The Forest
“The Kilum-Ijim forest is a natural closed moist montane forest that covers about 50,000 acres and is located in the Bui administrative division of Cameroon’s Nord-Ouest Province (the Bamenda highlands). Forests in Central Africa have suffered an unprecedented amount of degradation over recent decades and the Kilum-Ijim forest is one of the largest remaining Central African montane forests. The forest contains many endemic wildlife species (especially birds and fish) and plant species. This forest also plays an important role in controlling water flows and is also of significant cultural and spiritual value to the local people.”
Timeframe
Conservation activities in the forest began in 1931 with the demarcation of the Mount Oku Forest Reserve. An agreement was concluded between the warden and the local population concerning certain rights of use in the reserve. A study of the mountain chain in western Cameroon by BirdLife International in the early 1980s led to establishment of the Kilum Mountain Forest Project in 1987, while the Ijim Mountain Forest Project was launched in 1992. The two projects then began to work together and in 1995 were amalgamated into the Kilum-Ijim Forest Project. With the help of the Ministry of the Environment and Forests, the project established community forests throughout almost the entire Kilum-Ijim forest, with a central conservation zone. Between 1995 and 2000 the project concentrated its efforts on the forest management institutions established by local communities, giving support in all the stages of the legal allocation of community forests. Negotiations on the agreed limits of use are an important element and take into account the ministry’s conservation objectives and the local population’s use objectives. All the simple management plans of the individual community forests incorporate regulations agreed at meetings of the ministry, the traditional authorities and community representatives. A permanent structure (technical operational unit, aka TOU) must be established to manage the central conservation area, and also a permanent fund to finance and run the ongoing ecological monitoring program and other activities. At present, eight forest management institutions out of the total of 18 are in the process of acquiring their community forests through the conclusion of management agreements with the State.”
