Tag: africa

In the damp undergrowth of Cameroon’s Lobéké National Park, where forest elephants slip through the forest unheard and gorillas emerge with the dusk, one woman charts a course both personal and profound.

Marlyse Bebeguewa was once just a name on the roster of porters, hauling gear for others. Today, she is at the forefront of conservation in one of Central Africa’s richest but least accessible protected areas, report David Akana and Yannick Kenné.

Born in 1987 into a Bantu family, Bebeguewa was raised by her mother after her father died assisting scientists in the forest. Financial hardship forced her to leave school early. But rather than succumb to circumstance, she followed a trail—both literal and metaphorical—blazed by her father. At 18, she took a job as a porter. A year later, she trained as a guide. By 2014, when Lobéké’s management sought ecological monitoring assistants, she was the only woman selected—and promptly made team leader.

Her rise, achieved without formal education beyond secondary school, reflects the latent capacity often overlooked in local communities. It is also an implicit rebuke to a conservation model that has historically marginalized Indigenous and local actors, especially women.

Now a consultant with WWF, Bebeguewa uses acoustic sensors and camera traps to track endangered species and detect threats, merging new technology with on-the-ground knowledge. She mentors other women and works to bridge divides between Bantu and Baka communities—relationships that remain fraught in a region marked by deep inequities.

Yet the barriers she confronts are not just cultural or gendered. Lobéké remains chronically underfunded, difficult to reach, and underutilized as a tourism asset.
“We need more communication tools,” she says, referring to the basic radios shared among teams.

Still, Bebeguewa endures. Her work is both an act of remembrance and an investment in the future. She has built a home, educated her children, and dreams of a day when her descendants might take up the same cause.
“Even if I’m no longer working there someday, I hope my children or grandchildren will continue in this field.”

Conservation, for her, is not an abstract endeavor. It is daily, physical, communal.

And it begins, as hers did, with the simple act of showing up.

In the quest to restore Africa’s threatened forests, seed collectors are learning to ascend towering trees, sometimes over 50 meters tall, to gather the perfect seeds, reports Ruth Kamnitzer. This method is not only an art but a necessity in a world where many native tree species face extinction.

Sebastian walaita javan, curator at Tooro Botanical Gardens in Uganda, has spent over 25 years perfecting the technique of high tree climbing to collect seeds, teaching others to follow in his footsteps. In a team of three, climbers use ropes, harnesses, and spurs to scale massive trees, collecting mature seeds from the canopy before returning to the ground. The practice is integral to the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100), which aims to restore 100 million hectares of land by 2030.

Native species are critical to maintaining biodiversity, but collecting their seeds is not without challenges. Walaita explains that seeds found on the ground are often too old, contaminated, or too immature to germinate. Climbing the trees is the only way to access the healthiest seeds at the right time—seeds that could hold the key to preserving endangered species. Yet, many local botanists struggle to reach high branches without proper training or equipment.

In September 2024, Walaita took his skills to Côte d’Ivoire, where he trained Ivorian botanists on how to safely harvest seeds from tall trees for reforestation efforts, focusing on native species. This is part of a wider movement to shift from planting non-native species like teak to those that are indigenous, more suited to the local ecosystem, and crucial for long-term restoration.

As reforestation efforts grow, so does the need for safe, sustainable ways to collect seeds and promote biodiversity. With the right training the next generation of tree climbers may have the tools to restore the forests that sustain Africa’s wildlife and people.