BirdLife Works with Local Communities

BirdLife Planning meeting in Kilum Ijim Zoom In

BirdLife Partners work with communities to build a stronger local voice on environmental issues. We develop the skills and capacity of local communities in natural resource management, agricultural practices, biological monitoring, and environmental education.

Kilum-Ijim Forest Project, Cameroon

Kilum-Ijim Forest is important to local people for its role in local tradition and culture, and as a source of water, firewood and timber. The forest is one of Africa's most important areas for biodiversity conservation and one of the last places where the Bannerman's Turaco lives.

Mark Edwards/BirdLife JuJu dancers at Mount Kilum wear hats to resemble the Bannerman's Turaco which has great cultural significance Zoom In

"Because of BirdLife International's livelihoods programme, people are now working their farms and have increased yields, they no longer try to work in the forest." —Community Leader, Nso, Kilum-Ijim Forest, Cameroon

We have been working at Kilum-Ijim since 1984, helping people living close to the forest to meet their families' needs, whilst also sustaining the forest. With our help the community has established Forest Management Committees to implement their plans for the sustainable use of the forest's resources. Farmers have been trained in forest-friendly sustainable agriculture and are helped to develop their income from alternative sources such as harvesting fruit and wild honey.

This Project is supported by the Department of International Development, the Global Environment Facility, and the John Ellerman Foundation.