Guardians of Dja

Training in Composting at the Agroforestry Training Centre ©APGS

Via an existing Agroforestry Training Centre, we support staff to deliver three-year training courses in sustainable agroforestry practices for male and female primary school graduates (12-25 years old), and one-year bespoke courses for existing cocoa farmers (25+ years old) to develop their skills and help them manage and regenerate their farms.

This provides young people with the knowledge and support they need to start a livelihood activity that will reduce pressures on wildlife and the environment.

As cocoa plants can take several years to yield a crop, we provide the wider community with the opportunity to grow pepper, which can be grown organically on fallow land (land no longer used for farming) to limit deforestation. Plants maturewithin one year, and the pepper can be sold directly in local markets.

In addition, training in tailoring is offered to women in the villages, which provides another income generating activity.

To ensure the long-term sustainability of these ventures, we help villagers to establish trade and market routes for all produce by helping community-level organisations (such as co-operatives), identify buyers and by provide technical support for sales.

The community primary school – the Ecole Jean-Michel Vichard primary school, or ‘gorilla school’ – registers 100 pupils, aged 5-14 years old, every year. We provide materials to engage students in environmental lessons covering topics such as botany and wildlife surveying, giving them the knowledge to maybe pursue a career in conservation one day!

Working closely with teachers, we have a points system to reward students for their environmental awareness, with the opportunity every year to ‘win’ a trek into the reserve or a visit to an ape sanctuary – both hugely popular activities with children who rarely get opportunities for such positive experiences with nature.

Youths playing handball in Malen V ©APGS

As part of our community outreach, we hold regular events and sessions to raise awareness of wildlife and conservation issues. Events include movies, shows, competitions, football tournaments, handball games, and debates, all of which are very popular with young people.

We also offer educational events including film screenings, evening talks and basic education courses in key skills such as literacy and bookkeeping. The community are keen to learn, and we can reach up to 3,000 people in rural areas through these activities.

Cameroon has strong wildlife laws, but implementing these laws can be challenging. Through a variety of ways, we encourage and empower local people to embrace livelihoods which reduce reliance on natural resources that may be obtained in illegal ways. This ensures everyone is aware of, and capable of following wildlife laws.

To protect great apes and other wildlife from those who continue to engage in poaching, we support the wildlife authority’s regular anti-poaching patrols across the landscape, which is a particularly challenging environment. A key part of this work also includes organising gun amnesties and confiscating bushmeat in collaboration with the wildlife authorities.

Local people are some of the best guardians of their natural environment. No one lives as closely alongside these animals nor understands wildlife as well as they do.

Our 12 ‘Great Ape Guardians’, are local men and women recruited and trained in conservation, who help us patrol, gather information, sensitise others, and act as a critical link between Born Free and the communities.
Via the Guardians, we have equipped and supported an informer network, who work together with the local authorities for rapid information exchange about poaching activities.

Sustainable agriculture and forest restoration is critically important for the wildlife of the Dja and the health of people. Slash-and-burn agriculture is unfortunately common in the area, but we are working closely with farmers to encourage sustainable agricultural practices such as using compost to boost soil health and fertility, thereby reducing the need to continue cutting down pristine and biodiverse forest.

Each year, we work with local farmers to regenerate approximately 60 hectares of abandoned fields and plantations. Together with farming families and school groups, we are setting up seven nurseries over the course of three years, to produce enough native tree and food crop seedlings to reforest this land, improving the habitat and pro-actively responding to the challenges of climate change.