Engaging Indigenous People and Local Communities in Nature Conservation: The case of Waza national park, north Cameroon

Covering more than 15 million hectares of savannahs and woodlands the north regions of Cameroon include four major national parks –Waza, Benoué, Boumba Ndjida and Faro – in its network of protected areas. Home to... [ view full abstract ]

Covering more than 15 million hectares of savannahs and woodlands the north regions of Cameroon include four major national parks –Waza, Benoué, Boumba Ndjida and Faro – in its network of protected areas. Home to elephants, derby elands, antelopes, black rhino now extinct, African wild dogs, buffalos and giraffes as well as 300 species of birds, this is one of the last relatively rich and stable stretches of savannahs in central Africa.

Threatened by intensive agriculture, cattle grazing, poaching and unsustainable fishing, hunting and most recently insecurity with Islamic fundamentalist group Boko Haram, IUCN is working in the region, especially within the national parks, on a number of conservation, reforestation and community livelihood development projects.

80% of the estimated 8 million inhabitants depend entirely on natural resources for their subsistence. With most of the people living as nomads, immigration is permanent with movement coming from the thickly populated extreme North, to the South where the soil is more conducive and attractive for agro-pastoral activities. Added to the fact that it is poorly known and consequently poorly managed, the biodiversity of the area faces unprecedented pressure from the people who struggle for survival through a variety of unsustainable activities.

Threats include agriculture, firewood gathering, random cattle grazing, poaching, cotton farming, pollution, unsustainable fishing and hunting. Since 2014 the region has been target of Islamic fundamentalist group Boko Haram resulting to death thousands of people. The massive displacement of local populations coupled with increased numbers of refugees has led to tremendous pressures on natural resources in the area.

Over the past 5years, IUCN invested more than USD$3million in Waza national park and surrounding multiple use zones on infrastructural development and surveillance operations to secure the national park but also direct investments in community livelihood projects to improve living conditions of the estimated 300,000 surrounding local population. An estimated USD$1million was allocated for this work to incentivize local communities to support conservation efforts. The activities are mainly agriculture, fishing, bee keeping, exploitation and trade in non-timber forest products such as Arabic landscape restoration and afforestation to improve soil quality for agriculture, organizational support, capacity building of local community institutions.

IUCN work in Waza national park and surrounding multiple use zones is based on the argument that success in protection of wildlife and conservation of natural resources in the area can only be guaranteed through active engagement and support from surrounding local communities.