Kilum-Ijim Research Articles

Rare plants on Mount Oku summit, Cameroon

The forests of the Kilum-Ijim area, around Mount Oku in West Cameroon, are the largest remaining patch of montane forest in West Africa, and the highest in altitude. This important habitat harbours endemic species of both animals and plants but is surrounded by a high density of human settlements: c. 300,000 people live within a day's walk of the forest, which covers only 200 sq km. BirdLife International and the Ministry of the Environment and Forestry, Government of Cameroon, are currently operating the Kilum-Ijim Forest Project, with the overall goal of conserving representative areas of the Cameroon montane forest biome in the long-term. The purpose of the project is toensure that the biodiversity, extent and ecological processes of the Kilum-Ijim Forest are maintained and that the forest is used sustainably by the local communities. The existence of a small Sphagnum community and associated wetland plant species was discovered in 1997 on the summit of Mount Oku, at 2900 m. This site is of extremely high conservation importance because several plant species endemic to the Kilum-Ijim area have been recorded there. In addition, it is the highest Sphagnum bog and the source of the highest stream in West Africa.

Conservation in the community: the Kilum-Ijim Forest Project, Cameroon

Thomas, D.H.L., Anders, S. & Penn, N.J. 2000. Conservation in the community: the Kilum-Ijim Forest Project, Cameroon. Ostrich 71 (1 & 2): 157–161. BirdLife International has worked for ten years in Cameroon's North-West Province to assist the local people and government of Cameroon in achieving the conservation and sutainable management of the last significant remnant of a unique montane forest ecosystem. The Kilum/Ijim forests are almost certainly the last remaining habitat for the conservation of two endemic and threatened bird species, Bannerman's Turaco Tauraco bannermani and Banded Wattle-eye Platytiera laticincta. The forests have no legal designation as formal protected areas but have been conserved through local concern and knowledge of the multiple values of an intact forest ecosystem, backed up by the enforcement of traditional regulations, and support from the project to finding solutions to peoples' land use and natural resource management needs within and outside the forests. The project is now working under the umbrella of a national Biodiversity Conservation and Management Programme in Cameroon, funded by the Global Environment Facility, to establish the Kilum/Ijirn as the first community-managed forest in the country. A brief history and background to the project is presented, with emphasis on lessons learned by BiraLife and the success of current efforts to achieve the conservation of the forests through community management. The issues are discussed in the general context of an integrated conservation and development programme (ICDP).

The Kilum-Ijim Forest Project: biodiversity monitoring in the montane forests of Cameroon

The Kilum-Ijim Forest Project: biodiversity monitoring in the montane forests of Cameroon