Hunting areas, the last bastion of biodiversity in Cameroon, are in danger!
Colonel Serge Patrick Tadjo and a team of 400 people manage the Bouba Ndjida wildlife protection complex, which comprises the fully protected National Park in the centre, where all human activities are prohibited, and seven adjacent hunting zones as buffer areas.
In an interview with Resource Africa, he talks about the challenges he faces in northern Cameroon, his vision of conservation in Africa and the crucial role of hunting in preserving wild lands.
The National Park model used in Northern Cameroon maintains strict protection zones or National Parks surrounded by buffer zones where animals can be hunted. In Bouba Njida, the central protection zone covers 2,200 km², while the buffer zone covers 5,800 km². In the rest of Northern Cameroon, strictly protected areas cover 3 million hectares, while the hunting buffer zones cover 2,350 million hectares. Contrary to common perceptions that hunting causes wildlife declines, about two-thirds of the wildlife in Cameroon occurs in the buffer zones. Since most of the biodiversity is found in the hunting zones, their management is crucial for conservation in Cameroon.
Wildlife conservation must contribute to sustainable development. For Serge Patrick Tadjo, the aim of wildlife protection is to enhance its value to the people living alongside it. Hunting zones enable this development to take place by using wildlife sustainably through hunting quotas that are set based on sound population monitoring. These quotas do not target females or young specimens, only old males, thus allowing the population to continue growing.
When asked about the major challenges facing wildlife conservation in his country, our interviewee explains. “Protecting wildlife is first and foremost a question of political will. Cameroon has classified a large number of natural areas as protected zones (including the protection and buffer areas), representing 21% of its territory. The government has set itself ambitious targets and plans to extend protected areas to 30% in order to meet its commitments to implement the global framework for biodiversity. However, despite the commitment of the MINOF (Ministry of Forests and Fauna), the reality is that implementation is lacking due to a lack of financial resources. The 30% of protected areas by 2030 will only be on paper, and today’s 21% already represents a real challenge.”
One of the keys, he believes, is involving local people in the management of natural resources. How can we get them involved in protecting wildlife? Serge Patrick Tadjo knows what he’s talking about. After starting his career in agro-forestry research, he spent several years working with local NGOs on community development, sustainable management of natural resources and the development of income-generating activities. In his current role, he is working with the University of Berlin on research programmes into community management of natural resources and socio-economic development around parks. He insists that it is imperative to work closely with local people, because without them, sustainable management of parks and protected areas is not possible.
Secondly, the advance of agriculture and livestock farming is threatening wildlife as a viable form of land use. Transhumance and nomadism are a problem. Local livestock farmers, but also foreign livestock farmers from neighbouring countries, drive their animals into parks and hunting areas, destroying natural habitats. The inexorable advance of agricultural areas is also a major threat. The farming practices used to grow cotton, the country’s leading crop, are degrading the land. Once the soil is exhausted, the only place to find new land is in protected areas.
In his previous role, Serge Patrick Tadjo managed 34 areas of hunting interest. He also gives courses at the wildlife school, which trains specialists, particularly in wildlife legislation, the management of hunting areas and game ranches. He describes the role of hunting areas in his country as the “last bastion of biodiversity” in Cameroon. Some areas are as rich in wildlife as in southern Africa.
Attempts to develop photographic tourism in northern Cameroon have failed because of access difficulties and insecurity. Travel conditions, unsafe flights and the presence of armed gangs in the region mean that the northern region attracts no more than 50 tourists a year. The best option available is sport hunting. It provides much-needed income for local development and the management of protected areas. A single hunting safari brings in €10,000. Hunting tourism is the second largest employer in the northern region after cotton.
There remains the problem of how to divide the money earned from hunting-related taxes between the state and local communities. For each species hunted, the hunter must pay a lease tax, linked to the surface area of the area hunted. The revenue from this tax is shared 50:50 between the State and the local community. There is also a hunting fee, which currently goes entirely to the state. Serge Patrick Tadjo is campaigning for a fair distribution of the hunting fee between the state and local communities. This income would demonstrate the value of wildlife conservation over agriculture through economic development and the creation of additional jobs. Unfortunately, there is a lack of political will on the part of the government and no one else, not even the hunters who are directly concerned, is advocating for change. Yet it is fundamental to preserving hunting areas and developing truly integrated models of local development with the support of communities.
In conclusion, our interviewee vehemently opposed the international NGOs behind the anti-hunting campaign. He sees them as the enemies of development and nature conservation in Africa, and the cause of poverty. Their campaigns against sport hunting, he explains, by dissuading hunters from countries in the Global North from hunting in Africa, on the basis of so-called ethical considerations, have catastrophic repercussions on the ground. All they do is fan the flames of conflict between land users and uncontrolled migration, and cause widespread impoverishment: “In 2014, we had up to 2,000 hunters in the northern part of the country. Today, with anti-hunting advocacy in the West, if we manage to welcome 120 hunters a year, that’s quite an achievement!” He laments. “Under these conditions, how can we finance parks, wildlife management and anti-poaching operations? How can we generate income for communities? We’re facing a time bomb!”
Based on an interview by Marianne Courouble of Resource Africa with Serge Patrick Tadjo, Water, Forestry and Hunting Professional, Warden of Bouba Ndjida National Park, Ministry of Forests and Fauna, Cameroon
