Cameroon Environmental Education Initiative

 

The Cameroon Environmental Education Initiative (CEEI)
is a programme under the Department of Conservation at the Environment and
Rural Development Foundation (ERuDeF). This programme was developed from the
need of education to address the growing and existing environmental challenges (habitat
degradation, decline in wildlife population, water crisis, health issues and
poverty) facing the 8 conservation landscapes where ERuDeF is working (Lebialem
Highlands, Deng Deng-Dja Corridor, Tchabal Mbabo Mountains, Mandara Mountains,
Bamenda Highlands, Mount Cameroon, Nlonako Muanenguba and Mount Bamboutos).  

The goal of this programme is to raise awareness of at
least 10 million people on anthropogenic threats affecting biodiversity and
ecosystems for the sustainability of all the 8 landscapes of ERuDeF by 2035. In
order to attain this goal, the following specific objectives were made;

Objective 1: To develop Environmental
Education (EE) Training and Curriculum development programmes that will be
implemented across ERuDeF conservation landscapes by 2035.

Target

–      
Development
of new curriculum at the ERuDeF Institute.

–      
Train
at least 2000 EE experts.

–      
Development
of a certification programme to be certified at MINESUP or MINEDUC.

Objective
2: To promote Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) across protected
areas, biodiversity hotspots and fragile ecosystems.

Target

–         
Trained,
sensitize and educated at least 50000 people for the conservation of 600
Western Lowland gorillas

–         
Trained,
sensitize and educated at least 400000 people for the protection of at least
90000ha of the degraded landscape of Mandara Mt.

–         
Trained,
sensitize and educated at least 30000 people the conservation of at least
35000ha of the degraded landscape of Mt. Bamboutos.

–         
Trained,
sensitize and educated at least 300000 people for the conservation of at least
79000ha of the degraded landscape of Tchabal Mbabo Mt.

–         
Trained,
sensitize and educated at least 200000 people for the conservation of at least
64619ha of the degraded landscape of Ekom-Nkam waterfall Sanctuary.

–         
Trained,
sensitize and educated at least 10000 people for the conservation of 100 Cross
River gorillas, 1000 Nigeria-Cameroon Chimpanzee, 200 African forest elephants,
and 200 birds species

Objective
3: To promote public education in
built environments.

Target

–      
Reach
out to 10000000 people and 1000 schools through awareness raising campaigns,
school programmes, leisure gardens and radio/tv programmes.

–       Create a network/forum for E-school
in all our landscapes.

It’s important for people in the community to
understand how their actions affect the environment and the quality of life of
all the people that depend on it. Thus this education program would increase the student’s and local community
knowledge, interest and skills in order to protect and conserve local natural
resources and biodiversity in our landscapes. Moreover, Our CEEI programme would help prepare
tomorrow’s leaders to be aware of environmental problems, understand how to use
resources sustainably, and learn how people’s actions contribute to the
problems and can solve the problems.