The Ngouroumoutou Program

Background

The Ngouroumoutou program is named after the local dialect word for pangolins in the Vute vernacular and aims to promote the conservation of pangolins and other wildlife in the Mbam et Djerem National Park through a community-based approach. Exciting but disturbing research results obtained by ABOYERD’s research team during an ecological survey of giant pangolins between 2017 and 2018 revealed the urgent need to intervene through conservation groundwork tailor-made on evidence gathered from the field, hence the program “The Ngouroumoutou Program”.
The initial objective of the program was to support the conservation of the globally threatened Giant Pangolin (Smutsia gigantea), however, over time, focus has been extended to the two other species of pangolins that share this habitat: the white-bellied pangolin and the black-bellied pangolin, as well as other wildlife species at the brink of local extinction in and around the Mbam et Djerem National Park.

Objectives of the Ngouroumoutou Program

The Ngouroumoutou Program targets eight fringe communities around the Mbam et Djerem National Park (Guerre, Makouri, Megang, Ngoum, Lena, Mba’am, Mbitom Conseil, and Gongotoua) and aims at supporting the conservation of pangolins, their habitats and other threatened wildlife species in and around the Park, while improving the livelihoods of indigenous communities around the Mbam et Djerem National Park.
The initial objective of the program was to support the conservation of the globally threatened Giant Pangolin (Smutsia gigantea), however, over time, focus has been extended to the two other species of pangolins that share this habitat: the white-bellied pangolin and the black-bellied pangolin, as well as other wildlife species at the brink of local extinction in and around the Mbam et Djerem National Park.

What ABOYERD is doing to Conserve Pangolins and other wildlife species in the Mbam et Djerem National Park

i. Research

Research activities have filled several research gaps as far as the threats and solutions to the conservation of the park’s biodiversity are concerned. Research points focus on ecological assessment of species distribution, socio-economic surveys, and biomonitoring. Results from these studies are published in reputed journals, used to develop materials for conservation education and awareness campaigns, and equally inform the planning and implementation of alternative livelihood activities. So far, ecological researches have informed three major publications on;

The Assessment of local knowledge and use of pangolins in the Mbam et Djerem National Park area. Available at web link https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/19400829211028138;
Pangolin habitat suitability modeling. See web link https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s2351989423000306;
Provision of the first scientific confirmation of the existence of the African Golden Cat in the MDNP. Available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/357367327_confirmed_presence_of_African_golden_cat_in_Mbam_et_Djerem_National_park_Cameroon.

See our works in the field

ii. Conservation Awareness/Environmental Education:

Conserve biodiversity and their natural habitat for posterity. That is the message, but it will take entire platforms, techniques, and approaches to move the ball of biodiversity conservation. In order to promote positive behavior change towards the conservation of pangolins and other wildlife species in the Mbam et Djerem National Park, ABOYERD uses results from research to bring conservation education and awareness to communities around the park through the following channels:

a. School Pangolin Clubs:

Education programming dealing with threats to ecosystem services and biodiversity is included in the curricula of primary and secondary schools around the Mbam et Djerem National Park. To ensure the long-term survival of conservation actions, three pangolin clubs have been created in some primary and secondary schools to bring conservation awareness to pupils and students through didactic resources like wildlife comic books, game booklets, and outdoor activities like nature observation, etc. We are currently looking forward to audio visualizing some of our didactic resources, like our comic book series Les Aventures de Ngourou le Pangolin, Vols. 1 and 2, that the primary school pupils have especially fallen in love with.