Establishment of the Mengamé-Minkébé
Transboundary Gorilla Sanctuary (MMGS) at the Cameroon-Gabon border
Cameroon
The development objective to be pursued by the project is to contribute
to the protection of the Gorillas and of their habitats in the MMGS. The first
specicif objective is to put in place a collaborative management process for
the sanctuary to ensure its protection, and the second specific objective is
to initiate a process for cooperation between Cameroon and Gabon for the joint
management of the sanctuary. The fundamental focus of the project's activities
is to initiate a transboundary conservation (TBC) process, to search reliable
data for sanctuary management planning, to build the awareness of local communities
and to contol poaching practices. The activities will be implemented in a first
phase of two-year duration and will be centered around the following outputs;
a sanctuary management infrastructure is constructed; sanctuary management goals
are shared by local people and other stakeholders; Guidelines for management
of production forest contiguous to the sanctuary and for transitional resource-use
zone management are elaborated, structures for cooperation in TBC are set up,
agenda defining and strategy-building process are initiated, a joint management
plan for the sanctuary is elaborated. The strategy for intervention is based
on participation of local communities through collaborative management approach,
search of alternative means of livelihood for local people, reinforcement of
conservation capacity in the area, TBC, ecosystem-based management based on
reliable data, daployment of joint on-ground transboundary activities particularlyl
in combating poaching.
Implementing agency
Directorate of Fauna and Protected Areas
Budget
ITTO: USD 770'751
Swiss contribution: USD 200'000
Planned duration
2 years
Starting date
September 2003
Status
under implementation
Topics
Silviculture and management of natural tropical
forests
Contact
jblaser(a)intercooperation.ch
Progress report
November 2011
The Executing Agency has submitted the completion report of this project. But it has not yet submitted the final financial audit report. In the 47th ITTC Session held in Guatemala, Committee on Reforestation and Forest Management asked the Executing Agency to submit the final financial audit report at its earliest convenience, and not later than end of March 2012.
December 2010
The project was approved by the International Tropical Timber
Council at its Thirtieth Session in June 2001. Full financing was pledged
by the Governments of Japan, Switzerland and USA at the Thirty-first Council
session in November 2001. The Agreement regulating the implementation
of the project was signed on 24 April 2002 and the first disbursement
of funds was made in September 2002. Four project extensions were granted
until June 2008 without additional ITTO funds, by the ITTO Secretariat,
based on official requests including proper justification with appropriate
detailed work plan and budget.
The project aims at contributing to the protection of the
Gorillas and of their habitats in the MMGS. Specific objectives are to
put in place a collaborative management process for the sanctuary to ensure
its protection, and to initiate a process for transboundary cooperation
between Cameroon and Gabon for the joint management of the sanctuary.
Since the Forty-third session of the Committee and in accordance with
the updates from the Executing Agency, progress in project implementation
can be summarized as follows:
The Executing Agency has followed up the signing by the
Government of Cameroon of the decrees officiliazing the creation of
both protected areas which compose the Protected Areas Complex of Mengame
Gorilla Sanctuary and Kom National Park. The approval process of the
draft integrated management plan should start after the official creation
of that Protected Areas Complex.
Most of transboundary-oriented activities should be included
in the GEF-funded TRIDOM Programme which cover three other protected
areas (Dja in Cameroon, Minkebe in Gabon and Odzala in Congo-Brazzaville),
as they were not completed during the phase 1.
The Executing Agency had been preparing the completion
report, which was supposed to be submitted since September 2008, along
with the other technical documents to be considered as means of verification
of some project outcomes, such as the government decrees for the creation
of the gorilla sanctuary;
A pre-project proposal has been submitted by the IUCN
regional office for Central and west Africa for the development of the
second phase of this project in relation to development of the first
phase of the Gabonese component with the Minkebe Forest.
The Committee took note of that information and urged the
Executing Agency to submit those reports as soon as possible in order
to allow the Secretariat to report this project as completed during the
next Committee Session (i.e. November 2011)
Documents
Nkomo E. 2010: Etablissement
du Sanctuaire à Gorilles Transfrontière de Mengame-Minkebe
à la frontière Cameroun-Gabon,Presentation
about ITTO Project PD 66/01 Rev. 1 (F) , International Conference on Biodiversity
Conservation in Transboundary Forests, Quito, Ecuador, 21-24 July 2010
