Securing Permanent Forests to Combat Climate Change and Enhance Sustainable National and Local Economies in Cameroon (SPEFOCE)

Cameroon's Permanent Forest Areas are losing tree cover to deforestation and degradation, driven by unsustainable harvesting, population growth and a changing climate. Carbon stocks are at risk and forest-dependent communities are less able to cope; 2.2 million hectares of tree cover were lost between 2001 and 2024.

The project will transform land use and forest management in and around the Permanent Forest Areas across three landscapes: Dja-Lobéké, Bakossi-Bamboutos and Waza. It aims to restore or bring under sustainable management over 60,000 hectares, update outdated management plans, revise sustainable forest management policies and set restoration guidelines. It will develop non-timber forest product value chains, with equipment for micro and small enterprises and better access to financial services. It will build the skills of communities, local governments, cooperatives and the private sector, including women, youth and Indigenous Peoples.

This is one of Cameroon's first two single-country GCF projects and contributes to GCF's commitment under the COP30 Belém Call to Action for the Congo Basin Forests. It will strengthen the national system for forest carbon finance, including a revised reference emission level and measurement, reporting and verification, and connect government, communities and the private sector through multi-stakeholder platforms.