Rachel Bechem Akum
Practitioner Fellow at Tecnológico de Monterrey
Location:
Tali and Bara Communities, Southwest Province, Cameroon
Project Title: Sustainable National Resource Management through Community Forest in Cameroon Case Study of the Buffer Zone of the Bayang-Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary
Publications and Presentations: Case study of the Buffer Zone of the Banyang-Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary
Project Description
For the people of the Tali and Bara communities in southwest Cameroon, the nearby forest—located in one of the world's biodiversity hotspots—is a source of livelihood, sustenance, and culture.
Although these communities depend highly on the forest, most of the area has been allocated to the Banyang-Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary and the Upper Banyang Forest Concession with little input from the community. Only about 3,500 hectares (8,648 acres) of forest are used by all the surrounding villages without any management control, leading to the potential for species extinction, an overall reduction in the forest's biological value, and other environmental issues. Managing the forest sustainably and within community forest procedures, however, is beyond the technical and financial scope of most villagers.
Rachel Bechem Akum's research is based on the fact that if these communities are well-informed about sustainable management and their capacities improved upon, they will not only participate in the management of their forest but also take the lead in such activities.
"This would result in the wise use of the forest and improvement in the standard of living," said Ms. Akum. "My research was carried out to inform the people of the importance of their forest to them, the rest of Cameroon, and the world at large."
Her work focused on the following activities:- Documenting the forest's ecological importance;
- Viewing the links between the socioeconomic activities and forest degradation, as well as the people's well-being;
- Creating environmental awareness; and
- Identifying the root causes of forest degradation through problem analysis.
Results obtained from the research will provide the villagers with vital information that will help facilitate the sustainable management of the forest adjacent to them, thus improving their livelihoods.
Biographical Information
Rachel Bechem Akum started pursuing her work in striving to manage natural resources sustainably at the age of nine as the leader of the environmental club in her primary school. This led her to study agricultural economics and extension in the University of Uyo Nigeria.
Ms. Akum has worked in several renowned non-governmental organizations in Cameroon, such as the Mount Cameroon Project, BirdLife International, and Regional Center for Development and Conservation, and has a strong desire to work internationally. She has undergone training on managing natural resources sustainably and had numerous grants in this area. One was a scholarship from the Belgian Directorate General for International Cooperation (DGIC) to pursue an M.Sc. in human ecology in the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium.
She is currently the lead of the Socioeconomic Survey Unit at the Regional Center for Development and Conservation (RCDC) in Limbe.
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