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[/one_third]A three-day appraisal of ERuDeF’s achievements in biodiversity conservation interventions left PPI IUCN-PACO Coordinator, Thomas Bacha, almost speechless .
By Bertrand N. Shancho
Bacha was particularly amazed by the fact that it was his first time to see a national NGO like ERuDeF conduct the whole process of creating a protected area and the Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS).
Bacah was speaking August 14, 2015 at the end of his visit to some ERuDeF project sites in the Southwest and West Regions of Cameroon.
After supporting ERuDeF for close to six years via PPI, Bacha said the visit aimed at producing a five-minute documentary for the projection of ERuDeF’s programmes and projects both nationally and internationally, was also an opportunity to see for himself what ERuDeF has been doing on the ground.
At the end of his visit, Bacha was highly impressed by what ERuDeF has achieved in biodiversity conservation in Cameroon.
“I see the work of ERuDeF very interesting especially with the creation of a protected area in a key biodiversity hot spot. I am talking about the just created Tofala Hill Wildlife Sanctuary in Lebialem Division and the Proposed Mak-betchou Wildlife Santcuary whose process is ongoing. I know how complicated the process of creating a protected area can be in a country like Cameroon but ERuDeF is producing interesting results,” Bacha said.
The IUCN-PACO boss was also thrilled by ERuDeF’s ability to spearhead the first-ever ABS project in the whole of West and Central Africa involving the Echinops giganteus plant in Magha-Bamumbu in Lebialem Division.
Bacha was also impressed by the fact that ERuDeF has a staff capacity of over 50 persons. He expressed his best wishes to ERuDeF pledging his organization’s support.
“I wish the ERuDeF team the best! What we saw on the ground is very interesting. Nothing is perfect but I am happy to see how a local NGO of this level is working on environmental issues in Cameroon. Congrats, keep it up, we are together,” Bacha said.
For his part, ERuDeF CEO, Louis Nkembi, thanked Bacha for recognizing the efforts of his organization, saying it still has much to do.
“We are still at the bottom of the hill. My dream is to make ERuDeF the leading non-profit organization in Africa. I know the road is slippery but with support from organizations like IUCN, and other partners, we are sure of achieving this,” Nkembi said.
Nkembi attributed his success to patience, focus, perseverance, selflessness and a sense of vision calling on all other NGOs in the country to emulate his example.