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“These trees planted at the Mount Cameroon National Park (MCNP) border will aid reduce adjacent communities’ dependence on the park’s resources given that they will have to harvest these trees at the peripheries for sustenance in times to come” says the Conservator of MCNP.
He was speaking at the end of a tree planting exercise undertaking May, 2016 at the peripheral zones of the park by the Environment and Rural Development Foundation in collaboration with the Park Authorities and Village Forest Management Committees (VFMC) some adjacent villages.
Over 4000 seedlings of threatened trees species including Prunus africana (pygeum), Entandrophragma angolensis (mahogany) and (Azobe) Lophira alata were along beacons I to J of the Park line covering a distance of 5.96km with a 1.6m spacing to ensure effective hedge formation between the Park and the communities.
The tree planting exercise according to Mr Besong Simon, falls in line with the Park’s objective of tracing the peripheral zones of the park with trees that are economically beneficial to the both the park management and the communities.
“We wanted to use trees that are adapted to the ecosystem of the Mt Cameroon and also trees that have an economic value to both the park and the communities. This vision which is shared both by ERuDeF and the park service led to the establishment of a nursery by ERuDeF which they are this day transplanting to the park border” Mr Besong said.
He also disclosed that the Park Service is also raising over 5000 seedlings of prunus to continue with the planting exercise.
Village Forest Management Communities and community members, who took part in the tree planting exercise, were impressed with the initiative
“This is a great step which ERuDeF and the Park have taken; regenerating Prunus and other timber and NTFP species is going to provide a steady source of timber and NTFPs to our communities at the same time conserving the biodiversity of the park” said Emmanuel Matute, Councilor of Bonakanda village.
He was very contented with the type of species chosen for the exercise
“Mahogany will serve as timber for community development projects such as construction of community halls, bridges etc. Meanwhile pygeum will serve both as timber and NTFP to communities due to its medicinal value” Mr. Matute added.
It is hoped that wind and insects will also assist in dispersing seeds in the future from the mother into the National Park for natural regeneration.
The tree planting exercise is in line with ERuDeF’s objective of conserving globally threatened trees found in the MCNP and other degraded landscapes. Since the inception of the project, close to 17000 seedlings of threatened trees have been planted into two secured Community Forests: Bakingili and Woteva.
The tree planting exercise was carried out with the support of Fauna and Flora international UK and the Mohamed bin Zed Foundation.
By Tengem Adeline
