Timber Agreement ITTO International Tropical Timber Organization MINADER Ministere de l' Agriculture et du Developpement Rural (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) MINATD Ministere de l' Administration Territoriale et de la Decentralisation (Ministry of Lands Administration and Decentralisation) MINFOF Ministry of Forest and Fauna NGO Non-Governmental Organization PAIVMA Integrated Management Project for the Mefou and Afamba Forest and Valley PNVRA Programme National de Vulgarisation et de Recherche Agricole / National Agricultural Research and Extension Programme Pro-Genre Promotion of the Gender & Development approach PSFE Programme Sectoriel Foret Environnement / Forest & Environment Sectoral Programme RCM Reseau de Conservation de la Mangrove / Mangrove Conservation network RFC Reseau de Foresterie Communautaire / Community Forestry Network SNV Dutch international development organization UNFCCC United Nations Framework Conference on Climate Change US$ US Dollar 3 PART ONE: CONTEXT 1. Origin of the Pre-project The idea of this pre-project stems from activities conducted by the NGO Cameroon Ecology (Cam-Eco), whose national headquarters are in EDEA, Department of Sanaga Maritime, Province du Littoral, Cameroon. Cam-Eco has found that the "Littoral" (coastal) Province in general and the Sanaga Maritime Department in particular loses its plant cover on a daily basis. The causes of this gradual loss of natural forest are many: (1) high population growth rate; (2) the conversion forest lands to establish vast agro-industrial plantations, mainly oil­ palm trees and rubber trees; (3) illegal forest logging, greatly accelerated by the proximity with the economic hub of the Douala Port combined with a the lack of an effective control and surveillance mechanism. To reduce these pressures on forests and promote thesocio-economic development of these communities, for a number of years, Cam-Eco has endeavoured to support the rural communities in the creation and management of community forests as well as to report forest offences to the forest authority. However, the consequences of Cam-Eco action is still limited in view of the magnitude of the task, and it is urgent to establish a system which could secure rational and sustainable forest management in general, including mangrove forests, in order to better ensure their protection. Similarly, this system should also ensure better livelihood for the communities based on the local economy because in spite of significant environmental resources, these communities are among the poorest in Cameroon. In this perspective, Cam-Eco, acting in collaboration with the Cameroon Wildlife Conservation Society (CWCS), had the idea to develop participatory mangrove forest management in and around the DoualaJEdea wildlife reserve in order to conserve this fragile ecosystem affected by misuses and alteration of all sorts. However, the development of a project of this nature requires baseline information data on physical, ecological, socio-economic, cultural and institutional aspects still not available. More specifically, knowledge data on mangrove forests are approximate, especially with regard to their current conservation status, ecosystem, socio-economic potentials, regeneration capacities, economic values, for the parties involved in fllt~b/ood harvesting for the fish­ smoking industry, hence the various constraints on the est:1blishment of a sustainable management process for this resources highly sought aft~r by communities from Ghana, Nigeria, Benin, Mali, etc. FAO conducted a number of studies on Cameroon's mangroves, whose reports are still awaited; these studies tend to be global in outlook and this pre-project will certainly help refine the results of these studies conducted at national level and help develop effective, local-level solution to the weaknesses identified. The Sanaga Maritime Department covers around 20,400 km2 and has a total population of circa 200,000 inhabitants *. Sanaga Maritime is situated in the Littoral Province; it is subdivided into six arrondissements and two districts - Edea, Dizangue, Mouanko, Ndom, Ngambe and Pouma; Massock and Nyanon. Sanaga Maritime is dominated by an equatorial forest contiguous to a savannah land, and the Department has a non developed shoreline almost 80 km in length. Sanaga Maritime Department has an extremely varied landscape featuring almost every climatic, drainage * Sanaga Maritime, Terre d'Avenir; Le Livre Blanc multisectoriel des projets de developpement local, Ope!, 2002 4 system, demographic, ecological and wildlife characteristics of Cameroon *. The Department is bordered by the following neighbour Departments: Nyong and Kelle to the East; Mbam to the North; the Atlantic Ocean to the South; Wouri and Nkam to the West. * The mangrove forests of Cameroon cover over 30% of coastlines, i.e. a total surface area close to 400,000 ha. The two dominant species are Rhizophora racemosa (90%), A vicennia germinaus (5%). Main mangrove forest locations are: The mouths of river Nyong, Lokoundje and Ntem respectively; Cameroons Estuary which lies between the mouth of Sanaga to Cape Bimbia, where in addition to estuarine mangrove forests, there are fluvial mangroves which are found along the banks of rivers WOURI, SANAGA, and DIBAMBA The land comprised between NJANGASSA and the Nigerian border, as well as the group of islands lying offshore the Rio Del Rey estuary. The DoualalEdea Wildlife reserve was created in 1932; it covers 160,000 ha and is situated in the coastal plain of the Sanaga valley within the Kribi-Douala basin. Some 60 villages with a total estimated population of 10,000 people live within and around the Reserve. The Reserve is made up of mangroves and moist forests and contains rich natural resources. Its diversified vegetation comprises moist Congolese hill forests, mangrove forests, secondary forests and croplands. The reserve contains scattered swamps, several lakes and streams providing their habitats to several mammal species*. (See map in annex) 2. Sectoral policies The Mangrove forest regeneration and management project around the DoualalEdea reserve, for which this project proposal has been developed, is consistent with the policy of the Government of Cameroon aimed to promote the involvement of communities in forest resource management. The main reference documents reflecting the commitment of the Government of Cameroon to make community forest a tool to combat poverty and implement sustainable natural resource management are as follows: Forest Law n094/01 of 25 January 1994 and enactment decree N° 95/531 PM of 23 August 1995.