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[/one_third]In a bid to ensure the conservation of threatened tree species endemic to the Mount Cameroon area like microberlinia bisulcata commonly known as Tiger wood, Village Forest Management Committees (VFMCs) were created to manage and regenerate trees.
However, VFMCs are unable to properly monitor the growth and survival of these trees because they lack skills in planting and monitoring methods. More than 80% of VFMC members don’t know how to create transects and above 90% of them have no knowledge of the GPS. For these reasons, there is great need to train members of VFMC in Woteva, Bankingili, and Bova I (village communities in the Mount Cameroon area) on how to plant trees in transects and how to use the compass and the GPS to monitor the growth and survival of trees.
The Conservation of Threatened Trees of Mount Cameroon Project (CTTMC) of the Environment and Rural Development Foundation (ERuDeF) acknowledges the need to train VFMCs on Transect Opening during planting and the use of GPS for monitoring. This is because VFMC members plant trees haphazardly. This makes it difficult and sometimes impossible to get the GPS coordinates of the trees. The fact that VFMC members don’t even know how to use the GPS also makes it impossible for them to monitor the trees they plant.
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[/one_half]With 3.5 million francs CFA, 75 members of VFMCs around the Mount Cameroon region will be trained on adequate tree planting and monitoring methods. This will guarantee proper monitoring and increase the number of trees in the Mount Cameroon forest. This will, in the long run, increase the populations of threatened tree species and restore the habitats of endangered wildlife species found in the area.
Through this project, at least 15,000 trees will be planted by well trained members of VFMCs using transects and monitored using GPS.
This project contributes to efforts towards mitigating climate change. An increase in the population of trees will reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere. It will also curb soil erosion and infertility caused by flooding from heavy rains. Above all, the project will prevent the extinction of the treasured, but threatened Tiger Wood.