A guide on the sustainable management of reserves was presented in Yaounde last Friday.

Efforts are under way to put an end to anarchy that has hitherto characterized governance in forest reserves in the country, making it difficult for researchers to adequately carryout research and rendering certain animal and plant species near extinction.

A guide containing proposals on what could be done by the various stakeholders in the forestry sector to facilitate research and preserve endangered animal and plant species as well as step up the living conditions of the local population in the concerned areas was presented to the Ministry of Scientific Research and Innovation on Friday July 10.

The 31-page document is fruit of a two-year research carried out by a Federation of Rural Women of Dja et Lobo (FFeRuDjaL) and Forest Governance Facility (FGF). Friday's ceremony came barely months after the two research groups held a public debate in Yaounde on the theme "Forestry Teaching and Research in Cameroon".

Speaking during the event on Friday, Jean Paul Nlend Nkott, senior adviser at FGF, said Cameroon is a leading country in applying forest reforms in Africa and that there is need to facilitate research, teach students what the forest is and how it could be sustainably managed. Reason why, he said, forest reserves which have been set aside for this purpose need care and concerted action from all the stakeholders. He cited forest reserves like Deng deng, Mbalmayo and Sangmelima, among others, which are to facilitate research in forestry. Unfortunately, he said, the forest reserves are not placed under an authority, adding that this leaves the reserves free-for-all zones where illegal hunting and felling down of trees are the order of the day. A phenomenon which the board chairperson of FFeRuDjaL, Ayolo Suzanne, and its coordinator, SM. Mvondo Bruno, said necessitated the drafting of the document.

The document contains an overview of governance of forest reserves in Cameroon, the contribution of the local population with Sangmelima as case study, their importance to the economy, ecology and climate. It also identifies the various stakeholders in the sector and proposes the roles of each of them. It also recommends that government develops and puts in place a marketing plan for each of the forest reserves, develops responsible community ecotourism as well as follow up and coordinate research activities in forest reserves.

Jean Daniel Ngoupayou who sat in for the Minister of Scientific Research and Innovation said valorizing governance in forest reserves is in line with the ministry's roadmap and that the document was a useful tool in realizing that objective. He described forest reserves as laboratories whose results contribute greatly in the socio-economic and cutltural development of society.