The Farmers and Beekeepers who are reforesting Mount Cameroon
- Batata Boris-Karloff
- 12 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Photo above: Evambe Thompson at his tree nursery in Vasingi Village, Cameroon. Photo by Boris-Karloff Batata
Vasingi Village in Buea, Cameroon, sits near the biodiverse but ecologically threatened Mount Cameroon National Park. Farmer and apiculturist Evambe Thompson leads an ambitious project called “Green Village” aimed at reforesting Mount Cameroon by planting over 1,000 trees. Thompson has a nursery where he is nursing both fruit trees and ‘non-timber forest product’ species for distribution and planting.
Within the space of one year, Thompson has already planted 200 trees and distributed 600 to neighbouring communities around Mount Cameroon. In order to generate nature-based livelihoods, Thompson integrates bee keeping into the programme. He trains local people on safe and bee-friendly apiculture, as opposed to wild honey harvesting which sometimes can threaten the biodiversity on Mount Cameron.
According to Thompson, some people who harvest wild honey use fire to flush out the bees, which has led to wildfires spreading. Mount Cameroon National Park Forest Guard Ikome Nelson adds,
“Every year, you see fire on the mountain. From investigation, it shows people have been collecting wild honey … and in the course of collecting this honey they abandon their fire in the forest and the fire goes wild.”
Mount Cameroon is one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in Cameroon, including endangered forest elephants, chimpanzees, and the elusive primates called Drills.
Thompson believes that nature-based livelihoods are essential for supporting forest-edge and forest dwelling communities. While not all beekeeping can be considered nature-friendly, Thompson believes that with good practice, apiculture can go hand-in-hand with reforestation efforts. Bees can thrive in a forested area, so alongside his 48 hives and 28 colonies, Thompson plants fruit trees and other trees, helping to buffer the edge of the forest and keep tree cover.
Thompson has seen how climate change is negatively affecting bee keeping activities.
“During this era of climate change, there are seasons when before the bees [are able to] harvest enough nectar, the rains already come and knock the blossoms off the trees.”
He goes further to explain that sometimes, due to the changing climate, the trees do not bloom at all.
According to Ikome Nelson, since 2021, the Mount Cameroon National Park has supported 114 bee keepers with 1,000 bee hives. Within this time, the farmers have harvested more than 1,000 litters of honey, amounting to a profit of more than FCFA 5,000,000 (~ USD $9,000).
As the climate keeps changing, communities must find ways to build resilience through mitigation and adaptation practices like Thompson’s Green Village project. With the necessary support, these projects can support communities to thrive while standing against the negative effects of climate change.
