Biodiversity and socio-economy in agroforestry landscapes in Cameroon (Böll Foundation, 2013-2017)

2013-2017, financed by Böll Foundation

Current agro-industrial developments in tropical Africa, especially in the context of palm oil, put a high pressure on forest landscapes which are threatened from habitat conversion. Integrated in these landscapes are agroforestry systems which are characterized by social and ecological complexities which are so far poorly understood. The project aims to assess the values of and the linkage between biodiversity and socio-economy in these agroforestry systems and existing oil palm plantations in order to provide basic information on the relationship between different forms of land use, their socio-economic importance and their conservation value at the landscape scale. The project area consists of mainly small villages, whose inhabitants are smallholders relying on cash-crops and subsistence agriculture and is located in Southwest Cameroon which is part of the largest remaining continuous forest block of the western African biodiversity hotspot.

Participating department members:

Denis Kupsch (PhD candidate), Matthias Waltert

Reading:

Kupsch D., Vendras E., Ocampo-Ariza C., Batáry P., Njie Motombi F., Kadiri S.B., Waltert M. 2019. High critical forest habitat thresholds of native bird communities in Afrotropical agroforestry landscapes. Biological Conservation 230: 20-28. DOI:10.1016/j.biocon.2018.12.001

For a report on wildlife, biodiversity and carbon stock of a planned oil palm concession area, click here