Context
People in northern Cameroon are insufficiently prepared to react appropriately to future climate-related changes. This is already impacting negatively on the natural resources soil and water. These resources are essential for the country’s agriculture, which is the most important source of income for the Cameroonian population.
Objective
In northern Cameroon, the persons responsible take climate change into account more using model-based regional planning. This benefits the rural population, especially smallholders and livestock farmers.
Approach
The project works in northern Cameroon to bring about environmentally friendly development, and promotes the protection of soil and groundwater:
• It enables Cameroonian institutions to devise models of the water, soil and groundwater systems. The institutions can use these models to derive recommendations for the long-term management of the resources water and soil. The recommendations should secure agricultural production. They will supply valuable information for regional planning.
• The project holds discussions with the stakeholders which help in developing die recommendations for regional planning. It applies a participatory approach and involves women‘s cooperatives in the North Region.
• The discussions are based on data. To make the best possible use of the data, the project provides capacity development for the Agricultural Research Institute for Development (IRAD) and the Institute of Geological and Mining Research (IRGM). These institutes will prepare the data and forward it to the target groups in a suitable form.