Vincent Gudmia Mfonfu
24 April 2003
Some 38 plant species, new to science, have been discovered in five biodiversity sites in the North West and South West provinces. These conservation sites are : Korup, Mount Cameroon, Mount Kupe, Mount Ijim, and Mount Kilum. This was the main revealation during a training workshop organised at the British Council under the auspices of the British Darwin Initiative.
It should be recalled that since 1993, the Royal Botanic Garden in Kew (Britain), and Earth Watch in collaboration with the Cameroon National Herbarium (supported by the British Darwin Institute, the European Union and the World Bank Global Enviroment Facility) ; have carried out plant inventories within these conservation sites. The aim is to provide managers of these conservation projects with precise information for the conservation of biodiversity.
The survey and research prorgamme dubbed "Conservation of Plants Diversity of Western Cameroon", reveals that some of these 38 plant species (which have commercial potentials) are not only threatened with extinction in the wild, but are not known.
Says Dr. Achoundong (Director of the Cameroon National Herbarium) : "The discoveries show that the plant diversity of Cameroon is the highest in Africa, but still incompletely unknown. There's therefore a necessity for urgent conservation action if species useful to mankind are not to be lost forever". It is for this reason that training workshops to boost Cameroon's expertise on the World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red data assessment of threatened plant species, are being organised. IUCN coordinates the world list of species threatened with extinction in the wild.
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