Cameroon seeks funds to restore degraded land
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Cameroon negotiated with the African Development Bank (AfDB) and Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) in Mongolia to secure funding for restoring over 12 million hectares of degraded land by 2030.
Discussions took place during the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification conference and focused on investments in agriculture, food security, and climate resilience. Issa Sanogo, the United Nations resident coordinator in Cameroon, led the Cameroonian delegation, which included representatives from the Ministry of Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development.
The country committed to the land restoration goal in 2017 through the Bonn Challenge and the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative. Approximately a quarter of Cameroon’s land, around 12 million hectares, has degraded due to factors like slash-and-burn agriculture, forestry, mining, and overgrazing, with the northern regions of Adamawa, North, and Far North most affected. Sanogo proposed integrating land restoration with food production and climate adaptation in order to maximize the impact of investments.
Cameroon presented its ConvergeFood program as a potential framework for attracting funding, but the total cost of the restoration project and the specific amount Cameroon seeks from the banks remain undisclosed. The talks must now move toward identifying specific projects and securing firm financial commitments.
