Yaoundé - If nature can't adapt to man's aspirations then man should adapt to nature's aspiration. Recent climatic changes in Cameroon characterised by early rains and increased temperatures in the northern part of the country tell of the consequences of man's negative activities on the forest. This, in a nutshell, is the whole spirit behind the one-day first ever Forest Day commemorated in Yaounde yesterday.

Organised by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), the occasion, presided at by the Secretary General at the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, Koulanga Denis, created a veritable arena for brainstorming. Experts, some of them scientists, representatives of local and international NGOs, university lecturers and policy makers focused their discussions on key approaches that could likely attenuate man's forestry activities, notably deforestation and forest degradation. All these activities they say play an important part in negatively influencing the world's climate. Meeting in Bali last December, conference delegates stated an urgent need for meaningful action to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. That, exactly, is what the Yaounde confab set out to achieve.

In fact, being the second largest forest area in the world, the Central African Congo Basin could not be indifferent to the new challenge. The sub-region is expected to play a crucial role in the success of any climate change policy whether conceived from within or outside. "Shaping the debate on forest and climate change in the sub-region", is the main idea that threaded through the various debates that tackled issues such as: natural forest regeneration: scientific challenges and methodologies; forest dynamics in agricultural landscapes in Cameroon; reforestation; deforestation, degradation and mapping; REDD, an innovative financing mechanism; link between carbon market and forest sector and forest tenure.

Forest Day is essentially an information and sensitisation exercise, said Cyrie Sendashonga, Director of the CIFOR Central African Regional Office. But is one day enough to sensitise people on a problem as crucial as forest and climate change? Certainly not, Sendashonga said in an interview with Cameroon Tribune, underscoring the fact that the event might become an annual exercise. The Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, she said, has already set a day for the tree and the combination of the two, "Tree Day" and "Forest Day" could be an interesting idea to tackle the problem.

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