Conserving marine and coastal ecosystems: science, art, and sport tune into their own violins

From 7 to 10 June 2023, the city of Kribi, located in the Southern Region of Cameroon, hosted an extraordinary event: the street whale. The English Origin concept combines art, sport and science to spread knowledge about biodiversity and marine habitats, as well as the threats to this potential. Unlike previous editions, Street Whale 2023 has had international acclaim. This year, 17 countries were represented, mostly from central, western and southern Africa and European countries. On the scientific side alone, approximately 150 participants honored this meeting.

According to the Chairman of the Organizing Committee, Dr. Aristide Takokam Kamla, who is also the Founding President of the African Marine Mammal Conservation Organization (AMMCO), several working groups have been formed to think about priority intervention axes for better protection of seagrasses and marine species. Coastal Ecosystems in Cameroon. Areas of intervention involved: combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, development of marine and coastal ecosystems including marine protected areas, habitat protection, etc.

Since last year’s release, there have been notable developments. The Cameroonian government is increasingly aware of issues related to the protection of marine and coastal ecosystems. The Ministry of Wildlife has organized meetings with the Cameroon Wildlife Conservation Society (CWCS) several times to focus on priority areas for the conservation of marine and coastal ecosystems, particularly with regard to marine protected areas, but above all to discuss other effective conservation measures by domain which is the subject New and is currently under discussion in the various sectoral ministries, d. Full Tokam.

Lines are also moving around the topic, with draft strategic plans to protect marine and coastal ecosystems in place or in the pipeline. For example, a roadmap for improving the state of Cameroon’s marine and coastal ecosystems over the next ten years has been defined. In this period, plans related to the activities that will be implemented during the period 2023-2024 are drawn up. “These action plans will be validated with strong government participation. We want there to be decisions, actions and decrees at the end of the next Hout Street,” Dr. Takoukam Kamla wished.