Stop Desertification in Cameroon

Deforested lands

Project Details:

Plant 100,000 trees over three years in all the 10 regions of Cameroon.
Ensure water catchments in communities are protected and developed.
Raise environmental awareness about tree planting with local Presbyterian churches

Cameroon is already suffering from the impacts of climate change. Water supplies are drying up, the dry season is longer and hotter and is followed by more floods and longer rains. Already poor communities are now faced with higher prices for food and water due to shortages and are simply unable to make ends meet.

In response, the Presbyterian Church wants to plant 100,000 trees over three years in all the 10 regions of Cameroon.

The three-year project will aim to plant 100,000 trees in different communities in Cameroon and ensure water catchments in communities are protected and developed.

What’s special about this project?

This is an interfaith project. The church will work to raise environmental awareness about tree planting not only within local Presbyterian churches but also with the local Roman Catholic Church, Protestant Mission and Muslim communities. It will work through young people in Presbyterian colleges and government schools to form clubs to plants trees and mobilize PCC movements — the Christian Youth Fellowship, the Christian Women Fellowship and the Christian Men Fellowship — to plant trees in identified communities nationwide as volunteers. It will organize training workshops, work through the media and provide tree seedlings to be planted by volunteers in collaboration with the Ministries of Forestry, Environment, Agriculture and Research.

Help raise $221,943 to plant 100,000 trees and establish water catchments across Cameroon.

Updates:

October 2011: With support from Interfaith Power & Light Carbon Covenant supporters along with logistical support from the National Forest Development Agency and the British High Commission in Cameroon, 34,980 seedlings were planted in various communities. It has been an arduous task to monitor the development of all of the trees planted, given that it is difficult to reach the various communities and to communicate with each of them. However, of the reports received so far, over 25,752 trees are surviving! This number reflects only a portion of the tree-planting efforts, so it is hopeful that there are many more trees surviving as well. Unfortunately, due to difficulty in communications, great distances and some illiteracy, the total number of surviving trees is not yet known. Education and Sensitization on climate change and environmental education continues and we hope to continue supporting the efforts in Cameroon to plant all 100,000 trees!

Previously: Thanks to donations from the Sisters of St. Francis in Rochester, Minnesota and other IPL friends, and in partnership with a local Roman Catholic parish and Muslim communities, the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon has purchased 35,000 seedlings!

Covenant Community: Sisters of St Francis of Rochester, Minnesota

Founded by Mother Mary Alfred Moes in 1877, Sisters of St. Francis of Rochester, Minnesota follow the rule and witness in the world of St. Francis of Assisi and St. Clare of Assisi. The most familiar ministry of the community that some might be familiar with is St. Mary Hospital and the Mayo Clinic, which Mother Alfred and the sisters were instrumental in establishing with the Mayo Doctors in Rochester, Minnesota.

Sisters of St. Francis of Rochester, Minnesota are in thirteen states in the US and currently in the countries of Colombia and Cambodia in ministries including education, health care and healing, ecology, social work, counseling, pastoral ministry, spiritual direction, retreats, the arts, jail and prison and others. The organization is sponsoring two Carbon Covenant projects, saving the Monks Community Forest in Cambodia and stopping desertification in Cameroon.