GGGI Small Grant (2023) - Environment and Food Foundation Cameroon (Cameroon)
Project Summary
Through this project, the Environment and Food Foundation (E2F) Cameroon has built on the organization’s existing work in Douala, Cameroon, to provide a holistic approach to the sustainable management of ALDFG by increasing the knowledge base among relevant stakeholders through data collection, education campaigns, and prevention and mitigation efforts. Workshops, educational materials, and direct engagement with the fishing community has lead to an increase the reach of E2F and continues to empower local communities and to drive policy and advocacy efforts around ALDFG.
E2F has prepared a curriculum on sustainable management of marine ecosystems and hosted 11 Ocean Education workshops reaching over 1,000 students in the Doula region and educating them on the impacts of marine debris and ALDFG in particular. Alongside these workshops, they have also hosted 4 supervised debris clean-ups engaging 32 children and youths and removing 230kg of ALDFG from the shoreline. Additionally, they have hosted 3 separate crafting workshops, engaging 23 fishers and another 34 children, showing them ways to use the recovered nets as a raw material to make art and other functional items. Further engaging the fishing community, E2F has also prepared gear loss questionnaires and solicited responses from 50 fishers in the region to help establish a baseline of the causes, drivers and impacts of ALDFG in the region, and established one collection hub for end-of-life nets, giving fishers an opportunity to dispose of their gear in a central location and preventing it from ending up in the environment.
