The Cameroon Wildlife Conservation Society (CWCS) field team began multiple resource inventories in Community Hunting Zones (CHZs) around Lobeke National Park in the Southeast of Cameroon. The objective is to obtain credible scientific data for development of management plans for the CHZs.

Members of the community based wildlife resource management committees, (COVAREFs) are participating in the inventories including two local civil society organizations.  At the start of the inventories, CWCS trained 15 resource persons from COVAREFs in inventory techniques. The training was also part of building local capacities in monitoring of wildlife hunting zones.

Early results revealed good indices on presence of elephants, gorillas, chimpanzees, bongo antelopes, duikers and other wildlife species in the hunting zones. The preliminary results also indicate the hunting territories are rich in none timber forests products (NTFP) such as wild mango (Irvingia gabonensis), wild yams (Dioscorea villosa), bitter cola and Ezizan (Ricinodendron heudelotii) amongst other species.

Nonetheless, the hunting zones are threatened by hunting as inventory teams came across several wire snares widely used in trapping forest antelopes and other wildlife.

The inventory data will provide useful information on economically valued NTFPs harvested by indigenous people and local communities (IPLCs)for household needs and income generation.

The project is financed through European Union-funded program "Biodiversity and Protected Areas Management" (BIOPAMA) administered by IUCN.

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