ABSTRACT
Cameroon, a country situated in Central Africa, is endowed with varied ecological diversity that ranges from coastal mangroves and rich Equatorial rainforests in the south, through Savannah and Sahel ecosystems, to the southern fringes of the Sahara desert around Lake Chad in the north. It could accordingly be considered more or less as representative of Africa in miniature. An evaluation of parameters associated with climate change and its impacts in the country based on existing data on the subject during the last century (1926 to 2007) is indicative of increasing trends with national magnitudes similar to those of global trends. Regional trends of climate change across the country are assessed, their impacts on vulnerable communities evaluated, and possible mitigation and adaptation approaches discussed with specific reference to ongoing research and outreach activities. Recent proactive government policy and action to create a national observatory for climate change in the country is presented. The status, mission, composition, and anticipated activities of such an observatory are discussed with the aim of ensuring its scientific rationale, as well as the social, economic, ethical, and cultural implications of decisions to be considered by the government in its policy towards redressing issues on climate change through such an observatory. Discussions of some ongoing policies, capacity building, and sensitization experiences at the national and international levels, especially on the African continent, are used to highlight the advantages and pitfalls to be considered when providing the most optimal approaches of tackling this human suicidal phenomenon, which is already decimating humankind and other species on the Earth’s surface at an alarming rate. Renewed environmental and political ethics on the subject are proposed for future consideration.
