Workshop to Present the Results of the UFA REFOREST and RESSAC

The workshop was chaired by the Secretary General of the Ministry of Forests and Wildlife, in the presence of various technical and financial partners (European Union, PPECF, COMIFAC, KFW, AFD, GIZ, etc.), government officials, stakeholders from the private forestry sector, and researchers.

The purpose of this event was to share the results achieved and lessons learned from these major initiatives in reforestation, scientific research, and support for sustainable forest management in Cameroon, particularly those implemented by the UFA-REFOREST and RESSAC projects.

The UFA-REFOREST project, funded by the European Union, has been implemented since 2022 by ATIBT with technical support from Nature+, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech (University of Liège), and ENSET (University of Douala). Four forestry companies in Cameroon (PALLISCO, AlpiCAM-GrumCAM, SEFAC, SEEF) have benefited from this project. By focusing on plantations, the UFA-REFOREST project has contributed to achieving the objectives of the Program for Improving Governance in the Forest Sector (PAMFOR), the National Indicative Program (PIN) of the 11th European Development Fund (EDF) for Cameroon, and the previous National Reforestation Program (PNR) managed by the National Agency for Forestry Development Support (ANAFOR ) . The objective is to contribute to the sustainable management of Cameroon’s timber-producing forests by mobilizing private and public stakeholders around reforestation and sustainable forest management strategies.

The EU’s Applied Research Program in Ecology and Social Sciences of Central African Forest Ecosystems (RESSAC), implemented through CIFOR-ICRAF, has been active in Cameroon since 2023, led by the consortium comprising Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, ENSET, and PALLISCO. This RESSAC program has supported two projects: “Estimation of the carbon balance of silvicultural improvements in production forests” and “ -growth dynamics, and ecology of seedlings of the main commercial tree species in production forests.”

Complementing the UFA REFOREST project, the RESSAC projects aim to gather fundamental scientific information that can help optimize the adaptation of silvicultural practices to the environmental conditions of planting sites and assess the benefits for forestry companies of engaging in carbon market mechanisms or payments for environmental services.

This workshop also provided an opportunity to present a new tool to support sustainable forest management: the Guide to the Trees of Central Africa. This Guide,   funded by the PPECF, is being developed by numerous scientific institutions in the Global South and North. Its objective is to produce a reference work identifying all the trees of Central Africa using high-quality photographs. It also aims to provide the most relevant information on the ecology of the various species and their conservation status.

Following the opening ceremony, the workshop proceeded along a central theme: from seed to planting. It concluded with the dissemination of knowledge through the presentation of the book. The program featured a series of thematic presentations, each followed by discussions with the participants. Thus, we heard five presentations in succession: 

• Seed storage and light requirements for seedlings, presented by Prof. Achille BIWOLE of the ENSET at the University of Douala;
• Different types of plantations and their results, presented by Dr. Crispin ILUNGA (Gembloux Agro Bio-Tech);
• The carbon and financial balance sheet of forest plantations, presented by Dr. Stéphane MOMO (Gembloux Agro Bio-Tech);
• The expansion and scaling up of forest plantations, presented by Yanick NKOULOU (ATIBT);
• the dissemination and sharing of knowledge: the new Guide to the Trees of Central Africa presented by Prof. Jean-Louis DOUCET of Gembloux Agro Bio-Tech and Prof. Bonaventure SONKE of the University of Yaoundé 1.

Following these engaging discussions and debates, this workshop made it possible to:

• share concrete results on reforestation, forest plantations, and the regeneration of production forests with all stakeholders in Cameroon’s forestry sector;
• highlight scientific findings on tree species growth, carbon sequestration, and the adaptation of silvicultural practices;
• promote knowledge through the presentation of the Guide to the Trees of Central Africa, a reference work on the identification and ecology of forest species. Approximately fifty copies of the book were distributed during the workshop;
• gather recommendations to strengthen future actions in support of the sustainable management of Cameroon’s forests.

The workshop concluded with a speech by the representative of the Minister of Forests and Wildlife, who, while commending the scientific and technical results achieved by the projects, reassured the community of his commitment and support for forest regeneration in Cameroon.

Thanks were also extended to all technical, scientific, and financial partners for their commitment, as well as to the involved forestry companies, public institutions, researchers, and all participants for the quality of the discussions, notably Nature+, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech (University of Liège), ENSET (University of Douala), as well as PALLISCO, AlpiCAM-GrumCAM, SEFAC, and SEEF.