- Cameroon’s coastal fisheries are in decline, leaving fishers with dwindling catches — a crisis linked directly to the depletion of the country’s mangroves, experts say, which are breeding grounds for fish.
- The expansion of urban settlements, conversion of coastal land for agriculture, and sand extraction drives mangrove loss in Cameroon; another key driver is the use of mangrove wood for smoking fish.
- The Cameroon government and NGOs have set themselves an ambitious goal of restoring 1,000 hectares (nearly 2,500 acres) of mangrove forests by 2050.
- A key strategy involves engaging local communities in the replanting process and providing alternative livelihoods, such as urban farming and beekeeping, to reduce dependence on mangrove wood.
DOUALA, Cameroon — Henry Belle Ekam, 37, cuts a frustrated figure as he paddles his boat to the shore in the Bojongo neighborhood of Cameroon’s largest city, Douala.
The fisherman has been out on the waters of the Wouri Estuary for hours, and all he’s brought back to show for his effort is a tiny catfish. “It’s so frustrating,” he says, putting away the empty net. “A few years back, you didn’t need to go far to have a good harvest. Everything has changed.”
The coastal landscape here has changed, and with it the fishing fortunes of resident communities. Experts point to retreating mangrove forests as one of the reasons for the troubles the Ekam and other fishers here are facing.
The Cameroon Mangrove Ecosystem Restoration and Resilience (CAMERR) project, launched in November 2022 by a group of international NGOs in partnership with the Cameroonian government and local organizations, is one of the largest mangrove restoration projects in the country. It aims to restore 1,000 hectares (nearly 2,500 acres) of mangroves over 30 years. The focus of the initiative is the estuary of the Wouri River, with the city of Douala on its southeastern shore.
The Watershed Task Group (WTG), a local nonprofit leading the effort, says it has restored more than 100 hectares (250 acres) of mangroves in the Cameroon and Ntem river estuaries. In Bojongo (part of the Douala or Cameroon estuary), under another initiative of the local administrative council and with funding from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the NGO has helped plant mangrove saplings over 3 hectares (7.4 acres).
About a third of the people who live along Cameroon’s coasts rely on mangrove forests for wood and to sustain fisheries.
Mangrove forests, which serve as fish breeding grounds, have been significantly depleted, says WTG botanist Agwa Wallace. “The intricate root structure provides safe spaces for fish to hide their eggs and shield the young fish from being detected by predators,” Wallace says. The mangroves also act as a buffer against powerful tides, which could wash fish eggs and larvae out to sea, exposing them to predators, he says.
Cameroon has 220,000 hectares (544,000 acres) of mangrove forests. But decades of deforestation have devastated this vital ecosystem. Some estimates suggest two-thirds of the country’s mangrove cover has disappeared over the past 40 years. Each year, Cameroon loses about 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) of mangroves.
While rapid urbanization, sand extraction and plantation agriculture are major drivers of mangrove loss in West and Central Africa, fish smoking is also a significant factor in Cameroon’s case.
“Mangrove wood is widely preferred for fish smoking within coastal areas of this region [West and Central Africa] because of its availability, high calorific value, ability to burn under wet conditions, and the quality it imparts to the smoked fish, a study notes.
Local fishers tell Mongabay that the Rhizophora racemosa mangrove trees that grow here, known locally as red matanda, are prized for smoking fish because their wood imparts a distinctive color and aroma coveted by consumers.
“When you smoke fish using red matanda, it gives the smoked fish a bright, yellowish color and a good taste,” says Magarette Acha, 52, as she fans embers to dry fish. The mother of four has been smoking and selling fish for more than two decades. “Consumers buy our fish partly because of this combination of taste and color,” she says.
It takes 2 kilograms of wood to smoke a kilogram of fish in the traditional ovens like those used by Acha.
Wallace says the local community was involved in the replanting process to make it more sustainable.
“Our journey began in Bojongo with a consultation with the village chief and his subjects,” he says. “During those consultations, we explained to them why the community would be better off with mangroves left standing: the frequent floods that sweep their homes away could be avoided, and fish stocks that are disappearing will return.”
The consultations also helped determine which mangrove trees to plant. Residents favored R. racemosa. Besides its preference for use in fish smoking, this native species also holds significant cultural value.
“For the Douala people, the roots of Rhizophora racemosa are traditionally used to make special types of brooms that are used as symbols of power and authority,” Wallace says. “Preserving this plant is therefore vital for maintaining the cultural heritage of the community.”
WTG helped put together a team of 12 residents to pilot the restoration work. They set up a nursery where villagers nurture young mangrove plants for about six months before transplanting them to designated sites.
The restoration work isn’t limited to planting mangrove saplings; it’s also about giving residents training in alternative livelihoods to reduce the pressure on mangrove forests.
Beekeeping in the mangrove areas, for instance, can have double benefits, Wallace says. First, the beekeepers can earn income from selling the honey, which may keep them from cutting trees to sell as fuel. And second, “the bees would sting anyone who ventures into the mangrove forests to cut the trees,” Wallace says.
He also describes efforts to teach locals how to farm yams in their backyards. “With more income from the yam, we believe the incentive to cut down mangrove trees to sell for fuel will be diminished.”
On average, 70% of planted saplings survive, Wallace says. The nursery holds more than 7,000 seedlings at any time to replace those that die after planting. The mangrove saplings are expected to reach maturity at 8 years of age, and can be harvested for wood at around 30 years, according to Wallace.
WTG says it’s encouraging sustainable mangrove harvesting because it’s difficult to completely cut off communities from such an essential and culturally valued resource. The longer-term aim is to ensure that communities understand the need to keep planting mangrove trees even as they harvest those that have matured, Wallace says.
Ekam, the fisherman from Bojongo, has fully embraced the effort to restore the region’s degraded mangrove forests, in the hope the fish will return. He’s helped plant mangrove saplings and worked at the nursery. “For us here, it could be a symbol of death if we can’t get fish anymore,” he says.
There are other compelling reasons to revive this coastal ecosystem.
Giles Musima Akem, an administrative council official overseeing the project, tells Mongabay that the city’s mayor wanted to “establish a green belt along the banks of the estuary in his municipality” that will not only serve as a biodiversity hotspot, but also help protect the city of Douala against floods.
“If we do nothing about restoring the mangrove forests, Douala will sink,” Akem says.
Douala experiences frequent coastal flooding, and the shoreline is highly vulnerable to erosion. Coastal flooding here could get even worse in the coming years, with sea levels off the coast of Cameroon expected to rise by 80 centimeters (31.5 inches) by 2080.
Without a change in the current trajectory of greenhouse gas emissions, by 2100, coastal flooding will impact areas worldwide where 73 million people currently live, according to a 2023 U.N. Development Programme report. It projects that by 2050, climate change could put 5% of the population of coastal cities, such as Douala, at increased risk of flooding. That figure is expected to rise to 10% by the end of the century.
While creating a green belt is a way to cope with the mounting effects of climate change, the mangroves could also help Cameroon tackle global warming. Mangroves, like other marine ecosystems, are very efficient at storing carbon; the carbon stashed away in mangrove forests and seagrass meadows can remain there for thousands of years.
The complex root systems of mangrove trees trap organic debris, while the oxygen-poor, waterlogged soil acts as a preservation chamber, preventing decomposition and the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. But many of these ecosystem services take time to materialize.
Ekam says he isn’t just planting mangroves for himself.
“I may not live to see the benefits,” he says. “My kids should not grow into a world where they won’t be able to fish. I also have to plant these trees for them.”
Banner image: Mangroves within the Douala-Edéa Wildlife Reserve. Image by Joel Kouam/CIFOR via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).
Citations:
Ajonina, G. N. (2022). Cameroon mangroves: Current status, uses, challenges, and management perspectives. In S. C. Das, Pullaiah, & E. C. Ashton (Eds.), Mangroves: Biodiversity, livelihoods and conservation (pp. 565-609). doi:10.1007/978-981-19-0519-3_21
Moudingo, J. E., Ajonina, G. N., Bindzi, M. A., & Tchikangwa, B. N. (2016). Bumpy road to improved mangrove resilience in the Douala Estuary, Cameroon. Journal of Ecology and the Natural Environment, 8(5), 70-89. doi:10.5897/jene2015.0548
Dongmo Keumo Jiazet, J. H. (2019). Potential impact of fish smoking on mangrove resources in Southwest Cameroon. Tropical Conservation Science, 12. doi:10.1177/1940082919833300
Feka, N. Z., & Ajonina, G. N. (2011). Drivers causing decline of mangrove in West-Central Africa: A review. International Journal of Biodiversity Science, Ecosystem Services & Management, 7(3), 217-230. doi:10.1080/21513732.2011.634436
Credits
