RFUK’s mapping coordinator Georges Thierry Handja was in Cameroon last month to continue our support for communities facing threats to their lands.

Over just 12 days, RFUK trained teams of people from three regions to support forest communities to produce maps of their land, much of which is considered to be under customary ownership (though this is not yet recognised in law). These maps, produced with the help of GIS technology, help to show governments where these communities are and also highlight the potential devastating affect large-scale development could have on their livelihoods.

These communities’ lands are under threat, whilst agro-industrial plantations and the expansion of extractive industries in the region contribute to the destruction of the rainforest.

This project is part of our mission to map over 5 million hectares of rainforest by 2017, in order to make forest communities visible to governments, stand up for their land rights and in the process reduce deforestation.