NORTH WEST REGION--TRAINING OF ECO-GUARDS FOR THE PROTECTION AND CONSERVATION OF THE KOM-WUM FOREST

THE POPULATIONS OF THE NORTH-WEST REGION MAKE REFORESTATION A PRACTICE TO SAVE THE PLANET FROM NATURAL DISASTER

About eleven Eco-guards benefitted training to ensure the protection andconservation of the Kom-Wum forest reserve.
    “The Fundong council has been consistently losing timber as well as several protected animal species to poachers in the past years. It was therefore both urgent and important to have this team recruited and trained in order to help us cut down on the prevailing rate of illegal poaching, illegal hunting, illegal logging and all other ills practiced within this rich reserve”. These are the words of Mayor Denis Awoh Ndang during a certificate award ceremony on June 29, 2016 to some eleven Eco-guards who had benefitted training to ensure the protection and conservation of the Kom-Wum forest reserve said to be endowed with rich forest and wildlife resources. The training was carried out thanks to a partnership between the Fundong council and the Centre for Indigeneous Resources Management and Development (CIRMAD).

He explained that there is a serious need to help find economic alternatives before pressure continues to mount on the forest as the populations of the various villages surrounding the forest still encroach the reserve for reasons related to the need for livelihood support. Besides tasking the Eco guards to assemble information on the Kom-Wum Forest in order to ascertain the real value of its resources especially the highly valued Cameroon –Nigeria Chimpazee, as well as other endangered animal species, Mayor Ndang reiterated the need to bring together both national and international wildlife and conservation actors to review the engagement taken vis-à-vis the Kom-Wum forest reserve in 2011 when the regional action plan was elaborated. 
                                            The eco-guards drawn from the five villages surrounding the forest reserve including Mentang, Mbongkisu, Baiso, Mbengkas and Mughom for ten days updated their knowledge on Cameroon Forestry and Wildlife legislation, anti-poaching techniques, ecotourism, climate change and military drills. The training was within the framework of a regional action for the North West plan taken by some sectoral stakeholders in 2011 to protect forest sites in the region. More so, the Fundong council had signed a convention with the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife in December 2012 for the provisional management of the forest. Liyong Sama Emmanuel, coordinator of CIRMAD whose organization signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the

by: Deng Eric, community journalist,
 Boyo community radio, North West Region,
 for Green Alert Network