CAMEROON RACE OF HOPE AND MY WORRIES FOR THE ENVIRONMENT.

20th Edition of The mount Cameroon Race of Hope

Today is another   historic day in   the legendary town of Buea,Cameroon.  It is the 20^th edition of the Mt .Cameroon African Race of Hope Sponsored   by Guinness Cameroon S.A.

This is a traditional race in one of African s highest mountain , with a high of 4100m above sea level.

This year we had  foreign athletes  from  Japan,USA,France,Congo Brazaville,Kenya, and other African countries.

The race usually begin from the molyko ominisport stadium and constitute of 38km of ascending and descending  the mountain on an altitude of  about 4100m above the sea.

This historic event started in March 1997 and this year the the race was flag up by the Minister of Sports And  Physical Education at 6 am.

We all understand this race is a unique race in the world,but as an advocate  and environmental activist my corncern is the threats  and constraints to the Mt.cameroon mountain ecosystem,Hahbitats and Rich biodiversity.

Over the years,I have realize the organizing committee usually do little in sensitizing the people on how to conserve and protect this rich Mt. ecosystem and biodiversities.

Again, usually after the race little efforts are being done to reconstruct   damages done on this rich  mt ecosystem. My fear Is that this race  over the  years  encouraging more and more encroachment of humans into this mountain sanctuary leading to habitat loss and subsequent extinction of species

Worst of all humans during this race usually import much waste into this natural mt ecosystem especially non-biodegradable waste which have negative impacts on the environment. They are usually made up by plastic papers and plastic containers which they carry food, drinking water and other facilities to the mountain.

In my report photos, you see heaps of  non-biodegradable waste that I and and group youths cleanse at the mountain ecosystem  during our  leisure field work under Tunza  eco-generation initiative to celebrate world biodiversity day. That was some of the aftermaths of this race to the ecosystem.

I am greatly concern about the sustainability of this race and I pledge to dip deeper to know  how it puts my environment to risks. I invite   Tunza  to be part of this race next year to see for themselves

Threats to sustainability of food production in my community

At the heart of food security chalenge in Camerooon ares mall scale  ageing farmers-many of which are women -as around 90 per cent of food consumed in the country is locally produced.This  food production is depended on the availability of rainfall  usually refered to as rainfed-agriculture.This is also know as peasant agriculture,which usually concerns the production of agricultural items to satisfy to satisfied the living conditions of the farmer and his  family sufficiency.But today this rudimentary agricultural practice is no longer production for this ageing farmers due to environmental constraints ,land degradation and soil erosion and climate variability over the years. I took a visit to the grassland region of Cameroon were the main form of livelihood is agriculture.The farmers   still practice the slash and burn farming system  know there as "Akara".here farmers clear patches of the forest manually driven tools such as hoes,cutlases .Later  they gather and  burn the grass after adding soil on it.A few crops are then planted,which the harvest  may give an output that is merely sufficient for the family.Usually there are little suplus for sale. Most at times they burn the soil before planting and the knowledge of soil conservation remains very low.This also helps to destroy soil forming bacteria,thereby delaying not only decomposition but also the soil forming process.This farmers especialyn in rural areas are resistant to innovation though the government has done very little to change their perception. when I stop at my own village mbatu,I saw climate change at my nostrils.where most of the farmers due to uncertainty in rainfall had already started planting their crps base on their own traditional calendars and perceptions.They started expecting their 1st rains in December but till today the crops are getting scourge by sun heat,causindg some of them to be cursing the atmostphere for no rains.One old mother told me the rain has bypass them,for she heard it falling somewhere else. When I took a closer look in Mbatu  by visiting farmlands,I discovered that  most of the agricultural land have been severely degraded especially those closer to streams which surely lead to a decrease in soil fertility and production capacity.These farmers put in much interms of time,labour and input but gets little interms of output. Ignorance and lack of meteological information couple with poor farming systems in the North West region of Cameroon especially in my village Mbatu over the yearshave led to degradation of productive land,gren house gas (GHG)emissions and extensive water pollution.All this factors threatened the sustainability of food production and calls for sustainable land management practices to increase food production with environmental sustainability

CLIMATE CHANGE AT MY NOSTRILS.

I am Tunza Edwin,an advocate, an African, a villager community. Today ,i am very worried  for this little stream which I use to swim and fish inside is fast drying up, before I could drown inside but  if we not careful  our children may not even see it. I Am a native of a small village in the North West Region of Cameroon called Mbatu,many years ago(14yrs) I migrated to city of  Buea  and Yaounde respectively in search of better education and social amenities of life. In this village are streams use to overflow  fill with mud fish and other water animals soils were fertile and we had much harvest in both the dry and rainy season.we had traditional calendars and could tell when they rains would and knew exactly when we could plant our crops. There use to be plenty of water for house chores ,to drink and to irrigate our farmlands. Even in the dry season we had beauty green sceneries and constant  availability of fresh water protected by trees. Of recent friends, an emergency took   me home  and as an ambassador I was shock and curious about the many changes and devastating environment ,so started dipping  deep asking questions and visiting sites saw climate change at my nostrils, it was an inconvenient truth. The waters I use fly and bounced in them when swimming could not reach my knees, they were equally heavily polluted and no longer drinkable. I saw villagers travel for miles in search of drinking water. The environment became new in my eyes, the beautiful scenery where no more even the  tasteful  mud fishes were no where to be found. The sun has scourge the land aand the soils were deserted and cranky. Crops were  stunted while those that were planted did not geminate for the rains did not show up as expected. Farmers look confuse in their activities due to all this uncertainties. Some had worked  and planted, others worked but still waiting for rains. My curiosity, took me to the river banks where most  of the problems lie, much  farming has encroach  there and watersheds  have been  destroy and the streams were expose to intensive  solar radiation.Most tree plants and fruit trees in this community have been  cut down fuel  and use as firewood and barriers to reduce evaporation rates.Again,I witness great loss of biome through poor farming techniques. I visited stock houses and there were no stocks like in our days where  there use threshing floors of corn harvest and others. Most farmers were eating their seeds. I was worried, because the people were not concern or realize the adversity of what what was happening in their immediate environment, they were  indeed the cause. Thanks to  Tunza and its objects  which helps me in taking this problem starting with  laudable and massive sensitization campaign especially with the youths and children who also witness this  and can testify or make their voices heard in  their families. My environment is my concern, what about you

Threats to the Rich Biological Dversity of Cameroon.

Cameroon is a beautiful country situated at the heart of Africa and usually known as African miniature for its rich endowments in variety of every aspect of Africa biodiversity ,culture, etc.

Cameroon I is bless by God with a biological diversity of different variety of species of plants,animals,and micro-organisms. The total number of species are not know  to have been identified by scientist. But the usefulness of these species to the people of Cameroon is increasing, not only as a source of material but also as a new genetic resource which can contribute to the improvement of breeds and to the development of biotechnology.

With their role in the ecosystem and importance to man, biological diversity is disappearing at a very fast rate in Cameroon keeping us volunteers, advocates and environmental experts worried. It is now recognized that the rate of extinction, which has accelerated over the years constituted a loss of natural capital and thus a threat to human survival.

A threat to the survival of gorillas, chimpanzees, elephants, monkeys and other primates is a call for concern everyday. This has been due to human activities such as agricultural encroachments, commercial logging, settlements and roads splitting habitats and rendering species vulnerable.

Again,hunting,traping and illegal trading of bush meat is one of the most severe threats to endangered wildlife species in the country with  impacts on the country biodiversity.

As a Tunza Eco-Regional Ambassador in this Region with an object to create to awareness about this phenomenon especially amongst children and youths ,get them involve and committed to remedy our biodiversity for the future generation.

I took a wise decision to target some few community public schools especially in most affected areas and in the cause of my campaign, I realize this children and youths bear witness with me that most species are becoming rare. it was an accomplishment for many of them did testify that they were anxious to see some particular species which they hear only by names from their parents but it is proving  difficult .At the end they all pledge to do their best to protect the remaining species for the

LAUCHING OF ENVIRONMENT CLUB AND OTHER ACTIVITIES AMONGST YOUTHS OF DIFFERENT INSTITUTION

           In order to educate and inspire youths and children on environmental commitments and responsibilities, the Green Volunteer Team and the Tunza Eco-Generation Ambassador organized an environmental club launching ceremony in three different schools in the suburbs of Yaounde Cameroon on the 22^nd, 23^rd and 24^th of July 2014. This launching was response from calls by staffs and authorities of this institution to drilled their pupils and students on youth environmental training and empowerment based on the objective set by Samsung and UNEP. These responses came as a result of the wonderful volunteer work of Tunza Eco-Generation regional ambassador in that part of the country. This wonderful event took place in three different settings involving pupils and students of different institutions.

            It was an exciting and colourful event attended by many who received training from the green volunteer team based on the values and objective of Tunza Eco-Generation environmental platform. We in lighting and empowered the participants with the responsibility to engage in nature protection, encourage them to use news feats to pressurize the government to take important action toward environmental protection, conservation and protection. 

            Furthermore, the event was characterized with an action plan of green ways to better the lives of the participants and the planet through these environmental initiatives. We equally put heads together and designed the green school campaign. The program?s goal is to give all schools across the country a green make over within one generation through our activities.

            Finally, we shared eco-friendly gifts, flyers, rulers, booklets from Samsung to the participants to make green changes in their lives. The event was equally spiced by a quiz and a debate on climate change.

            To conclude, the Tunza Eco-Generation environmental networking platform for children and youth being patronized by Samsung Engineering and the United Nation Environmental Program, UNEP gives hope to the future of our environment. We will like to inform Tunza that ?the harvest is much but the labourers are few? thus we will need more resources and ambassadors to reach out to more youths and children especially to remote parts of the country. Again, because of technological challenges, many of the youths are unable to visit the website. The way forward is that such initiatives should be more intensified through monitoring and evaluation. We would be happy if the activities of Tunza can be fully run in Cameroon through an office to help monitor long term initiatives.  

Tomatoes From The Green House-From Vision to Mission-It is Harvest Time

First crop of tomatoes from Happy Farms Greenhouse  Cameroon        

   In 2008, I had a vision - A vision to impact the lives of millions of Cameroonians by 2018.
I had as mission to use a bottom-up approach to create sustainable solutions and business models that will engage and enable the bottom pyramid to become self sustainable.
I had as objective to create cross linkages between Universities, corporations and communities at home and abroad.
The goal was to transfer knowledge and technology solutions that could be adapted for our local communities in Cameroon.
I had the conviction that a solution that works in Cameroon will work in most of West Africa and why not Africa. There’s a reason they say, “Cameroon is Africa in miniature”.

In 2009, I came up with the first solution –but, I was told that it was a good solution but I could not deploy that solution in Cameroon.

From Green to red to Money . 

In 2010, I found a second solution. I engaged a team and we traveled to Cameroon for testing and market penetration. But, we faced a lot of cultural, administrative and market barriers.
In 2011, I took time off to reflect on my solutions and my agenda for Cameroon. I decided to get back into corporate America. But soon realized that corporate America wasn't for me, again, and I wasn't about the American dream but the African dream. The dream that someday, Africa will feed Africa and the rest of the world: hunger and poverty will become topics of the history books.
In 2012, I went back to the fields. I lived and mingled with the people. I needed to understand the foundation of the problems they face. I got a local team along with my teams of foreign students to comb through the community and find clues about the magnitude of the problems and the voids that exist. Later that year, I stumbled upon a diamond in the rough – it was a tentative solution to the crisis.
In 2013, the solution was deployed and then developed for our local community. The solution was the “affordable greenhouse’ locally known as the ”HAPPY FARMS’ greenhouse. We built one and planted our first batch of tomatoes.
After 2months and 3 weeks we are harvesting….. harvesting what we call “organic tomatoes”. We’ve proven that greenhouses work: enable plants to grow faster; grow organically; conserves the environment; yield better products; and have a very encouraging return on investment for all parties involved.

In 2014, we are going to the market. We are going to make these HAPPY products available to all and make us all HAPPY again. We hope to change the nature of the markets and their content.
We are just getting started but already getting closer to our goals and vision. I hope to get your feedback when you taste of any of the “HAPPY FARMS” products.
Thank you to the entire team here in Mbengwi and around the world..

WORLD BIODIVERSITY DAY CELEBRATION AT THE MT. CAMEROON BIOLOGICAL EL-DORADO:THREATENED

Most  of  Cameroon's biological el-dorados have been threatened and majority of the flora and fauna are facing extinction that is why i decided to celebrate this day with the future generation at the MT.Cameroon biological el-dorado.Giving them a brief lecture in this park   was important for them to understand some terms.Biological diversity refers to the variety of all plants,animals and micro-organisms their genetic make up, habitats and ecological processes on the earth.Cameroon is an el-dorado of biological species which are usefull  to mankind  as a source of material,a genetic resource which can contribute to the  improvement of breeds and to the development of biotechnology,i explained.I made the children to understand their role in the ecosystem and their importance to man and made them see the need for protection and conservation since most of Cameroon's biological diversity in fast disapearing.It is  now recognised that  the rate of extinction which has accelerated over the years,constituted a loss of our NATURAL CAPITAL and thus a threat to human survival.The rate of extinction in Cameroon is still unknow but it is estimated to be high due to high level of poaching,habitat loss upon which species depend.large scale conversion of primary forest due to agricultural expansion,logging,constrution works,pressure to meet up firewood requirements,forest fires particularly in grassland areas play a great role.Also,hunting ivory,skins and other animal parts is a form of business and livelyhood reported within the country national park areas and also from cross border poachhers attacts.we ended by making the children understand how they can take part in this figth and also behave well in park areas not to leave negative impacts like throwing pastics and destroying habitats.The results of this biodiversity day leisure trip were fruitfull for most of the youths were never aware of the day or even care to know about  this threats.Thanks to Tunza Eco-generationg,UNEP and SAMSUNG  this wonderfull iniative.