Mesmin Tchindjang

For more than four decades, the Gulf of Guinea’s coasts have been undergoing a significant phenomenon of erosion, resulting from the pressures of both anthropogenic and marine weather forcings. From the coasts of West Africa (Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Benin, Togo, and Nigeria) to those of Central Africa (Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, and Cameroon), the phenomenon has been growing for more than four decades. The southern Cameroonian coastline from Kribi to Campo has become the scene of significant environmental dynamics that render it vulnerable to coastal erosion, which appears to be the major hazard of this coastal territory and causes a gradual degradation of the vegetative cover, thereby leading to the degradation of the coast’s land/ground cover and human-made infrastructure. The objective of this work is to analyze the kinematics of the Kribian coastline between 1973 and 2020; to quantify the levels of retreat, accretion, and stability; and finally, to discuss the factors influe...

Resume Les paysages sont des combinaisons d’elements d’origine physique avec la superposition culturelle de la presence humaine. Ils refletent ainsi les interrelations entre les changements environnementaux, les tendances et modeles socio-economiques ainsi que les changements politiques. L’approche paysagere repose sur les principes de divers systemes de gestion des ressources naturelles qui reconnaissent la valeur des differents services ecosystemiques pour de multiples parties prenantes et sur comment ces principes les conduisent a poursuivre differents objectifs d’utilisation des terres ou des strategies de subsistance. Cette approche s’est elargie aux  preoccupations societales liees a la conservation et au  developpement durable, y compris une integration accrue des objectifs de reduction de la pauvrete, de production agricole et de securite alimentaire, en mettant l’accent sur la gestion adaptative, l’implication des parties prenantes pour des buts multiples. Les paysages sain...

L’etat des forets a travers le monde est source de preoccupations qui s’inscrivent desormais, aujourd’hui plus qu’hier, a l’echelle globale. C’est que, la problematique des emissions de gaz a effet de serre avec pour correlat, l’epineuse question du changement climatique, a fini par replacer les forets au centre des grands enjeux planetaires. Depuis la publication du premier rapport du GIEC en 1990, l’adoption de la Convention Cadre des Nations Unies sur le Changement Climatique a Rio en 1992, le Protocole de Kyoto et ses MDP en 1997 et la publication du rapport de Stern qui etablit la reduction des emissions de CO2 des forets comme etant l’option la « moins chere » ; les pays forestiers, notamment ceux en voie de developpement, et particulierement ceux de l’Afrique Centrale, se sont rapidement appropries le concept et ont reussi a y introduire la degradation, ce qui a donne lieu a la REDD. En 2007, lors de la COP 13 a Bali, la REDD est mentionnee comme une activite integrante du Pl...

Le cameroun est un pays d'afrique centrale qui s'etend du 2eme au 13eme degre de latitude nord et englobe quatre portions de zones climatiques. Cette afrique en miniature est marquee dans sa partie occidentale par un volcanisme effusif et explosif qui jalonne les lignes de fractures et construit de grands massifs; le tout dispose en dorsale dont la dorsale camerounaise a laquelle appartient la ligne" du cameroun". Apres une description morphologique regionale detaillee des reliefs du bamileke central (entite situee entre 1000 et 1924m dans les hautes terres de l'ouest du cameroun et cernee par des escarpements structuraux) qui sont fortement tectonises et compartimentes par les failles; l'auteur focalise l'attention sur les elements catalyseurs de la dynamique des versants de ces paysages volcanises: dont tour a tour les facteurs abiotiques (climat et topoclimats), les facteurs biotiques et hydrologiques (vegetation, cours d'eau, bioturbation); les ...

Since 1990, oil palm cultivation, because nibbling large zones in dense forest areas of Cameroon, becomes the main driver of deforestation. It leads to the loss of plant and animal biodiversity as well as engaging soils and water pollution, which raises questions about its sustainability. Nowadays, palm plantations occupy almost 400 000 ha shared between agro-industries, elites and small farmers while annual palm oil production increased from 150, 000 tons in 2000 to 413,000 tons in 2018 against a demand that peaked at 1.179 million tons in 2018. This would assess the impacts of the oil palm exploitation in Cameroon. The objective of this article is to analyze the four dimensions of impacts closely linked to sustainability dimensions (ecological, sociocultural, economical and institutional) dimensions of sustainability of the oil palm sector in Cameroon. The approach is based on field surveys carried out in various production basins, particularly in the South-West, Littoral and Cent...

Classical studies of dynamic geographical phenomenon, have for a long time been focused on the visual observations of topographic maps and aerial photographs where they exist. In present time, New Information and Communication Technologies have emerged at the dawn of this Millennium in the domain of geographical mapping to alleviate this weakness. Numerical treatment of aerial photographs reveals precious information for thematic cartography. Such high precision data unfortunately raises many methodological questions such as the technical linkages with the nature of data or information available as well as methods chosen for its treatments. This study proposes very appropriate multiple methods and techniques that would enable optimal applications and interpretations of aerial photographs: scanning of photographs, orthorectification, and radiometric adjustment. These techniques are then completed by a stereoscopic visual observation of aerial photographs in correlation with remote se...

Yaounde became political capital of Cameroon in 1909. Before this period Douala was appointed as capital in German rule, followed later by Buea. Before French colonial rules, many reason (volcanism at the foot of Cameroon Mountain in Buea, seism etc.) brought German and later French colonial power to preferred Yaounde to Buea and Douala. Since then, this small station became successively a cosmopolitan town of 1.500000 inhabitants in 2002. This formidable growth is the result of the conjunction of two main elements:- A yearly natural growth rate of the town (4%) greater than Cameroon demographic mean growth rate (2.3%).- The migratory balance rate of 4-5 % each year during 20 years. This paper focussed on the inordinate expansion of the city since its foundation as well as the analysis all the problems linked to this excessive enlargement.

Cameroon territory is experiencing significant land use and land cover (LULC) changes since its independence in 1960. But the main relevant impacts are recorded since 1990 due to intensification of agricultural activities and urbanization. LULC effects and dynamics vary from one region to another according to the type of vegetation cover and activities. Using remote sensing, GIS and subsidiary data, this paper attempted to model the land use and land cover (LULC) change in the Centre Region of Cameroon that host Yaoundé metropolis. The rapid expansion of the city of Yaoundé drives to the land conversion with farmland intensification and forest depletion accelerating the rate at which land use and land cover (LULC) transformations take place. This study aims at assessing the impacts of both agriculture and urbanization on the LULC change in the Centre Region of Cameroon. A detailed LULC map from MAPBOX high resolution images and three LULC maps were produced from Landsat TM-OLI image...

The first protected area of Africa was that of the Sabie Game Reserve in South Africa, created in 1896. In other parts of the continent, main protected areas were created during the 20 Century. Cameroon main protected areas appears in 1932 during French colonial administration rules. Those areas were situated in the northern part of the country. Up to 1975, the number of protected areas was stable (9) and one can observed the disequilibrium between the North and the South. Since the Earth Summit of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil in 1992, the number of protected areas increased enormously and brought a relative equilibrium between the two main regions of the country. Our mapping approach aim to show the conceptual framework difficulties in management of protected areas that justified decision makers’ resistances to international laws and conventions. For, the increase of protected areas numbers is followed unfortunately by the decrease of biodiversity and other natural resources.

Urban growth is identified as one of the main deforestation drivers and land degradation in tropical region. Very few data exist to quantify the impact of this drivers. The aims of this study were: (i) estimating the activity data of the growth of the city’s Impfondo in the period between 1986 to 2016; (ii) determining the indirect drivers of that urban growth. This study is carried out in Impfondo. The remote sensing and GIS techniques were used to assess urban growth and its impact on deforestation and degradation of the forest around and in Impfondo the period between 1986 and 2016. Landsat images were used; specially 2 images Thematic Mapper (TM) of 1986 and Operational Land Imager (OLI) of 2016. ERDAS 2014 software was for images classification, classification and calculation of forest lost area during this growth. Additional field survey was made to collect truth GPS ground points. As result, the urban tram area growth from 267.86 ha in the year 1986 to 859.68 ha in the year 2...

The accelerated urbanization of our societies confronts us with a series of challenges and issues that research is invited to address. This urbanization of developing cities is accompanied by a significant increase in waste production. Bangangté, an average Cameroonian territory with a population of about 67,000 inhabitants (BUCREP, 2010). The city is marked by many difficulties and the problem of household solid waste management arises. Faced with the demographic explosion, the incivility of some inhabitants and the establishment of new institutional structures (creation of the University of Mountains, higher institutes, companies, etc.), the capacity to manage waste in a sustainable manner has been overtaken. How to innovate socially in waste management? In order to capitalize on these orientations, it seems appropriate to consider the development of these activities, in an economic model that promotes the efficient use of resources and the notion of a loop called a circular econo...

The lower altitudes of the Mount Cameroon Region undergo radical changes in forest cover. These changes are linked to the creation of vast plantations of the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC), the opening of new crop farms and other cash crops such as cocoa and the extension of settlements. Besides these, volcanic eruptions which have a frequency of at least 1 time for every 11 years also induce major changes mostly on the forest cover. These changes thus constitute a preoccupation of the Cameroonian Government to interrogate on the factors and the rate of these modifications. The rate of deforestation is analysed in terms biodiversity destruction and the danger that lava flow poses during volcanic eruptions. This study of an evolution between 1986 and 2000, done through Remote Sensing which depended on satellite images is under the auspices of the National Advanced School of Engineering (ENSP) Yaoundé. The results realised throw more light on the quantitative change of surface...

Resume Au Burkina Faso, comme partout ailleurs en Afrique, l’occupation anarchique des terres est devenue un probleme environnemental majeur ces dernieres annees. Pour mieux saisir la problematique de l’occupation des sols et de leurs evolutions, le choix de la commune comme  echelle d’observation de la couverture terrestre et des rythmes des changements qui affectent les sols a ete privilegie. C’est dans cette optique que la presente etude s’est fixe pour  objectif  d’analyser l’occupation des terres dans la commune rurale de Koumbia pour mieux evaluer les problemes environnementaux afin d’aider les autorites locales a prendre des decisions en faveur d’un developpement durable. Pour cela, il s’est agi de recenser les donnees disponibles concernant la zone d’etude, les sauvegarder dans une base de donnees geo-referencees sous Microsoft (MS) Access 2013. Le but etant de faire de cette commune un site de reference pour le suivi a moyen et a long terme les dynamiques territoriales liee...

La Region administrative du Centre du Cameroun apparait tres urbanisee, du fait de sa position centrale et des institutions qu’elle abrite. Avec une population urbaine qui represente 53% de sa population totale, elle constitue avec la region administrative du Littoral les territoires les plus urbanises du Cameroun. Cette urbanisation a provoque une transformation de la foret originelle en d’autres formes d’utilisation. Dans un tel contexte, l’urgence de proceder a un zonage precis des terres a partir de la ville de Yaounde et dans les autres villes des departements et communes environnants devient un imperatif. L’objectif de cette recherche est de realiser un zonage agricole experimental dans cette region. Le zonage est la repartition d’un territoire en zones affectees chacune a un genre determine d’occupation des sols. Il prend en compte, outre les contraintes (erosion, degradation de sols, zones deboisees, urbanisation, etc.) ; la perception des acteurs locaux, les unites biophysi...

Background NASA’s developers recently proposed the Sudden Landslide Identification Product (SLIP) and Detecting Real-Time Increased Precipitation (DRIP) algorithms. This double method uses Landsat 8 satellite images and daily rainfall data for a real-time mapping of this geohazard. This study adapts the processing to face the issues of data quality and unavailability/gaps for the mapping of the recent landslide events in west-Cameroon’s highlands. Methods The SLIP algorithm is adapted, by integrating the inverse Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) to assess the soil bareness, the Modified Normalized Multi-Band Drought Index (MNMDI) combined with the hydrothermal index to assess soil moisture, and the slope inclination to map the recent landslide. Further, the DRIP algorithm uses the mean daily rainfall to assess the thresholds corresponding to the recent landslide events. Their probability density function (PDF) curves are superimposed and their intersections are used to p...

Resume L’huile de palme est devenue devant le soja la premiere huile vegetale et  alimentaire du monde (Tchindjang et al, 2015; Hoyle et Levang, 2012). Plus de 80 % de sa production provient de l’Asie du Sud-Est (Malaisie et Indonesie). L’Afrique malgre sa faible production a  connu une progression grâce a l’amelioration des techniques culturales et des techniques de transformation ; la recherche,  la reduction considerable des couts de production, sans oublier l’implication des elites locales dans l’appareil productif et  l’extension des superficies. Au Cameroun, de la periode coloniale jusqu’en 1975, il a existe un  secteur traditionnel pour des besoins locaux de consommation. Avec la crise economique qui a debutee en  1985, les plantations villageoises allaient connaitre un developpement sans pareil caracterise par l’irruption des elites urbaines et locales dans  les zones traditionnelles d’implantation, notamment la Sanaga Maritime. La pression des  investisseurs etrangers ne vi...

Situee au cœur de la cote meridionale camerounaise, la ville de Kribi se presente comme un nœud incontournable des marges cotieres camerounaises au triple plan industriel, touristique et environnemental. Ce milieu pourvu d’abondantes ressources naturelles, culturelles et touristiques demeure encore sous-valorise en depit des timides initiatives des populations locales et de l’administration centrale pour lancer le tourisme. Cet article porte sur les defis de la mise en tourisme des chutes de la Lobe, un geosite singulier situe au carrefour de trois civilisations cotieres (Pygmees, Batanga et Mabi), propose par l’administration camerounaise en 2006 a l’inscription sur la liste du patrimoine mondial de l’UNESCO. Sa reconnaissance definitive comme patrimoine bute sur les tergiversations des decideurs dont les options d’industrialisation sont privilegiees au mepris de la gestion integree et du tourisme durable comme le recommandent l’OMT et l’ONUDI a travers le projet COAST STEP. L’objectif de ce texte est d’analyser, au moyen d’observations, d’enquetes de terrain et d’entretiens, l’echec de ce processus tout en prenant en compte l’insertion du tourisme durable dans cet espace balneaire, la logique et la contribution des acteurs, puis, les problemes de son developpement. Les donnees recueillies laissent supposer un potentiel touristique (naturel, culturel et historique) important et diversifie, caracterise par un milieu physique attrayant (relief, climat et vegetation), et par l’existence de populations motivees. Toutefois, la floraison d’activites agro-industrielles, extractives et minieres sans prise en compte de l’environnement et de la participation sociale ainsi que le mode d’insertion spatiale anarchique du tourisme sont des facteurs susceptibles de compromettre l’avenir touristique de Kribi et de son geosite avec comme corollaire la disparition de la culture pygmee.

This study is based on analysis of rainfall data from 1951-2010 collected at the climatic station of Bamenda. We also use the results of a questionnaire survey applied to 172 households in at-risk neighborhoods. The inventory of some cases of flooding that occurred in the city of Bamenda was done through focus groups. The appreciation of the socio-economic and demographic environment is based on surveys among Cameroonian Households by the National Institute of Statistics (NIS) and General Census of Population and Housing. Statistical examination revealed that annual rainfall in the city of Bamenda experienced a break in 1958. This break buckled the wettest decade of the series. After three decades of worsening, rainfall is experiencing rising since early 1990. The average profile of the annual distribution of rainfall shows a concentration of over 53% in 03 months (July, August and September). During these three months, the rivers of the city know their flood flows and populations i...

Cet article examine les facteurs de production des risques dits « naturels » dans les grandes villes du Cameroun. D’une approche historique, il ressort que l’établissement d’agglomérations dans des sites d’aménagement difficile est à la base du problème. Le manque de ressources ainsi que la forte croissance démographique qui caractérisent les pays les moins avancés (PMA) en général et le Cameroun en particulier sont du point de vue anthropique les causes de la forte sensibilité aux risques naturels. Il se pose aussi le problème de l’ambiguïté du système foncier qui n’aide pas à la maîtrise de l’espace. L’incapacité des autorités et de la protection civile à gérer l’espace urbain consolide la vulnérabilité. Les changements climatiques diminuent la perception et l’acceptation des risques par les populations et augmentent leur fréquence.