On 5 June 2024, Greenpeace Africa announced the official launch of the Cameroon Climate Justice Movement (CCJM), a coalition of nearly 40 civil society organisations across Cameroon's 10 regions. The aim of the movement is to coordinate local efforts to combat deforestation and promote concrete action to protect the environment in Cameroon.
The launch of the Cameroon Movement for Climate Justice (CCJM) was marked on 5 June 2024 – World Environment Day – by a peaceful march in Yaoundé, attended by around 500 participants, who delivered a letter to Cameroon’s Minister of the Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development, urging the government to step up its efforts to protect forests and adopt concrete measures against the massive deforestation that is threatening local ecosystems.
This mobilisation follows a national workshop held in Kribi in April 2024, where the concerns of local and indigenous communities were collected and incorporated into the grievances presented to the government. Fabrice Lamfu, Forest Campaigner at Greenpeace Africa, stressed the urgent need for a collective response to the growing scale of environmental pressures in Cameroon. “The planet is facing a multitude of challenges, from polluting industries to rapid deforestation. The CCJM represents a crucial first step in amplifying our voices and our actions in favour of protecting our common natural heritage”, he declared.
Movements spreading across Africa
Before Cameroon, the Climate Justice Movement model was successfully launched in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and will soon be extended to Ghana, marking a stronger commitment by West and Central African countries to coordinated and effective climate action.
In a declaration published on 4 June 2024, the CCJM clearly states its objectives. These are to promote climate adaptation, defend climate justice and strengthen collaboration between the various players involved in protecting the environment. The movement is also committed to supporting research and innovation to develop specific solutions to local climate challenges, while advocating robust climate policies at local, national and international levels.
The implementation of the CCJM will be overseen by a dedicated steering committee, responsible for coordinating activities, assessing progress and ensuring transparency and accountability in all initiatives undertaken.
Cameroon has lost 3.7% of its total forest cover in the last 18 years
Cameroon, with its rich biodiversity and vast forests, is facing major challenges related to climate change, exacerbated by increased deforestation that is compromising the future of generations to come. In April 2024, Greenpeace Africa, in collaboration with national and international civil society organisations, sent a letter to several foreign governments alerting them to the urgency of the situation and calling for international support measures.
Cameroon’s deforestation figures are alarming, as revealed by recent reports from the Ministry of Forests and Fauna, the Ministry of the Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development, and the World Resources Institute (WRI). Between 2002 and 2020, the country lost 708,000 hectares of primary rainforest, representing a 3.7% reduction in its total forest cover. This loss is equivalent to 48% of Cameroon’s total forest area. Deforestation peaked in 2014, 2017 and 2020, endangering an ecosystem that is crucial to regional biodiversity and climate stability.
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Moreover, deforestation has been concentrated mainly in the non-permanent forest estate, which has suffered massive losses accounting for 80% in 2020 and 78.6% in 2021 of the total loss. These losses are often linked to the satisfaction of basic needs such as access to food and energy, highlighting the socio-economic challenges faced by local populations dependent on forest resources.
Boris Ngounou
