MINFOF: ceremony to hand over rolling stock to eco-guards

All-terrain motorcycles for the country's three northern regions.

On Monday March 18, 2024, the esplanade of the Ministry of Forests and Fauna was the setting for a ceremony at which MINFOF's regional delegates were awarded rolling stock for greater efficiency in the field. The ceremony, presided over by the Minister of Forests and Fauna, comes at just the right time at the start of 2024, to enable MINFOF agents in the field to cover their areas of competence normally, by being present where needed. "This follows an open call for tenders dated July 27, 2023 for the acquisition of these field vehicles for our ministerial department.

These 150 motorcycles, added to our fleet of vehicles, will help improve the working conditions of water and forestry personnel, mainly eco-guards, who carry out a dangerous job, sometimes risking their lives. The aim is to increase ecoguard patrols in our protected areas. All in all, 42 motorcycles are destined for Cameroon's water tower region, Adamaoua. 65 motorcycles for the most beautiful region, the Far North, and 39 motorcycles for the North. Other regions will follow in the wake of the means available, and I ask them to continue to show resilience and self-sacrifice in their work. It's up to today's beneficiaries to make the most of this opportunity, for an emerging Cameroon in 2035", an extract from Minfof's speech.

Reactions

Col. Jean NYEMEG, Far North Regional Forest and Wildlife Delegate,  

«I am chief forest engineer and regional delegate of Minfof in the far North. We have several national parks, notably Waza, which is the flagship of Cameroon's national parks. The eco-guards experience a certain number of difficulties in carrying out their duties, notably an insufficiency of rolling stock. I believe the Minister of Forests and Wildlife has just filled an important void. You know in Waza Park, we are dealing with a type of cross-border poachers who are heavily armed, sometimes with weapons of war. It was therefore a question of providing the beginnings of solutions to respond to the threat and I believe that these motorcycles are welcome. We are militarily trained to provide an adequate response and all eco guards are well trained and this ceremony is the beginning of solutions to our concerns. ».

Jules Doret Ndongo, Minfof

« Poaching is a scourge, it is illegal hunting, it is prohibited by our laws and regulations. Precisely, one of the missions of our ministerial department is to reduce it to its smallest expression. Nowadays, this poaching takes place in our protected areas with modern means, you have heavily harlequin poachers who go on horseback and who are in permanent conflicts with our eco guards which leads us to sign an MoU with the Ministry of Defense in order to support a response proportional to the attack. Very regularly,

Thanks to the national control brigade, we carry out seizures and offenders are brought before the competent courts. I would like to congratulate my field collaborators for the important work that they sometimes do with reduced resources and I would like to hope that these 150 motorcycles which go mainly to the far north will allow our collaborators to be effective elected officials in the field».

Clément Noumsi