Ambassador Speeches
Speech by Her Excellency Janet E. Garvey
U.S. Ambassador to Cameroon
Signing ceremony of a “Protocole d’Accord”
between the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife and APELD
at the Mvog-Betsi Zoo, Yaounde
Thursday, January 23, 2008, 10:00 am
The Minister of Forestry and Wildlife,
The Minister of Youth Affairs,
The President of Association pour la Protection de l’Environnement et la Lutte contre la Désertification (APELD),
Honored guests,
Members of the media,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a pleasure to speak at the signing ceremony of a working document between the Ministry of Forestry and l’ Association pour la Protection de l’Environnement et la Lutte contre la Désertification (APELD). This agreement will make possible a sawdust briquetting project to be administered by APELD with funding from the U.S. government under our Food for Progress program.
One of the most important outputs of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development – often called the Earth Summit - in 1992 was Agenda 21: an action plan that defines strategies and integrated measures to halt and reverse the effects of environmental degradation, and promote environmentally sound and sustainable development in all countries. Agenda 21 specifically recognized the need to promote, strengthen and expand waste re-use and recycling systems.
The US Government is committed to assisting the Government of Cameroon and local NGO’s fulfill Agenda 21 goals, especially in efforts to halt desertification. As a result of the new forestry law of 1994, most of the timber exploited in Cameroon is to be processed in-country. There are over 52 timber mills in Cameroon that generate hundreds of tons of sawdust. The sawdust is regarded as waste by the timber companies who frequently burn it to free up space. Under our Food for Progress program, we are providing $660,000 to the Association for the Protection of the Environment and the Fight against Desertification (APELD), a local NGO in Maroua, to produce sawdust briquettes as an alternative source of energy in the three Northern provinces. The average household in the three Northern provinces spends 48,000 CFA per year on fuel wood, exerting an enormous pressure on the few trees that exist. With the availability of sawdust briquettes as an alternative source of energy, pressure on trees will be reduced and the advancing desert checked.
The U.S. government is also supporting many other environmental projects in Cameroon:
Under our Economic Support Fund, the U.S. government provided $100,000 to Conservation and Development Services (CODEV) and the Ray Research Center to implement two projects in support of the Korup National Park and the Campement des Elephants. The first grant funds a cane rat farming project that would provide an alternative source of income and protein for local residents near the Korup National Park, thus reducing pressure on the Park. The second would provide alternative sources of income to village farmers and cattle ranchers near the Campement des Elephants, thus inhibiting illegal poaching, which threatens biodiversity and the local economy.
Under the Food for Progress FY2006 program, the U.S. government provided $402,000 to a local NGO called CIPRE to transform household waste in Yaounde into manure to be used by farmers for soil enrichment. The community-based waste management project brings together many stakeholders in the sorting, collection and management of urban household waste.
Today’s agreement between the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife and APELD is a perfect example of how the government, working with civil society organizations, can find solutions to serious environmental problems. I look forward to seeing more such collaboration in the future.
Thank you.