The Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, MINFOF, has transferred the management of the Buea Forest Reserve (Fuel Wood Plantation) temporarily to the Buea Council.

The transfer is in line with a Ministerial Decision of August 21, 2012, that laid down modalities for Councils to sign a three-year provisional convention with MINFOF, which is part of Government’s policy to bring local communities and councils on board the management of natural resources within the framework of the ongoing decentralisation process.

Stakeholders from the MINFOF, Buea Council, councilors, traditional leaders from some local communities situated around the Fuel Wood Plantation, quarter heads, among others, participated in the session at the Buea Municipal Council Hall, on August 20.

The Divisional Officer, DO, for Buea, Paul Wokam Kouam, said the meeting was meant to restitute the results of the management inventory carried out in the Buea Forest Reserve from January to April as well as to strategise on a management plan for the reserve.

Wokam stated that the Council, during the three years of the convention, with technical assistance from MINFOF, has to organise sensitisation meetings with local administration and communities concerned, train conservators, conduct a proper delimitation of the Forest Reserve, carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment, EIA, to produce an environmental management plan, a management plan of the fuel wood plantation and a five-year action plan.

The Southwest Regional Delegate for MINFOF, Samuel Ebai Eben, stated that the Government has already funded the decentralisation projects in the entire Southwest Region in the sum of FCFA 72 million of which 30 percent will be disbursed to councils for the first phase.

“The Government, through MINFOF, for the past 60 years has not succeeded in sufficiently managing reserves, which is why knowing the Council’s capabilities of especially tracking down law defaulters, is now handing the responsibility to them,” Eben stated.

Participants expressed worries when the Delegate stated that the reserve, which occupied 300 hectares of land in 1962, now covers only 148 hectares, the rest 152 having been declassified. Buea Council Secretary General, Joseph Njie Ewome, insisted on knowing why and how the land was declassified, as well as how it could be reclaimed.

A chief from one of the local communities situated around the reserve disclosed that the local people know that encroachment activities are responsible for the loss. Meantime, the National Forest Expert for the Programme of Sustainable Management of Natural Resources in the Southwest, Dr. Peguy Tchouto, said part of that land was used for the construction of Government buildings and other activities. He urged them to work with what’s available and curb encroachment and illegal exploitation.

Councilor Susan Mbua expressed doubts about the objective of the reserve, saying while growing up, she was told that the forest was meant to slow down lava flow from the mountain.

The Technical Operator of the MINFOF in the Southwest Delegation explained that, according to archives the reserve was meant to serve the Buea community. Meantime, the 3rd Deputy Mayor, Edward Mosoko, who chaired the event, said the council was ready to take up the challenge and in all transparency. If after three years, the Council does not meet up to the required expectations, the convention will be terminated.