National targets

Climate change and climate variation are negatively impacting on ecosystems and consequently on the wellbeing of the populations that depend on ecosystem resources for their livelihoods. Therefore, in order to reverse these harmful impacts of climate changes, urgent actions will be undertaken and will also enable  affected communities to adapt to climates changes through sustainable agricultural and livestock practices, integrated freshwater catchment management, and afforestation/reforestation programmes. The future REDD+ mechanism envisaged in Target 15 is also a major strategy to reduce GHG emissions as they address the direct and indirect causes of deforestation and degradation.

Current Protected Areas - PAs (National Parks, Wildlife/Forest Reserves, Sanctuaries, Hunting zones, including Sacred Forests) cover around 20% of the land cover and are thus beyond the 30 % global targets. Moreover, the effective management of the PA’s is hampered by funding and human resource constraints and the non-involvement of indigenous and local communities. Furthermore, the National Protected Areas System is not representative of the country's ecosystem diversity. As a response, new protected areas will be created in fragile and biodiversity hotspots where these will ensure a national representation of the six ecosystems. Priorities will aim to improve and sustain the status of threatened species through in-situ (gene/seed banks, wildlife sanctuaries, etc.) in fragile ecosystems of the marine and semi-arid ecosystems. A programme for the sustainable management of PAs, restoration of degraded PAs and valorisation of PA biodiversity will be established and implemented. An emerging approach to support management costs of protected areas as well as generate wealth for riparian communities to PAs will be to develop and implement an Access and Benefit Sharing scheme for national PAs. This will ensure that bioprospection, tourism and other uses of PAs effectively contribute to conservation and livelihoods.

Few cultivated species dominated  the bulk of global food consumption and compete with indigenous and local cultivated plants, domesticated animals, and their threatened wild relatives in which indigenous peoples and local communities based their food systems and their livelihoods strategy. A highest number of domesticated species and their wild  relatives are threatened by conventional and industrial agricultural practices through the use of improved and genetically modified organisms. the food crisis of 2008 showed how the use of a limited number of cultivated species can threatened for human security. In order to reverse this trends, this target seeks to ensure increased attention on genetic biodiversity, its values and protection. Priority interventions call for inventories of genetic species will be carried to identify threatened species requiring protection and marketable species. With a focus on plant genetic diversity, management programmes for identified species will be developed and implemented. Hotspots for genetic agro-biodiversity will be identified to protect their erosion. Genetic species with potentials for commercialisation will be valorised and cultivated species promoted.

The erosion of cultural values favourable to the conservation and sustainable use of biological resources is a consequence of the weak involvement in conservation programmes of indigenous and local communities who are knowledge holders of the nation’s rich and diverse culture. Efforts in ensuring community involvement in natural resource management have been highly sector focused. Instituting Community-based biodiversity conservation and management approaches within specific ecosystems provides an opportunity to valorise the rich diversity of the nation's cultural systems and to ensure the effective integration of customary norms and traditional knowledge into biodiversity management approaches. This will further guarantee the implementation of the principles adopted by this strategy. This calls for the establishment of community-based conservation programmes in all ecosystems, the integration of biodiversity conservation activities in existing community forest management plans that have been developed with the participation of riparian communities and the promotion of the rehabilitation and classification of more sacred forests.

Information on the value of biodiversity and its contribution in the national budget frameworks is yet to be a common practice in Cameroon. An emerging approach for the economic valuation and accounting is necessary to track its contributions and also requires the development of capacities of economic planners.  The focus here is on all types of biological and genetic resources currently being utilized or with potentials for commercialization.

This therefore requires the development and implementation of a comprehensive program for the valuation of biodiversity so as to generate information on its economic potentials. In addition, more capacity building and development of tools for biodiversity accounting, promotion of the commercialization of biological and genetic resources with high economic potentials needs to be carried out.

Benefits from compensation mechanisms within the conservation framework are yet to be implemented at the national level. The recent adoption of a National REDD RPP provides the orientation for a national framework to ensure that benefits are generated from ecosystem services.

The effective implementation of this new plan therefore requires mechanisms for the payment of carbon stocks and REDD+ to be put in place with pilot initiatives in the ecosystems generating income for its wide beneficiaries, promotion and encouragement of additional voluntary payment mechanisms for utilization of biological and genetic resources by the business sector.

Benefits sharing from access and the utilization of biological and genetic resources is highly inequitable and the valorization of the associated traditional knowledge is inexistent. As a consequence, access to biological and genetic resources have not significantly contributed to improving the livelihoods of local communities. Compensation schemes for the utilization of biological resources should be expanded beyond forests and the new strategy for ABS should be made operational with appropriate regulations and guidelines.

This therefore calls for the Development and implementation of mechanisms for payments and sharing of benefits generated from the commercialization of resources such as non-timber forests, animal resources, fisheries, genetic resources etc…. The development and implementation of ABS frameworks for payments for commercial and non-commercial research in protected areas needs to cross cut with the target on generating wealth, protection and valorization of traditional knowledge associated with biological and genetic resources, and the building of  capacities of indigenous and local communities and networks for participation in biodiversity related compensation schemes.