The ideas expressed below are not endorsed by or representative of the U.S. Peace Corps.

Also, I'm aware that "obviousment" is technically not an officially accepted French word.

Sunday, September 20, 2015

A Walk in the Woods: Cameroon Edition


Ever since the early days of training I’ve known that logging and resource extraction are both major environmental issues here in Cameroon. The most visible examples of this are the flatbed trucks packed with what appear to be whole tree trunks lumbering along what must be Cameroon’s smoothest roads-the ones leading to the port in Douala. Cameroon has an incredible amount of native biodiversity and I would imagine that the condition of local infrastructure (not to mention government bureaucracy) has delayed exploitation of the levels that exist in other countries. But as much of the natural resource extraction takes place in the rainforest (a cool 13+ hours from where I live), I hadn’t given the issue much thought over the course of my service. And an additional issue to consider: I come from a country and culture that encourages consumerism and by extension the natural resources that it requires. It felt a little hypocritical to critique a country for taking advantage of the commercial interests of much wealthier ones.

But I was talking to an agricultural technician named Josephine at the local office last week and she told me about the severity of deforestation in our own area. My village sits just on the border of an urban area, but it still primarily agricultural and has a definite village feel to it. Incidentally, today was the installation of the “local traditional council”, which is separate from the governmental local council that covers the same area. 

Josephine proceeded to tell me about the extreme deforestation that continues to take place in the Mendankwe forest; apparently many people head out to the forest each day and cut down trees to sell in town for use as firewood. Mendankwe is uniquely situated for this kind of deforestation, as the close proximity of Bamenda means a large client base that doesn’t have immediate access to potential firewood. And many people still prefer cooking outdoors over a wood fire (or in a “country kitchen” separate from the main house), as it doesn’t require relatively expensive bottled gas.
The landscape here is stunningly beautiful; we sit at somewhere between 5,000 and 6,000 feet and the whole area is encircled by even taller green hills. I had been told many times that many people in the village hike up these hills each day to do their farming, but had never known one of these farmers well enough to be invited along. And I was too intimidated to explore them myself-those hills are steep!

But my luck changes this week when Josephine invites me to come get a glimpse of the Mendankwe forests and see some of the deforestation firsthand. We meet at the traditional fon’s palace and are soon clearly outside the village limits. The path up the hill becomes quite steep, but the presence of women carrying huge farming tools on their heads is enough to keep me moving. And I quickly begin to notice the large number of people hastily walking down the path with large bunches of branches balanced on their heads. Eventually the path flattens a bit and I realize that what I had imagined to be hills is really just the beginning part of a large elevated forest. Or what used to be a forest-there are huge tracts of cleared land dotted with many stumps. It feels almost like a scene out of the Lorax.

And this was one of the smaller loads I saw!
And still the parade of wood-carrying people continues. There doesn’t seem to be a specific demographic to these trekkers-we see many young women but also some women and men of all ages. These people certainly have to be commended for their physical commitment and stamina. Most of them are wearing flip-flops or adult “jellies” sandals and are all but running down the path with a huge amount of weight carefully balanced. I begin to notice that some people (primarily men) are carrying what appear to be already milled boards. And sure enough, we eventually come upon a mini-


sawmill complete with chainsaws (with a man using ear protection!) and logs too big to be carried down whole.

Milling logs too big to be carried down whole.
Deforestation is an issue that Josephine cares deeply about and she has decided that the best plan of action is to encourage modern beekeeping techniques in an attempt to provide a replacement income source for local residents. As a plus, bees benefit from an abundance of nearby trees, which she hopes will convince people to plant some trees back and leave the remaining ones alone. I admire her optimism and wish that a more comprehensive solution were also on the table. She lost me on the details, but explained that logging has only been allowed since 1962, which is right around when Cameroon gained its independence. Apparently one of the local politicians opened up access to the previously protected forest in an attempt to gain popular support. I can only imagine that it worked out quite well for him.

Evidence of deforestation notwithstanding, the walk is a beautiful one. We walk down to a patch of replanted forest and Josephine stops to point out a beehive that a farmer she worked with has placed. The hive is nearly falling off its post and it is clear that it has been there a long time. But Josephine’s enthusiasm is infectious and soon we’re both imagining the potential for this land. The small patches of farmland only add to the possibilities, although the steep hike up would add to the challenge.
The issue of deforestation in Mendankwe is clearly a complicated one. While there are no international entanglements at play, the needs for firewood and unrestricted access to timber continue. In addition, the majority of the reforestation efforts (where they occur) consist of eucalyptus saplings, which have extremely high water needs and lower the water table. Given the severity of recent dry seasons, it appears that the issue of deforestation and water availability are connected and will need to be dealt with in the near future.

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