At the Blue Economy Conference held in Yaounde Cameroon, July 2025, the CWCS came with a clear message: protecting the ocean and improving people’s lives must go together.
“Our work is about conserving the ocean and strengthening the resilience of local communities,” explains Eugene Diyouke, Interim Project Coordinator. Side by side with partners AMCO, EJF and CAMECO, CWCS showcased how conservation can become an engine for local development.
A central focus is the creation and management of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) such as Douala-Edéa and the proposed Ndongore site, along with identifying Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs) between Douala-Edéa, Kribi, Campo and Bakassi.
Through Oceans5-funded projects, CWCS has helped develop management plans for MPAs that were previously gazetted without a clear roadmap. These plans are being shaped and validated with the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife and, crucially, with communities themselves through workshops, consultations and field meetings.
The mistake in the past was to focus only on science and forget the people,” says Diyouke. “Now, consultations and community participation are at the centre of every step.”
On the ground, CWCS is also supporting communities diversify livelihoods and restore ecosystems. In Mouanko, women’s groups are trained in snail farming as an alternative to bivalve harvesting, which has pushed shellfish to the brink. Another association now manages household waste, sorting plastics and turning organic waste into compost with the help of a project-funded tricycle.
“We are proving that a fair blue economy is possible, where healthy seas and thriving coastal communities rise together.”
