At the heart of Mount Cameroon are globally threatened species like the forest elephant, Nigeria Cameroon chimpanzee, francolin, and zebrawood, undergoing depletion alongside many others due to wanton hunting, habitat encroachment and fragmentation. This is further compounded by the increasing erosion of indigenous conservation knowledge and none inclusion of kids and young adults, who hold the key to the future sustainability of species in this area, in conservation actions.
This situation has made both the short and long term conservation of species in the area very bleak, but not any more! A Cameroon-based biodiversity conservation and sustainable development non-profit organization, Voice of Nature (VoNat), has since 2021 collaborated with New England Biolabs Foundation to empower over 50 kids from communities in the Mount Cameroon Area, who are now taking semi-independent actions to conserve endangered species in the area.
The youngsters, who have now grouped themselves in a network know as “Eco-warriors” are engaged in a house-to-house sensitization, and also organizing micro radio and TV programmes to raise community consciousness on the legal implications of killing and or being in possession of any of the species. Besides the advocacy, outreach and sensitization campaign for endangered species conservation, the Eco-warriors are also raising some endangered tree species found the Mount Cameroon National Park, which will be distributed to adjacent communities to the Mount Cameroon National Park for domestication. The action, according to the children, aims to stop the future depletion of endangered tree species in the Park.
Meantime, the Eco-warriors are also training local farmers on liquid fertilizer production and setting up a regenerative agriculture demonstration site in their communities. This, according to them, is necessary to boost the farm yields of the Mount Cameroon National Park adjacent communities, as a strategy to limit their encroachment into the Park in search of arable lands. They are also organizing special events through which older communities folks can transmit pro-conservation traditional knowledge to the younger generation.
Apart from endangered species conservation, the kids and young adults of Mount Cameroon are also donating trash cans and plastic collection cage to schools, hospitals and local markets for sustainable waste management.