The World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF)’s Coordinator in Kenya, Peter Minang, has revealed that the Environment and Rural Development Foundation (ERuDeF)’s work on community forests around the South West Region of Cameroon is of great importance with the potential of changing the lives of rural people in the community forest areas.

Speaking at the end of a visit to the Organisation, Mr. Minang said barely few months after the commencement of the project, ERuDeF has recorded a lot of progress.

“ERuDeF has been able to do a good appraisal on the potentials of engaging these community forests in managing their resources in a sustainable manner; in a way that will improve upon their livelihoods, and hopefully contribute to getting them out of poverty” he added.

Though the project is at its initial stage with much still to be done, Mr. Minang was impressed with what has been achieved so far. He was confident with ERuDeF’s capability to carry out the project successfully.

“Some hard work still has to be done but I am not worried because I know ERuDeF is capable of working with us to get these community forests to where they are supposed to be in terms of sustainably managing the forest resources” he hinted.

The DRYAD Project Coordinator said community forest enterprising is a very new concept in Cameroon and even in Africa and will thus be really challenging.

“The biggest challenge will be on how to bring four to five community forests into a joint venture where they can, through economies of scale, actually benefit as a group as opposed to having small community forests that cannot be able to each run their respective viable enterprises” Mr. Minang opined.

He appreciated the ERuDeF DRYAD Project Coordinator, Sheron Endah, for her achievement so far, beseeching her to be focused as well as put in her all for the success of the project.

By Ndimuh Bertrand Shancho