Founder and members pose for a family picture to mark 25 years of service to humanity
By Njodzeka Danhatu
The Environmental and Rural Development Foundation, ERuDeF, has pledged to create a series of conservation funds that will be managed by the communities where it carries out its activities.
These conservation funds, which are one of ERuDeF’s plans moving forward, will help raise income and improve the lives of communities where conservation is taking place.
Through that, it will indirectly divert the attention of locals from destroying species of animals, trees, and areas of conservation.
“In the next 25 years, we want to create a resilient system where funding is available to support the different aspirations of communities and wildlife,” said Louis Nkembi, ERuDeF’s founder. “Communities should be able to receive decent income, such as civil servants.”
He was talking to the press on Friday, July 26, at ERuDeF’s headquarters in Buea during the celebration of 25 years of ERuDeF’s existence since its creation in 1999.
“In 25 years, we want the public to know what our role is: Serving nature and helping people to make better lives,” said Louis Nkembi, adding that many people think conservation organisations are not there to help the adjacent communities.
“Our job is, first of all, to say we are there to help the government implement government policy at the forest, community, and development levels,” he added.
The celebration, according to him, was also to evaluate and examine the work they have done so far.
For 25 years, ERuDeF has been serving rainforests, conserving species, and impacting lives.
Aside from that, the award-winning NGO has been working across the Southwest, Northwest, Littoral and East Regions of Cameroon. It later expanded its operation across the Northern Regions of Cameroon, with a special focus on the Lake Chad basin and Tchabal Mbabo Mountains. It hopes to go global, touching the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Gabon. For these 25 years, it has significantly contributed towards restoring fragile ecosystems, regeneration of forests through plantation and agroforestry, conservation of biodiversity through wildlife habitat protection, and protected area management while still promoting environmental education, as well as empowering rural communities through innovative economic and livelihood development programmes.
“Our silver jubilee is not just about dancing. It is about taking steps and now preparing for the future. Our next 25 years will be more robust and yield much more benefits to the beneficiaries,” said the ERuDeF CEO.
However, in doing this, the non-profit organisation has come under difficulties, and one of them is funding.
“Funding is generally a problem across the board. And communities cannot do their job in terms of conservation if they don’t receive a decent income,” he said.
Aside from funding, he said they also have political challenges.
“I think these two represent the major difficulties we face,” he said.
Even at that, they are still more committed to doing well for humanity.
