Project Update on BAPESU’s Awareness Campaign for the Protection of Endangered Great Apes in the Tubah Upland Forest (Cameroon)

BAPESU (Benevolent Association for the Protection of the Environment and the Socially Underprivileged) began in December 2008 a three months (Dec. 2008 to Feb. 2009) Awareness Campaign for the Protection of Endangered Great Apes in the Tubah Upland Forest (NW Region of Cameroon). The campaign aims at discouraging the hunt of chimpanzees (/Pan Troglodyte) for bush meat by the local population and at discouraging bushing burning all inextricably link to endangering their survival. The project has attracted much attention and interest from many individuals and groups, ranging from researchers; American Peace Corps working on Tubah Watershed catchment’s improvement, to the Tubah council administration, the delegation of Forestry and Wildlife, other local NGO’s that are MEBONU Foundation, COBEX (Community Based Extension Initiative Group, just to cite a few. The Tubah Council Mayor and his administration in their efforts of carrying a demarcation of the forest with the bid of designating it a community forest has hugely goaded this initiative in protecting the chimpanzee from disappearance and called for it to be continuous and extended to cover the new community (Kedjom Keku) which is posing new and serious threats due the implantation of a shrine in the forest by their new chief.
The following activities have taken place in the month of December 2008:
- Installation of Campaign Banners and posters at the entrance of the villages.
- Development of Program content for Media Campaign (Radio talks and slots) that took 2days.
- The identification of core team for media campaign and Capacity building of media team and volunteers.
- Radio Talks and slots over Cameroon Radio and Television Corporation (CRTV) in English (twice a week), Bambui and Kedjom Ketinguh dialects (every Mondays from 4:00PM local time), 3 version of audio slots (English, Bambui and Kedjom Ketinguh) is available,
- Door-to-door sensitization, and distribution of T-shirts tracks and slogans by volunteers (one session in Bambui with the Muslim grazers community settlement in the close vicinity of the Tubah Upland Forest)
- Open sensitization and distribution of T-shirts with Kedjom Ketinguh village traditional councillors and quarter heads. Their traditional council has a membership representation of 188 members that are the voices of a population of about 25000 inhabitants.
- Tour/Visit to the Upland Forest by BAPESU and the Community (27th December 2008).
This project is being funded by Rufford Small Grants Foundation (UK). BAPESU is appealing for kind donations from individuals, philanthropists, charities, corporate houses, and foundations in Cameroon and abroad. For more information contact Mr. Christian Tabifor (Project Coordinator)
Tel. 00(237)77491345: Email:bapesu.org@gmail.com More details at www.ruffordsmallgrants.org/rsg/projects/christian_tabifor. Christian Tabifor