Cameroon is home to many forests considered sacred by locals, with the majority located in the western region. While the forests are essential to traditional rites and ancestral customs, they’re increasingly threatened by deforestation and agricultural exploitation. Academics and young researchers are now trying to find ways to secure their survival.
The forests in the western highlands of Cameroon have been sacred grounds for generations. Renowned for their natural beauty and rich biodiversity, these landscapes are also home to wildlife, including great apes, civets and pangolins. However, decades of deforestation, unsustainable farming practices and agricultural expansion threaten the survival of these forests and the species that inhabit them.
Most of our dishes are found in this forest. If you look at my hat, for example, you’ll see the feather of the Touraco, a rare bird now found only in the sacred forest of Batoufam and somewhere in the Kilum Ijum forest in North West Cameroon. It’s a species of bird that’s being lost, even though it’s essential.
NAYANG TOUKAM INNOCENT ABEL, Village Chief of Batoufam – Cameroon
The forests are so sacred to locals that the uninitiated people in this community are forbidden from entering them. But they have been on a steady decline. People have been cutting down trees for firewood and to also make way for farms and buildings. The loss of trees in these forests not only jeopardizes their sacred status but also endangers biodiversity, including various bird species.
In the past the white man had not yet entered here, it was to this place that people came to worship God. It was only under these trees that our parents came to worship their God. This place served as justification and they also came for healings.
KANCHE MEDARD NDE FONDOUOP, Guardian of the sacred forest – Cameroon
Local leaders, such as Chief Batoufam, are calling for the preservation of these vital ecosystems, which are essential to subsistence and cultural identity. Academics are pursuing research to better understand the causes of forest destruction and to develop conservation strategies such as reforestation.