Ecology and Natural Resource Development in the Western Highlands of Cameroon. Issues in Natural Resource Management: Issues in Natural Resource Management

Chapter Five. Threats to Biological Diversity Management in the Mount Cameroon Region

Chapter Five Threats to Biological Diversity Management in the Mount Cameroon Region Summary The problems facing the sustainable conservation and management of biodiversity in Sub-Saharan Africa have tended to be defined in ways that do not lead to acceptable solutions. The paper uses a combination of primary and secondary data sources to identify the problems mitigating against a sustainable biodiversity management in Sub-Saharan Africa. It posits that both the problems and the solutions are built on economic foundations that need to be clearly understood. The most costly and least effective management strategy is to rely on state power. Most of the forest with protection status exists only on paper. The paper concludes that failure results from the fact that the rights which are denied forest-adjacent villages are so basic to livelihoods that enforcement is ineffective and imposes considerable social costs. Ill-adapted strategies that undermine rural livelihoods are bound to fail. Identifying the complex problems mitigating against sustainable management, the paper argues for elaborate new models for wildlife management. It recommends a holistic wildlife management model which simultaneously addresses the pillars of sustainability (economic, productive, environmental, social and cultural) using the community forestry approach. Introduction Today’s threat to species and ecosystems is the greatest recorded in history (McNeely et al; 1990). Virtually all of them are caused by human mismanagement of biological resources, often stimulated by misguided economic policies and faulty institutions that enable the exploiters to avoid paying the full costs of their exploitation. Solutions to the problem of biodiversity degradation depend above all on how the problem is defined. It appears that the problems facing the conservation of biological diversity in Sub-Saharan Africa have tended to be defined in ways that do not lead to acceptable 86 Ecology and Natural Resource Development in the Western Highlands of Cameroon solutions. The problems are generally defined in terms of insufficient areas, excess poaching (Jaff, 1994), poor law enforcement, land encroachment and illegal trade (Ndenecho, 2005; Denniston, 1995, Balgah, 2001). These definitions warrant possible responses which include establishing more protected areas, improving standards of managing species and protected areas, enacting national forest protection laws, enacting international legislation controlling trade in endangered species and policing of protected areas. These measures are all necessary but they respond to only part of the problem. Fundamental problems lie beyond protected areas which affect the livelihoods of those who mismanage the natural resource base. This paper seeks to identify the problems mitigating against biodiversity management by appraising the current management strategies and to identify alternative strategies for Sub-Saharan Africa. The Study Area The study area is located between latitudes 4o N and 60 50‘ N and longitudes 80 50’ E and 100 E. It covers a surface area of 24,910 Km2 (Fig.1). Geographically, this ecoregion encompases the mountains and highland areas of the border between Nigeria and Cameroon excluding the Bamenda Highlands. It covers the Rumpi Hills, the Bakossi Mountains, Mount Nlonako, Mount Kupe and Mount Manenguba. (Stuart 1986; Gartland, 1989; Scatterfield et al., 1998). Mount Cameroon is the dominant geographical feature with an altitude of 4100m. Most of the region is below 2000m in elevation. At about 800m to 1000m the ecoregion grades into lowland vegetation communities of other ecoregions. In the majority of cases, however, the lower boundary of these forests is now determined by conversion to agricultural land. Rainfall is around 4,000mm per annum, declining inland to 1,800mm or less. The mean temperatures are below 200 C due to the effects of altitude. This is a volcanic region. Soils derived from volcanoes are fertile, which makes the land attractive to farmers. Combined with adequate rainfall, this contributes to a high human population density. In White’s (1983) phytogeographical classification, these mountain areas fall within the Afromontane ecoregion. It has several endemic vascular plants and reptiles. Nine 87 Threats to Biological Diversity Management in the Mount Cameroon Region of the reptiles are considered narrow endemics (Stuart 1986). In addition to the narrow endemics, there is also a significant overlap between the flora and fauna of the mountains of this ecoregion. There are 50 endemic plant species and 30 near endemic plant species (White, 1983). Human activities are increasingly fragmenting, degrading and isolating the remaining forest patches. The Bakossi Mountains have at least 200 km2 of mid-altitude and montane forest above the altitude of 1000m; and the lowland forest (Western Bakossi) covers...