Samuel Nguiffo
Africa (Yaoundi, Cameroon)
for video and audio. Meet Samuel |
The tropical rainforest of Central Africa is second only to the Amazon
in size. One of the world's great storehouses of biodiversity, it is
home to the great apes, elephants and forest-dwelling people. The
spiritual and cultural identity of these inhabitants who include the
Baka and the Bagueli people, often referred to as Pygmies, is
intricately tied to the forest. Cameroon, the nation that lies at the
frontier of this vast basin, is the continent's largest exporter of raw
timber. To its north, the forests of West Africa have been largely
depleted. As the gatekeeper to the Congo Basin, Cameroon is an
important indicator for the future of the entire region.
Samuel Nguiffo, 33, directs the Center for Environment and
Development (CED) in Cameroon's capital, YaoundJ. A lawyer by
training, Nguiffo has devoted himself to the Herculean task of
stopping the liquidation of the region's forests for short-term profit.
Cameroonian citizens rarely benefit from this industrial scale logging
as profits go primarily to foreign companies. Moreover, a network of
logging roads has made the forests vulnerable to commercial hunters
who are slaughtering chimpanzees and gorillas for their meat on an
unprecedented scale. Ironically, the so-called "Bushmeat" trade is
driving primates and other species to extinction at the very time that
scientists have pinpointed the origin of the HIV virus to chimpanzees
in the region. Scientists believe that the agent for treatment and
cures may be found by studying this endangered species. This
ecosystem is also home to the prunus africanus tree, the bark of
which contains a compound used to treat prostate cancer. This
compound cannot currently be synthesized and industry practice
encourages locals and other collectors to harvest the bark in such a
way that the trees often die.
Nguiffo's and his team at CED have been working tirelessly to inform forest-dwelling peoples about a little known provision in Cameroon's forestry law. This progressive new law allows for the establishment of community forests, in theory allowing local inhabitants to legally manage their traditional lands. CED also assists forest communities with income-generating activities such as bee-keeping and sustainable use of non-timber forest products.
Concerned about immediate and longer-term threats to the region, Nguiffo is at the forefront of an international effort to ensure that the proposed 1050-kilometer (880 of which are in Cameroon) Chad/Cameroon oil pipeline project will not bring about large-scale social dislocation, habitat destruction and marine pollution. He has also participated in CEO's Process - a World Bank initiative to bring the CEOs of logging companies, conservation organizations and representatives from developing countries together. The sole representative from Africa, Nguiffo speaks out for the rights of communities in tropical rainforest regions. Nguiffo is also a member of the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (E-LAW), a network of environmental lawyers from 50 countries.
"What is happening at this moment in the Congo Basin cannot be supported by anyone of good faith," says Samuel Nguiffo. "It is unacceptable that the basis for life of millions of individuals be destroyed in order to satisfy the greed of a few private companies, that are generally foreign."
The Goldeman Prizewinners Home
Meet Jorge | Meet Ka | Meet Jacqui and Yvonne
Meet Michal | Meet Samuel | Meet Bernard
Home | Teacher Zone