tag:news.mongabay.com,2005:/xml/cameroon1 Cameroon news from mongabay.com 2009-08-04T00:12:24Z tag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/4798 2009-08-03T22:43:00Z 2009-08-04T00:12:24Z Did malaria come from chimps? Malaria may have jumped from chimpanzees to humans much like AIDS did, report researchers writing in <i>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</i>. Rhett Butler tag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/4691 2009-06-29T22:44:00Z 2009-06-30T14:28:52Z A New Idea to Save Tropical Forests Takes Flight <table align="left"><tr><td><img src="http://photos.mongabay.com/09/0629johno.jpg" align="left"/></td></tr></table>Every year, tens of millions of acres of tropical forests are destroyed. This is the most destabilizing human land-use phenomenon on Earth. Tropical forests store more aboveground carbon than any other biome. They harbor more species than all other ecosystems combined. Tropical forests modulate global water, air, and nutrient cycles. They influence planetary energy flows and global weather patterns. Tropical forests provide livelihoods for many of the world’s poorest and marginalized people. Drugs for cancer, malaria, glaucoma, and leukemia are derived from rainforest compounds. Despite all these immense values, tropical forests are vanishing faster than any other natural system. No other threat to human welfare has been so clearly documented and simultaneously left unchecked. Since the 1992 Rio Earth Summit (when more than 100 heads of State gathered to pledge a green future) 500 million acres of tropical forests have been cut or burned. For decades, tropical deforestation has been the No. 1 cause of species extinctions and the No. 2 cause of human greenhouse gas emissions, after the burning of fossil fuels. For decades, a few conservation heroes tried their best to plug holes in the dikes, but by and large the most diverse forests on Earth were in serious decline. Rhett Butler tag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/4650 2009-06-18T02:04:00Z 2009-09-01T03:29:21Z Cameroon rainforest given 30 days to be conserved or sold off for logging <table align="left"><tr><td><img src="http://photos.mongabay.com/09/0617gorilla150.jpg" align="left"/></td></tr></table>An 830,000-hectare tract of rainforest in Cameroon has been granted a 30-day reprieve from logging following a 4-week exploratory expedition that turned up large populations of lowland gorillas, forest elephants, mandrills, and chimpanzees, according to expedition leader Mike Korchinsky, founder of the conservation group Wildlife Works. The Cameroonian government has given Wildlife Works, which pioneered the first forest-based carbon project in Kenya, 30 days to come up with a competitive proposal to logging. The group is now scrambling to secure necessary funding to finance the early stages of the project. Rhett Butler tag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/4579 2009-05-28T15:23:00Z 2009-06-01T22:32:30Z Indigenous people, forest communities in Africa control less than 2% of forest land Less than 2 percent of Africa’s tropical forests are under community control, hindering efforts to slow deforestation and alleviate rural poverty, reports a new assessment from the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) and the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), a global coalition of non-governmental and community organizations. Rhett Butler tag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/4344 2009-03-02T23:38:00Z 2009-06-21T16:52:39Z Cameroon may liquidate rainforest reserve if conservationists don't step forward <table align="left"><tr><td><img src="http://photos.mongabay.com/09/0302drill150.jpg" align="left"/></td></tr></table>The opportunity to conserve a one million hectare tract rainforest in Cameroon is fast dwindling due financial pressures in the Central African country, reports a bulletin from the <a target=_blank href=http://www.NgoylaMintom.blogspot.com>Ngoyla Mintom Foundation</a>. In 2002 the government of Cameroon suspended logging rights and extended an offer to protect Ngoyla Mintom &#8212; a forest reserve that houses 4,000 lowland gorillas, 1,500 endangered chimpanzees, 3,000 forest elephants and an important population of vulnerable Mandrills &#8212; provided someone step forward to pay for it. To date there have been no takers. Now facing a mounting economic crisis, the government of Cameroon says it will soon concession Ngoyla Mintom for logging. Rhett Butler tag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/4310 2009-02-18T23:42:00Z 2009-09-01T03:40:17Z Cameroon gets gorilla park Cameroon has created a new national park to protect a population of 600 gorillas, along with other threatened species such as chimpanzees, forest elephants, buffaloes, and bongo. Rhett Butler tag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/3482 2008-11-26T14:30:00Z 2009-09-01T03:37:18Z Cameroon moves to protect rarest gorilla The government of Cameroon has created a national park to help protect the world's most endangered great ape: the Cross River gorilla, reports the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), a group that provided scientific and technical support for the initiative. Rhett Butler tag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/3320 2008-09-15T14:30:39Z 2008-12-16T10:15:21Z Mangrove destruction for fish trade may undermine fishermen in West Africa The harvesting of mangrove forests in West Africa for the smoked fish trade threatens to undermine the primary source of income for the very fishermen who supply fish to the market, reports a study published Monday in the open-access journal Tropical Conservation Science. Rhett Butler tag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/3322 2008-09-15T14:30:39Z 2008-12-16T10:15:21Z New rainforest sanctuary in Cameroon already at risk from plantations, hunting The forests of southern Cameroon bordering Gabon are biodiversity-rich and harbor important populations of gorillas, chimpanzees, and elephants. In 1998 the government of Cameroon established the Mengamé Gorilla Sanctuary and in 2002, working in close partnership with the government of Cameroon, the Jane Goodall Institute launched a project to protect habitat and biodiversity in the reserve while creating a connection between conservation and socio-economic improvement in communities bordering the sanctuary. The sanctuary now plays an important role in emerging trans-boundary protected area initiatives. Rhett Butler tag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/3342 2008-09-05T14:30:00Z 2009-09-01T03:38:49Z Cameroon and Nigeria to protect world's rarest gorilla Cameroon and Nigeria have agreed to protect the the Cross River gorilla, world's most endangered gorilla, reports the Wildlife Conservation Society, which helped broker the deal. Rhett Butler tag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/3345 2008-09-04T14:30:39Z 2008-12-16T10:15:25Z Ghana becomes first country to sign sustainable timber pact with the E.U. The European Union has signed a sustainable forestry deal with Ghana that would stop imports of illegally-harvested timber from the West African nation, according to a statement released by the European Forest Institute. The agreement comes under the European Commission's 2003 Action Plan on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT), which seeks to address illicit timber imports. The regulation requires chain-of-custody documentation for timber to be imported into the E.U. Rhett Butler tag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/3191 2008-08-27T14:30:39Z 2008-12-16T10:14:50Z China's log imports fall 19% in first half of 2008 due to high prices China's imports of raw logs plunged 18.7 percent by volume for the first half of 2008 due to rising prices and a cooling Chinese economy, reports the <i>International Tropical Timber Organization</i>. Rhett Butler tag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/3221 2008-08-17T14:30:00Z 2009-09-22T14:53:33Z Markets could save rainforests: an interview with Andrew Mitchell <table align="left"><tr><td><img src="http://photos.mongabay.com/08/0820AM_150.jpg" align="left"/></td></tr></table>Markets may soon value rainforests as living entities rather than for just the commodities produced when they are cut down, said a tropical forest researcher speaking in June at a conservation biology conference in the South American country of Suriname. Andrew Mitchell, founder and director of the London-based Global Canopy Program (GCP), said he is encouraged by signs that investors are beginning to look at the value of services afforded by healthy forests. Rhett Butler tag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/3029 2008-06-24T14:30:39Z 2008-12-16T10:14:18Z Britain, Norway commit $210 million towards Congo rainforest conservation The governments of Britain and Norway last week announced a $211 million (108 million) initiative to conserve rainforests in the Congo Basin. The plan calls for the use of an advanced satellite camera to monitor deforestation in the region and funding for community-based conservation projects. Rhett Butler tag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/2900 2008-04-18T14:30:00Z 2009-09-01T03:37:51Z World's rarest gorilla gets its own forest reserve The government of Cameroon has established the first sanctuary exclusively for the world's rarest type of ape: the Cross River gorilla, according to the Wildlife conservation Society (WCS), which helped support the project. Rhett Butler tag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/2835 2008-03-10T14:30:39Z 2008-12-29T06:48:30Z Biochar fund to fight hunger, energy poverty, deforestation, and global warming Biopact, a leading bioenergy web site, has announced the creation of a "Biochar Fund" to help poor farmers improve their quality of life without hurting the environment. Rhett Butler tag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/2734 2008-02-15T14:30:00Z 2009-06-21T16:51:57Z Carbon traders, not conservationists, could save Cameroon rainforest The government of Cameroon is looking to lease 830,000 hectares of biodiverse tropical forest to conservationists for an annual sum of $1.6 million. The problem? No conservation groups are interested. Apparently the asking price is too high, according to <a target=_blank href=http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displayStory.cfm?story_id=10688618&subjectID=348924&fsrc=nwl>The Economist</a>. Rhett Butler tag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/2572 2007-12-05T14:30:39Z 2008-12-16T10:12:54Z Rare gorillas use weapons to attack forest-intruding humans Following the first documented cases of the Cross River gorillas -- world's most endangered gorilla -- throwing sticks and clumps of grass when threatened by people, the Wildlife conservation Society (WCS) has announced new research to better protect the species from poaching and encroachment. Rhett Butler tag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/2001 2007-06-21T14:30:39Z 2008-12-29T06:45:39Z Time running out for world's rarest gorilla Time is running out for the world's rarest subspecies of gorilla, the Cross River gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli) from the mountainous border region between Cameroon and Nigeria. With less than 300 individuals remaining, conservationists have drawn up a new plan to save the great ape from extinction. Rhett Butler tag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/2047 2007-06-10T14:30:39Z 2008-12-29T06:45:48Z Chinese demand drives global deforestation From outside, Cameroon's Ngambe-Tikar forest looks like a compact, tangled mass of healthy emerald green foliage. But tracks between the towering tropical hardwood trees open up into car park-sized clearings littered with logs as long as buses. Forestry officers say the reserve is under attack from unscrupulous commercial loggers who work outside authorized zones and do not respect size limits in their quest for maximum financial returns. Rhett Butler tag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/2058 2007-06-07T14:30:39Z 2008-12-29T06:45:50Z Logging roads rapidly expanding in Congo rainforest Logging roads are rapidly expanding in the Congo rainforest, report researchers who have constructed the first satellite-based maps of road construction in Central Africa. The authors say the work will help conservation agencies, governments, and scientists better understand how the expansion of logging is impacting the forest, its inhabitants, and global climate. Rhett Butler tag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/1836 2007-04-02T14:30:39Z 2008-12-29T06:45:09Z Congo forest elephants declining from logging roads, illegal ivory <table align="left"><tr><td><img src="http://photos.mongabay.com/07/P_Scan14230.jpg" align="left"/></td></tr></table>Fast-expanding logging roads in the Congo basin are becoming 'highways of death' for the fierce but elusive forest elephant, according to a new study published in the journal Public Library of Science. Logging roads both provide access to remote forest areas for ivory poachers and serve as conduits of advancing human settlement. Rhett Butler tag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/1633 2007-03-28T14:30:39Z 2008-12-29T06:44:31Z Important Congo basin parks get funding A network of national parks and protected areas spanning three nations in Central Africa's Congo Basin, has received long-term funding through the establishment of a trust fund, thus ensuring further protection of the region's wildlife, according to the Wildlife conservation Society. Rhett Butler tag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/1343 2006-11-06T17:00:39Z 2008-12-29T06:43:47Z Cameroon could make millions of dollars under emissions deal Cameroon could net tens of millions of dollars under a carbon-trading initiative proposed by a coalition of developing countries and under discussion this week at U.N. climate talks in Nairobi, Kenya. The key: cutting deforestation rates. Rhett Butler tag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/1023 2006-07-17T15:19:39Z 2008-12-29T06:43:04Z West African black rhino may be extinct Recent surveys conducted by IUCN in northern Cameroon found no evidence of the West African black rhino (Diceros bicornis longipes). The organization fears the sub-species is now extinct in the wild. Rhett Butler tag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/974 2006-06-22T15:19:39Z 2008-12-29T06:42:56Z Debt-for-Nature Swap Protects Forest in Cameroon France and Cameroon signed the first ever Central African debt for nature swap today. This agreement will invest at least $25 million over the next five years to protect part of the world's second largest tropical forest, home to elephants, gorillas, hundreds of bird species and indigenous people such as the Ba'Aka pygmies. Rhett Butler tag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/744 2006-01-22T15:19:39Z 2008-12-29T06:42:33Z Goodbye to West Africa's Rainforests West Africa's once verdant and extensive rainforests are now a historical footnote. Gone to build ships and furniture, feed hungry mouths, and supply minerals and gems to the West, the band of tropical forests that once extended from Guinea to Cameroon are virtually gone. The loss of West Africa's rainforests have triggered a number of environmental problems that have contributed to social unrest and exacerbated poverty across the region. Rhett Butler