Site selection

Mintom
Transition between mature old growth forest and logged-over forest, where there is a mixture of active forest concessions, recently allocated community forests and unallocated forest concessions.

Currently, the site hosts both production and virgin primary forest, but a vast road is being opened through this area, meaning that radical changes will be observed in a few years.

Activities include the opening of markets and the intensification of smallholder/community activities – including agriculture and agroforestry, hunting, informal logging and commercial activities.

Lomié-Kongo
Degraded mature forest, where concession and community forestry and timber exploitation are some of the principal activities influencing forest structure in the area.

In addition to this, other forest-related activities include hunting and the collection of some non-timber forest products.

Agriculture and agroforestry practices exist; however, access to markets is slightly more difficult, meaning that they have not been intensified.

A principal partner in the area would be the PALLISCO timber concession.

Ayos
The municipality of Ayos is situated 123 km from Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon. Ayos’ vegetation is characterized by Galerian forests surrounded by swamp forests of raffia, and has a surface area is 1250 km2 with an estimated population of 22,899 inhabitants.

The entire population of this municipality depends directly on subsistence farming for their livelihoods with cocoa being one of the principal agricultural products. The zone falls in the forest margin landscape where agriculture and agroforestry products are the mainstay for a large proportion of the population, and agricultural practices are relatively mature (mostly cocoa, coffee and oil palm).

The presence of the Alternatives to Slash and Burn Programme (ASB) site from the World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF), with International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) as a partner, is an assurance for available information about the dynamics in the area.

The area is inhabited by growing rural communities with access to markets and comprises approximately 39 villages under two mains groups – YEBEKOLO-Est and OMVANG. Its geographical position provides an avenue for the flow of money which is reflected in the progressive investments in activities such as fishing, hunting, small-scale plantations (cocoa, oil palm, pineapple, etc.), and which supply local and neighboring markets in Abong Mbang to the east and from Awae toward Yaoundé in the west.

Bokito
Forest savannah or deforested landscape dynamics, where secondary forest is used for growing cash and subsistence agricultural and agroforestry crops.

All forest land has been allocated, so some have begun to successfully grow cocoa and oil palm in the savannah.

The site shows deforested landscapes, forest-savannah mosaics and successful reforestation efforts.

Good access by road, and a long-term Agricultural Research for Development (CIRAD) presence ensure links to local smallholders and some past data.