By Kini Nsom
The Director General of the World Wild Fund for nature, WWF, Dr. James P. Leape, is in Cameroon for a weeklong working visit. He arrived in Yaounde on December 9 and he is expected to leave on December 14.
According to a release issued by WWF Regional Communication Manager, Peter Ngea Beng, Dr. Leape will be making his first trip to the Central African region since taking office in December 2005.
During his sojourn in the country, he is expected to discuss conservation issues with senior government officials, diplomats and WWF partners in Yaounde as well as visit some field activities of the conservation outfit.
He is also expected to make a policy statement and reiterate WWF's support to the Cameroon government and its people for their good management of the country's rich bio-diversity.
The 50-year-old, American-born, Dr. Leape will pay homage to Cameroon's pivotal role in enabling the Yaounde Declaration on conservation policies in 1999 and congratulate the Heads of State of the sub-region through the Cameroon government for signing the first-ever conservation treaty - the Central African Forest Commission, COMIFAC in Brazzaville last year.
Dr. Leape will also discuss the way forward for the implementation of a conservation blue print for the region known by its French appellation as Plan de Convergence and seek, with Cameroonian authorities and other WWF partners, options to strengthen the role of COMIFAC in coordinating forest-related issues for the entire sub-region.
One of the key elements of Dr. Leape's visit will be the presentation to the public of the 2006 Living Planet Report which was launched in October this year in Beijing, China by WWF.According to the release, the WWF 2006 Living Planet Report is the biennial statement on the state of the natural world.
The WWF boss will visit one of the outfit's field projects in Campo Ma'an in the South Province where he will assess hands on conservation impact on local communities.
Dr. Leape, who is said to be a strong advocate of conservation in the rich Congo Basin, has worked in nature conservation for over 25 years.
He joined WWF-US in 1989 and for 10 years steered its worldwide conservation programmes while serving as executive vice president. In that role, he is said to have helped to shape the global strategies of the WWF network and represented WWF in numerous international forums.
He is expected to discuss real conservation issues when he meets the Minister of Forestry and Wildlife, Elvis Ngolle Ngolle and the Minister of the Environment and Nature Protection, Hele Pierre.He is expected to be received by Prime Minister, Chief Ephraim Inoni at the Star Building in the coming days.
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.