Bio-diversity

The wum community is one of the communities in the Menchum Division of the North West Region that is made up of mostly poor peasant farmers and is blessed with a unique wonderful water bodies and waterfalls with beautiful valleys and hills that makes it unique for ecotouristic actions. Wum has a population of about 50, 000 inhabitants with 10 quarters characterised by mixed population.(Mbororos, Akos, and the indigenes). The area has patches of indigenous forest located in valleys and more importantly are where there is water. It is also an area that comes second in cattle raring after Donga-Mantung for the whole Region. With this in mind the largest of all is the water catchment of Kesu village where the Wum water is largely coming from due to the location and the topography of the area. However the Wum water management committee through the assistance of some elites of the area and the Rotary club of Bamenda started the extension of the water sources from this area to the community. However much is still to be done to extend the water right up to the community. The Rotary Club of Bamenda already have bought 400pipes for the extension remaining a total of 1240 out of the estimated 1640pipes. To extend this water, there is a greater need to also protect the source to guarantee flow in stream year round. These patches of forests are the only source of protected wildlife species and some endangered plant species. This area (kesu watershed with indigenous forest) regarded as sacred is recently being exploited for fuel wood, encroachment of farming activities, grassing, hunters etc thereby destroying the medicinal plants, scaring the wildlife species, destroying the habitats of other important biodiversity species within the sacred forest and seriously encroaching the water catchments area. To protect this watershed, conserve the Biological diversity of this forest, it is very imperative to build the capacity of these users on the various options to guarantee its sustainability and of course improving on their livelihood situation via beekeeping practises, as well as economic tree domestication and regeneration of some degraded sites of the watersheds. This project seeks to strengthen the indigenous community of Wum particularly Kesu village by providing the requisite skills to enhance biodiversity conservation via beekeeping and domestication of indigenous/economic trees in the degraded sites of the watersheds (the main source of drinking water for the community). This will go a long way to conserve the unique indigenous forest found in this area as well as protecting the watershed and extension of this water to the community through piping process. Without a conservation project in the region. The Women and the youths who are the main users of this watershed patches of forest will be trained on these alternative livelihood practice of beekeeping, tree domestication (domestication of economic/indigenous in the watershed) as well as conservation agriculture at catchment area. Women and youth will be trained on water hygiene and sanitation as well as environmental protection.

Cameroon