A nation wide campaign to classify and reclassify tourism sites has been launched recently by the Minister of Tourism, Baba Hamadou, in Yaounde.

A project to replace over one million eucalyptus trees with indigenous ones dubbed EUREP in Bui and Donga/Mantung Divisions was launched on Tuesday, August 22 in Kumbo.

Also launched was the Sustainable Marketing Strategy for Rural Women Cooperatives in Cameroon known as "Truck Project".The two projects, an initiative of Bamenda-based NGO - Strategic Humanitarian Services, SHUMAS, were aimed at creating more arable

farm lands, protecting water catchments and sheds, generating new woodland of indigenous trees, promoting agro-forestry and providing a market for farm produce.

According to SHUMAS general coordinator, Stephen Njodzeka Ndzerem, EUREP Phase I involves the cutting down of over 700.000 mature eucalyptus trees and replacing them with indigenous African nitrogen fixing species and fruits/medicinal trees.

He said about 200.000 trees were provided to women for agro-forestry purposes.

Ndzerem disclosed that SHUMAS was not only concentrating its efforts in the tree planting sector in the Northwest, but also in other parts of the country.

He said, "In collaboration with the Tertiary Sisters of St. Francis through the Diocese of Yagoua, SHUMAS has initiated a tree planting exercise in seven villages to fight against the rapid advancement of the Sahara Desert into the Sahel Region of Cameroon".

SHUMAS Coordinator said concerning the sustainable marketing strategy project, he intended to increase the earnings of women cooperative members, check food crop damages after harvest due to lack of adequate preservation facilities, improve on living standards and reduce poverty.

He said 75 women cooperative groups in some provinces in Cameroon will be connected by a 20-ton Mercedes truck through buying and selling foodstuffs from and for the groups.

Launching the project, Bui Second Assistant Senior Divisional Officer, Patrick Che Ngwashi, pledged administration's support but warned against possible conflicts with water management committees. He lauded SHUMAS for its humanitarian services aimed at alleviating the plight of the underprivileged.

Kumbo Urban Council Mayor, Donatus Fonyuy Njong, while lauding SHUMAS activities, said his council has instituted a scheme dubbed "Tree for the Unborn Baby" whereby no birth certificate is established without parents of the new baby planting a tree in the council area.

"Future In Our Hands" Women Credit Cooperative representative, Mary Nkeng Ghangle, thanked SHUMAS and her partners for thinking of the rural woman.

Northwest Provincial Delegate of Environment and Nature Protection, Francis Fonye, and his Bui colleague Emmanuel Tumi, were present at the launch. A thanksgiving mass at the Kumbo Cathedral preceded the daylong launch.