Ebanga Paul André
Improving conservation and sustainable management of threatened species in Angossas communal forests of Cameroon under logging, human pressures, and global change
Cameroon —
Plant diversity conservation has become one of the most critical objectives of forest management in an ecologically sustainable way. However, these issues are neglected in Cameroon’s communal forests because their botanical importance, mostly their high-priority species for conservation, is poorly known. This study aims to improve the conservation and sustainable management (CSM) practices and hence contribute to the conservation of the threatened species found in Angossas Communal Forests (ACF) in Eastern Cameroon. The project will be carried out in collaboration with local community members, communal managers, students, and young researchers using a science-based approach that includes: the development of a GIS map of the distribution of the species throughout its range as well the habitat; assessment the potential availability in field of the threatened species; their ethnobotanical assessment; CSM practices concerning the threatened species in the ACF. The methodological approach will combine household surveys, focus groups, and botanical inventory. The project’s outcomes will generate a new scientific understanding of threatened species ecology (e.g., growth, distribution, population size, threats, habitat quality, natural regeneration), goods, and services and will support awareness-raising to local authorities and communal managers on the importance of sustainable management and conserving the communal forests in Cameroon.
This award was supported by JRS Biodiversity.