Remembering Wabane Landslide Victims Through Tree Planting
The Environment and Rural Development Foundation (ERuDeF) has supported the raising of12000 young seedlings of Prunus africana and croton macrostardryus in Magha-Bamumbu, Lebialem Division, SW Cameroon.
These seedlings will be planted out in an-8hectare surface area mapped out community forest of Magha-Bamumbu.
The planting of trees in this area is part of ERuDeF’s long-term reforestation program which seeks to restore degraded landscapes and make the environment less fragile. The area chosen for reforestation in Magha suffered a devastating landslide in 2003 which led to the death of over 20 persons, loss of property and considerable income.
Planting trees in this area is therefore intended to repair the land and also prevent such a terrible incident from repeating itself.
The planting of the tree seedlings in 2015 has been scheduled to coincide with the 11th anniversary of the Magha landslide disaster so that community members will have a chance to commemorate the anniversary of these victims by planting these trees in the same area where the landslide occurred.
Supported by the French Embassy in Cameroon and the Lea nature Foundation, this project in the longterm will equally satisfy the income health needs of the people of this community as they would be able to sell the Prunus africana. This project which envisages the planting of 30.000 trees also comes to reinforce the valorisation of the Echinops giganteus project which is already on going in the same area.
Communal management of forests is a way of generating income from timber and non-timber forest products as forms of goods while in other hand regulating ecosystem services, downstream settlements benefits from watershed conservation, carbon sequestration and aesthetic values as in forms of services . It has been considered one of the most promising options of combining forest conservation with rural development and community empowerment and poverty reduction objectives. Reason why ERuDeF came up with the initiative to develop a community forest so as to solve the problem of deforestation as well as the landscape degradation in Mt Bamboutos area.
Kenmene Lea Alida
