La Voix de Lobéké
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A Monthly Newsletter Of WWF Southeast Cameroon (Jengi) Forest Project June 2004 Edition
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Highlights Of This Edition:
Elephant tusks seized from traffickers
- Friendly elephants take up residence in a village
Three more poachers jailed
- More than 400kg of bush meat seized in Boumba Bek Park
Central African officials optimistic about future of TNS cross border conservation initiative
- WWF sensitises thousands in project area on HIV/AIDS
Elephant tusks seized from traffickers
Nine elephant tusks were on June 2 seized from two men on the periphery of the Lobeke National Park in Southeast Cameroon. The two, pretending to be cocoa merchants concealed the tusks under sacks of cocoa loaded in a trailer bound for the coastal city of Douala.
Acting on good intelligence, WWF staff, backed up by game guards, intercepted the lorry in the small village of Mambele. Some local youths were quickly hired to unload the vehicle when they uncovered the concealed booty. According to our sources, the seized tusks weigh between 4-8 kg; indicating the hunted elephants were still young.
The arrested men were moved to the town of Yokadouma where they are being held in police custody.
In a similar development, a local police chief was on June 5 briefly held by WWF staff and game guards after being found in possession of a leopard skin. The incident happened in the little town of Mikel where game guards acting on a tip off, intercepted a passenger vehicle carrying the local police chief.
It should be recalled that game guards had for some time been trailing the movements of the police chief. It is believed that his missions in the area were to commission some local poachers. On one of such surveillance missions, the furious police boss is reported to have threatened WWF staff with his service revolver.
Friendly elephants take up residence in Southeast Cameroonian village
Since April this year, three elephants have taken up near permanent residence in the little village of Landjoue, located on the outskirts of the proposed Boumba Bek National Park, some 18 km from the town of Yokadouma.
According to locals, the little elephant herd made up of a male, female and baby, visits their village regularly, though the villagers testified that the animals have not threatened their lives. However, they are concerned by the fact that the animals frequently walk across the village. A situation, they say, has kept their women and children from their daily chores for some days now.
It was because of this concern that the villagers on June 14 invited conservation authorities from Yokadouma to advise them on what steps to take. The local representative of Wildlife at the Delegation of Environment and Forestry, Mbooh Danjuma, informed the people that the law prohibits the killing of elephants except in cases of self-defence. He stated that even in cases of self-defence, killing could only be carried out with authorisation from government and upon assessment of degree of threat.
At moment, Landjoue locals have not reached this stage, as they agree the elephants have not been destructive.
Continuous poaching activity and insufficient food in the forests; and the activities of logging companies in nearby logging concessions – especially the frightening sound of their hacksaws, may explain the long stay of elephants in the village, according to Mbooh Danjuma. However, while a solution is still awaited, Landjoue inhabitants continue to live in fear.
Three more poachers jailed in Southeast Cameroon
Three more poachers were on June 11, 2004 sentenced to various jail terms by the Yokadouma High Court in the South East of Cameroon. The convicted poachers include two nationals from the Central African Republic, CAR and a Cameroonian.
The CAR nationals were each sentenced to a year’s imprisonment with hard labour and a fine of approximately U.S $ 400. They are also to be deported after completing their sentences. They had earlier been charged for illegal possession of carcasses of protected wildlife species, firearms, and illegal immigration. The Cameroonian got two months imprisonment with hard labour and damages of U.S $ 200 for the illegal possession of a firearm and hunting without license.
Since the beginning of this year, 8 people have been sentenced for poaching by the Yokadouma High Court.
Thousands sensitised in Southeast Cameroon on HIV/AIDS and other related diseases
More than 1,000 people were recently sensitised in Jengi project area on HIV/AIDS, malaria and family planning issues. The sensitisation campaigns that formed part of Jengi Project’s Community Health Education initiative, was carried out by recently trained village health scouts under the guidance of WWF and local medical officials.
As part of the campaigns, mosquito-treated nets and more than 4,000 condoms were freely given out after the people had been educated on how to use them.
Similarly, no fewer than 2,500 elementary school children, including some parents and other locals in the vicinity of ten schools in the Yokadouma area were also sensitised on dangers of HIV/AIDS. The month-long campaign was organised by the project’s Communication Department as part of the Community Health Education programme. A local comedian, Mini Pam Pam, and his Elephants Noirs du Cameroun theatrical group organised theatrical performances as part of the campaigns. The comedian also used the opportunity to encourage the little children on the benefits of having a good education - especially in this region where the literacy rate is very low.
At the end of the exercise, head teachers of the schools lauded WWF for the initiative, expressing the wish to see the theatrical performances carried out over and over again for better understanding by children of the danger of the deadly disease, AIDS.
Jengi Briefs
* WWF Jengi Project recently organised a 10-day training for workers of Groupe DecolvenaereCameroun, GDC logging company. The training was on teaching field workers techniques of reduced impact logging. The exercise is part of the GDC-WWF partnership agreement on sustainable forest management and wood certification.
*Jengi Project has assisted the Groupe Decolvenaere Cameroun, GDC logging company to put in place a new computerised data base system on forest surveys. The new system reduces the use of cyber trackers for data collection and will improve techniques in field data collection, information management and analysis. It also puts an end to the era of manual collection using sheets of paper. GDC workers are already testing the equipment that costs US $1,000 in the field.
*Jengi Project recently signed two technical agreements with two logging companies (Groupe Vasto Legno and Groupe Vasto Legno in Southeast Cameroon to carry out wildlife inventories in their logging concessions. The technical agreements are a first step towards a broader partnership that will embrace sustainable forest management and other issues.
The first agreement was signed with the whose concessions are located adjacent to the Lobeke National Park. has been operating in the region since 1968 and is involved mainly in the areas of logging and wood transformation. It currently employs 1,000 workers. The second agreement was signed with Ingénierie Forestière to carry out wildlife inventories in their concessions located North of Boumba Bek Park.
German partners promise €5 million funding for Lobeke Park Trust Fund
Following a recent visit to the Lobeke National Park by the German Ambassador to Cameroon and other officials from the German development agency, GTZ, the German Federal Ministry for Cooperation and Development, BMZ, the German government pledged €5 million to support the establishment of a Lobeke Trust Fund. This laudable initiative is aimed at securing long term funding for sustainable natural resource management in the area.
In a similar development, the Global Environment Facility, GEF Programme has secured some US $10 million to support conservation work in the Ngoila Mintom area of the proposed Nki National Park. The four-year funding goes operational as from January 2005. The Ngoila Mintom area forms part of the new cross border conservation initiative, TriDOM, between neighbouring Gabon and Congo (Brazzaville) Republic and Cameroon.
Professional hunting companies accept to carry out wildlife surveys
In a meeting on June 8, 2004, professional hunting companies operating within the project area accepted to carry out wildlife inventories in their zones. This move is a great step forward in management of wildlife in the region.
Jengi Project was very instrumental in organising this meeting. WWF has promised its technical assistance to ensure quality data is collected. Trophy hunting constitutes an important source of revenue in the region. About US $500,000 is generated from trophy hunting each year by the government. The inventories will provide data on wildlife abundance, distribution and also help in scientific determination of hunting quotas.
WWF Jengi staff participate in TNS workshop
Two WWF staff recently attended a TNS training workshop in Kabo, Congo (Brazzaville) to put in place a monitoring system for human settlements along the River Sangha. The two were Expedit Fouda, Park Assistant for Lobeke and Vincent Ngwanye Anong, Senior Field Assistant for the proposed Nki National Park.
The workshop was also attended by TNS colleagues from the other projects. The River Sangha is bordered on its Eastern bank by the Dzangha Sangha and Nouabale Ndoki national parks of CAR and Congo respectively; and on the Western bank by the Lobeke National Park in Cameroon. These parks make up the TNS conservation zone.
WWF brings Lobeke traditional medicine practitioners together
As a follow up to Jengi Project’s Community Health Education initiative, a one-week survey of traditional medicine practitioners (traditional healers and birth attendants) around Lobeke was recently carried out. The idea is to get them in organised groups wherein they can share best practices and better complement conventional medicine.
Results of present surveys show that 72 per cent of the 48 traditional medicine practitioners contacted were women. It should be noted that traditional healers play a vital and complementary role in this region where medical facilities tend to be few and far between.
Park Assistant of Boumba Bek in Gabon for MIKE training
The Park Assistant for Boumba Bek, Bene Bene Lambert is in Gabon where he and other conservation colleagues from the Central African sub region are meeting to analyse data collected over the past 18 months on Monitoring of the IllegalKilling of Elephants, MIKE. The programme that is an initiative of CITES (an international conservation convention of wildlife species under serious threat of extinction) in collaboration with WCS and WWF, is aimed at determining current numbers of elephants in the sub region, their migration patterns and assessing threats – mainly from poaching.
Results will help biologists and conservation organisations establish appropriate monitoring and surveillance systems to combat hunting and ivory trade.
New clearing discovered in Boumba Bek Park
A new forest clearing was recently discovered in proposed Boumba Bek National Park. The discovery brings to 16, the total number of forest clearings so far discovered in the park. Large forest mammals are often attracted by these clearings where they come to graze. Clearings are increasingly monitored to gauge wildlife presence in the parks. They also offer unique opportunities to view forest wildlife and therefore provide good ecotoursim potentials.
La Voix de Lobeke
Coordination: Dr Leonard Usongo
Editors: Kimeng Hilton Ndukong, Peter Ngea
Collaboration: Louis Ngono, Anong Vincent, Alphonse Ngniado, Zacharie Nzooh Dongmo, Eliand Silvère, Lambert Bene Bene, Mbooh Danjuma, Mbondo Mbondo Samuel, Kapitaine Prosper, Zoredec Achille
NB: Any correspondence or request for further information on any of the articles/or issues raised in this publication should be directed to: or pngeawwfcarpo.org
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