Alternatives to slash-and-burn in Cameroon
From fruit trees to compost, Born Free is working with local communities to protect and restore forests, create vital new sources of income, and transform gorilla conservation.
With your support, Born Free is devoted to protecting rare gorillas and their forest home in Cameroon. We’re working with the local community to help generate sustainable income, and prevent deforestation around the Dja Faunal Reserve.
Our incredible Guardians of Dja programme has many components, but they all aim to help equip the local community with the support and tools they need to protect wildlife, and live more sustainably.
The Dja Faunal Reserve in Cameroon is home to one of the largest and well protected rainforests in Africa. A UNESCO World Heritage site since 1987, an estimated 90% of the reserve is undisturbed. This rainforest is home to many marvellous species including giant pangolins, chimpanzees and critically endangered forest elephants and western lowland gorillas.
Communities living on the periphery of the reserve are often in remote, difficult to access areas and rely on natural resources for their income and survival. Our Guardians of Dja programme has been working closely with people on the northern fringes of the reserve since 2022, to help reduce reliance on bushmeat and other forest products and develop sustainable farming techniques.
Many communities living in the forests around Dja practice a ‘slash-and-burn’ agricultural technique. This involves clearing areas of forest every few years, through cutting down trees and burning vegetation to prepare the land for cultivation. This land is then farmed for a few years, but the soil’s fertility diminishes rapidly, and the plots become unproductive.
As a result, the plots are abandoned, and a new area of forest is cleared to continue the cycle. As you can imagine, this practice devastates the forest. Slash and burn not only reduces forest cover, but increasingly fragments it, creating isolated patches where wildlife struggles to survive.
The soil left behind is less capable of supporting life and remains degraded for a long time. The burning of trees and vegetation also contributes to CO2 emissions and climate change. Which is where we come in!
Donald Mbohli, Programme Lead for Born Free’s Guardians of Dja initiative
Our Guardians of Dja programme, headed by Donald Mbohli, has been working with communities from three villages close to the reserve to restore abandoned plots and prevent new areas of forest being cleared.
“In the last year, Donald and his team have worked closely with villagers to set up plant nurseries in each village,” explains Born Free’s Head of Conservation Dr Nikki Tagg. “The nurseries are growing native and crop tree species, which can then be planted in the abandoned plots.
“Some of the crop trees include mandarin, orange, plum and soursop – which is a fruit in the custard apple family. Fruits harvested from the trees can provide an important source of income for households. They also help ensure the sustainability of the plots in the long term, as households are incentivised to not cut down the fruit trees.”
We are also teaching communities about sustainable farming practices such as compost generation. We train people on how to use food remains, wood ash, dry and fresh vegetation to create life giving compost. This helps ensure the fertility of their farmlands for longer and for more better crop cultivation.
Both community members and pupils from the local school have participated in the preparation of the nursery plants, nursery construction and the monitoring of the young plants, as well as making compost.
Working with and empowering communities is at the heart of Born Free’s conservation strategy. We equip communities with the skills they need to thrive and coexist sustainably with wildlife.
Protecting wild animals comes in many forms. Whether this is public campaigns to raise awareness about the plight of wildlife, lobbying for policy changes, rescuing animals from cruel conditions, outreach work in local communities or preventing further forest destruction. Born Free does all of this plus so much more to protect wildlife every day. You can support our work by donating today.