Ngatto: poaching, deforestation affecting livelihood
The population of Ngatto village in the East region of Cameroon say their sources of livelihood are under threats. According to them, the abusive cutting of trees, poaching and illegal trade of wildlife species constitute grave threats to the biodiversity of the village which has a direct impact on their fishing, hunting and agricultural activities.
“Our water bodies have disappeared and we don’t catch fish like before since deforestation caused the water bodies to dry up. No animal to hunt as nature is disappearing. The soil has become hard to till and infertile due to the unsustainable and illegal human activities coupled with climate change. All these have affected our standard of living negatively. With the felling of trees our roofs are carried away by strong winds, exposing us to harsh climatic conditions,” an elite of Ngotta explained.
Meantime, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) visited Ngatto recently to raise awareness and encouraged the elites and children to invest in nature through the Earth Hour (a worldwide movement that allows communities to switch off the light for an hour and reflect on how to protect nature).
“Since many localities in Cameroon do not have light or experience constant power outage, we have decided to do something different. We have decided to move to public places like schools, markets, churches, etc for awareness raising on the dangers of deforestation, and poaching which harm nature that needs to be protected at all cost,” Ernest Sumelong, of the WWF Jengi Program clarified.
To solve the problems by themselves, the WWF officials advised the Ngatto natives to simply conserve biodiversity and plant new trees.
Ngotta village is found near the Boumba Bek national park.
