The Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, MINFOF, and the Centre for International Forest Research, CIFOR, have resolved to make Model forest a reality in Cameroon.

This decision was the main substance of a meeting to evaluate the activities of the Camop Ma'an and the Dja et Mpomo model forest sites, at the conference hall of the Mvog-betsi Zoo in Yaounde, November 16.

Model forests, according to experts, are large multi-functional landscapes governed by a voluntary partnership representing all important uses and values within that landscape.
They represent a collective approach in forest governance that fully and collectively engages civil society together with government, industries and indigenous groups, research organisations and NGOs.

CIFOR began the model forest project in Cameroon in 2003, with the help of the International Model Forest Network, IMFN, which is working towards the sustainable management of forests around the world.   

According to Chimere Diaw, Director of CIFOR, the concept of model forest is one that regulates the conflicting interests of various stakeholders such that they all make gains within the policy of sustainable forest management.

The establishment of the model forest concept in Cameroon took collective efforts of CIFGOR, IMFN, the Canadian International Development Agency, CIDA, the Central African Forest Commission, COMIFAC, the World Conservative Union, the Food and Agricultural Organisation, FAO, and MINFOF.

They developed the Campo Ma'an model forest in the South Province and the Dja and Mpomo model forest in the East Province to act as pilot sites for the Congo Basin.
While evaluating the first phase of the project, the stakeholders lauded the fact that rural women, pygmy communities, resource persons, the local forest administration, development agencies researchers, conservationists, local NGOs and forest and agro industries were in harmony.

The second phase of the forest model project would kick off from 2008-2013.Addressing participants at the meeting, the MINFOF's Secretary General, Dr. Madi Ali, said the initiative by CIFOR and its partners ensures a new positive dispensation in forest governance that emphasizes on the fight against poverty.

The Vice president of the Campo Ma'an model forest project, Madame Angeline Dooh, said the sites covers a surface area of 8000 hectares. To her, the project succeeded because it brought together different stakeholders under the vision of the model forest vision. She noted that their management is a bottom-top approach, which is aimed at ensuring that the interests of local communities are well taken care of.

The mayor of Lomie in the East Province presented the Dja and Mpomo model forest that covers an area of 7000 hectares and foru administrative areas.According to CIFOR researchers, Cyprian Jum, Joachim Nguiebouri, Mireille Zoa and Chimere Diaw, the two model forests in Cameroon are broad-based partnerships between diverse stakeholders to make sustainable forest management a reality.

They, however, expressed the need to overcome conflicts between forests actors.

By Kini Nsom

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