campo_ma’an-description : Protected Areas in the Congo Basin: Failing both people and biodiversity?

Country: Cameroon

Type and IUCN Category: National Park (IUCN Category: II); RAPAC Pilot Site

Size (hectares): 264,064

Date of creation: 6 January 2000. A wildlife reserve has existed in this area since 1932.

CARPE landscape: Not part of the CARPE landscape

Management plan: Made publicly available for the period 2015-2019 (MINFOF, 2014). The first management plan was promulgated in 2006 (Diaw et al., 2009, 240; MINFOF, 2014, xv).

Local communities: The local population consists of:

Indigenous Bagyéli, the oldest occupants of the area though a minority group (there are fewer than 10,000); they are nomadic hunter-gatherers
Bantu groups, who consist of fishermen Batanga, Yassa, Ntumu and Mabea, as well as Mvae and Bulu, who practise subsistence agriculture.
The Bebilis, a tribe that originated in the east of the country. They live in hunting camps like the Bagyeli, and hunt commercially with guns as well as traps. (Owono, 2003, 249).

There are 162 sedentary villages within the periphery of the park as well as 22 Bagyéli settlements. There has also been a significant influx of migrant workers who settled in the area to work for logging companies, oil palm plantations and infrastructure development companies (Memve’ele hydropower dam and the Kribi Port and Industrial Complex), causing the overall population to double between 2002 and 2014 (MINFOF, 2014, 36).

Administration: The park is managed by the Cameroonian Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife (MINFOF). Conservation activities are managed by technical advisors from the World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF). The objectives include the protection of biological diversity and natural habitats in the reserve and its surroundings but also increased participation and contribution to local development through the promotion of eco-tourism (MINFOF, 2014).

Biodiversity information: The fauna and flora of the park are very diverse, including endangered species such as forest elephant, forest buffalo, gorilla, chimpanzee, mandrill, leopard and giant pangolin.

Neighbouring and overlapping extractive industries (Mapping for Rights):

Three logging concessions border Campo Ma’an:

(1) concession 09-025 (managed by SCIEB since 1997) on the western border;
(2) concession 09-024 (managed by WIJMA since 2000) on the south-eastern border; and
(3) concession 09-021 (managed by WIJMA since 1997) on the north-eastern border.

Four mining permits were allocated around the park: Camus Resources Mewongo 201, GSA and Sicamines SARL Eboundja on the north side, and Sinosteelcam S.A. Lobe 154 on the west side of the park.

Information available on funding:

(Please note that some of these grants may be covering several protected areas or landscapes.)

The Cameroonian Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife itself concedes there is a lack of transparency concerning each stakeholder’s financial contribution (MINFOF 2014, 21).

Campo Ma’an national park receives government support (circa US$ 279,000 or 168,100,000 FCFA for 2006-2013) and funding from various national and international partners such as the Foundation for the Environment and Development in Cameroon (Fondation pour l’Environnement et le Développement au Cameroun, FEDEC), the Fondation Segré, Linking Future, the Network of Protected Areas in Central Africa (Réseau des Aires Protégées d’Afrique Centrale, RAPAC) and the Forest Ecosystems in Central Africa Programme (Programme Ecosystèmes Forestiers en Afrique Centrale, ECOFAC), Projet de Compétitivité des Filières de Croissance (PCFC), and the European Union through WWF (circa $5,044,000 or 3,039,558,328 FCFA for 2006-2013). Local partners such as rubber producer HEVECAM S.A., forestry company WIJMA and various NGOs contribute as well (MINFOF, 2014, 22).

Past grants include (PAPACO, 2010, 57; 62):

Protection project for the biodiversity of Campo Ma’an and its periphery (2010-2013)
Funders: WWF, FEDEC
Grant manager: WWF
Objectives: Park protection, training and technical assistance for park management staff.
Funds: $267,230 (161 million FCFA)

Linking Future Program – LFP (2007 – 2010)
Funders: Dutch Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS); WWF
Grant manager: WWF
Objectives: Improve the living conditions of local populations through micro-finance and community forestry projects, support for eco-tourism and sale of non-timber forest products.
Funds: $1,493,827 (900 million FCFA)

Protection project for Campo Ma’an NP’s gorillas (2007 – 2010)
Funder and grant manager: WWF
Objective: study of feasibility on gorilla habituation
Funds: $194,000 (120 million FCFA)

Campo Ma’an’s development and biodiversity conservation project (1998-2002)
Funder: Global Environment Facility
Grant managers: SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, Tropenbos International
Objectives: eco development research, technical assistance, protection of Campo Ma’an NP, training.
Funds: $9,959,000 (6 billion FCFA)

Forest and Environment Programme, 2016-2019
Funder: GIZ
Objective: The Forest and Environment Ministry, including their decentralized structures, shall exercise their mandate coordinated and made with other relevant actors.
Grant manager: COMIFAC, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Cameroonian Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife (MINFOF), and the Ministry of Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development (MINEPDED)
Funds: €22 000 000 across Cameroon (amount dedicated to each National Park unknown)

Partnership against Poaching and the Illegal Wildlife Trade Ivory and Rhino Horn) in Africa and Asia, 2017-2020
Funder: GIZ
Objective:Improving the fight against poaching (across sectors, borders and continents).
Grant manager: COMIFAC, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Implementation on the ground through Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS), the Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network (TRAFFIC), the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Global Nature Fund (GNF)
Funds: €8 750 000 across Africa and Asia(amount dedicated to each country/National Park unknown)