Climate Change and the Management of Natural Systems in Cameroon

2. Climate Change and Rainforest Ecosystem Management

21 Chapter Two Climate Change and Rainforest Ecosystem Management Summary The future of the rainforests of the world is high on the agenda of international organization agencies. This is because of the value of their biological resources, that is, consumptive use value, productive use value and the benefits occurring to society as ecosystem services. The size of the rainforest in Cameroon, the great biological diversity, and the current anthropogenic pressures on the ecosystem call for urgent conservation attention. There is need to evaluate how resilient the forest will be in future once an overlay of probable climate change impacts set in, that is, a detailed level of analysis of vulnerability to climate change. The chapter analyses these threats in combination, appraises current forest management strategies, and identifies the scope for selecting adaptation options and management strategies that could promote resistance and resilience to climate change. It concludes that the selection of adaptation strategies should depend largely upon the existing and eminent non-climatic stresses to the forest system. This is the baseline upon which climate change will exert additional pressure. The overlay of climate change-induced threats pointing to particular species or system vulnerabilities will aid in the choice of strategies. However, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions remains the only long-term option to ensuring healthy forest ecosystem. Key Words: Climate change, rainforest, resistance, resilience, humaninduced pressures, vulnerability analysis, adaptation options. Introduction Tropical forests cover 6% of the earth’s land area and are found in the equatorial zone of Latin America, Africa and Asia. The tropical rainforest, as we now call it, seemed immense and almost indestructible. It first began to disappear in the Caribbean islands as early as 1671 after sugar cane plantations swallowed up forest on Barbados. Other islands in the region 22 went through similar experience, a foretaste of a global trend that has accelerated in the 20th Century (Anon, 1998). Today tropical rainforests carpet only 5% of the earth’s surface, compared with 12% a century ago. Every year an area of about 130.000 km2 of forest is felled or burned and about 56% the world’s tropical forests have been cleared or damaged (Miller Jr., 1994). This appalling rate of destruction threatens to condemn the rainforest and its ecosystems. Forests in the developing countries are in a crisis and facing serious degradation. In 1980, there were about 646 million hectares of forests and wood lands in subSaharan Africa. A 1980, FAO / UNEP study estimated 4.7 million hectares of these forests were being felled annually (Lanly, 1982). The Cameroon rainforest has an approximate area of 200,000 km2 . This forest harbours 297 species of mammals, 949 species of birds and 3000 species of amphibians (Ngome, 1992) and 156 endemic species (Gartland, 1992). The size of the forest and the great biological diversity calls for urgent protection efforts. On the other hand, the contribution of the forestry sector to the national economy is significant. Timber alone accounted for 4% of GNP in 1991, generated 32 billion CFA francs worth of exports and provided 20.000 jobs (MINEF, 1992). (Figure 1 and 2) The future of the rainforest of the world is high on the agenda of international organizational agencies at present (Rio, 1992). Cameroon has one of the largest reserves of rainforest left in the world which extends into neighbouring Congo, Gabon, and Democratic Republic of Congo. A debate exists between the major conservation agencies who want to protect these forest and commercial / state interests who exploit the forest for timber and natural resources. The chapter appraises forest management strategies in Cameroon with a focus on sustainable management, climate change impacts, identifies the scope for selecting adaptation strategies and a policy framework for the mitigation of impacts. 23 Figure 1: Location of the Cameroon and rainforest in Africa The Extent of Forest Exploitation - Timber Reserves: 7 million hectares with an estimated potential of 29,400,000m3 of Entandrophragma and 2.4 million m3 of Khaya. These are undergoing development with the objective of timber production. - Exploitation Zones: 8 million hectares opened to exploitation. Standing timber is estimated at 24 million m3 of Entandrophragma and 1.96 million m3 of Mahogany. It is estimated that only 250.000 hectares of these forests are exploited yearly and less than 10 cubic metres of timber are harvested per hectare. This is in order to minimize the resulting disturbances suffered by the forest from extraction...