In 2018, TreeSisters began to fund a project in Southwestern Cameroon to support the restoration of the Lebialem Highlands forests near Mount Bamboutos. This area is of global biodiversity importance and is home to the endangered Cross River gorilla.
TreeSisters has been working closely with our planting partner International Tree Foundation (ITF), and the local implementing partner ERuDeF to make this project a reality. Over the past few years, local communities have been engaged with the project, and ERuDeF has successfully planted 304,315 trees!
Through donations from TreeSisters, this project has also set up 109 individual nurseries, four community-managed nurseries, three farmers' group nurseries and seven central nurseries with four giant mist propagators. Additionally, thanks to TreeSisters' support, 1086 people in the region have had the opportunity to attend workshops about the importance of restoring the Mt Bamboutos ecosystem, and 429 people (40% women) have attended training sessions (on nursery establishment and management techniques, contour farming and so much more) to develop their skills to sustainably manage the Mt Bamboutos ecosystem. Participants during a training workshop on agroforestry contour farming and related material.
However, due to conflict and instability in the region, these measures have not been sufficient to meet the original tree target for this reforestation project.
The project was due to be completed in September 2021; however, due to the challenges and social impact of civil war, layered with the additional complication of COVID-19, reforestation in this project is now on pause.
ITF and ERuDEF are working closely with local communities to see what changes can be made to the project to enable work to continue in this vital habitat. Treesisters' funding for this project is on pause until more clarity and adjustments can be made to ensure that reforestation can go as hoped. We will keep our donors up to date with the latest developments as soon as they are available!
We would love to thank and honour everyone who has donated to TreeSisters to date; your donations continue to transform lives, landscapes and the future of our world. If you want to learn more about the latest updates from our other reforestation projects, please visit our Grow Forests page.
Photos are courtesy of EruDef