Fisheries in the Southern Border Zone of Takamanda - Impact ...

The Smithsonian Institution has long been aware of
the importance of southwestern Cameroon to global
biodiversity and as a storehouse of resources with
potentially significant value to humankind. In the 1990s,
scientists from the Division of Experimental Therapeutics
at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and the
Bioresources Development and Conservation Programme
approached the Smithsonian with an offer to join research
in Nigeria and Cameroon aimed at using development of
pharmaceutical drugs to catalyze conservation of
biodiversity. Out of those initial discussions, the
International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups for West
Africa was formed, based on the belief that the discovery
and development of pharmaceuticals and other useful
products from natural resources can, under appropriate
circumstances, promote sustained economic growth in
developing countries and conserve the biological
resources from which the products are derived. Priority
objectives were to establish and maintain an inventory of
species used in traditional medicine; collect, chemically
analyze, and test plant samples for potential medicinal
development; identify key compounds for the treatment
of diseases such as malaria, HIV-AIDS, cancer, cystic
fibrosis, and leischmaniasis; establish and maintain
research plots for long-term assessment of ecological
dynamics in rainforests; conduct economic value
assessments of major species in host countries; and train
Nigerian and Cameroonian scientists and technicians in
the various aspects of plant research and ecology.
For nearly ten years, the Smithonsian and
Bioresources Development and Conservation Programme
have coordinated biodiversity conservation and training
for the International Cooperative Biodiversity Group. The
Smithsonian has focused on establishing an extensive
network of biodiversity monitoring plots in Nigeria and
Cameroon and an intensively researched forest dynamics
plot in Korup National Park, Cameroon. The goal is
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increased understanding of the processes that maintain
biodiversity in Central and West African forests.
Smithsonian has conducted detailed forest
biodiversity assessments in collaboration with numerous
partner organizations to provide baseline information
needed to develop regional conservation strategies. We
have also provided professional training in plant
taxonomy, collection techniques, biodiversity monitoring,
data analysis, and environmental leadership for in-country
students and natural resource technicians. Our other
efforts in the region include support of herbariums,
computer facilities, and other components of local
infrastructure and capacity. Partners who have joined in
the drug screening and resource development aspect of
the program include Walter Reed Army Institute of
Research, University of Buea (Cameroon), University of
Dschang (Cameroon), University of Jos (Nigeria), Pace
University (New York), Southern Research Institute
(Alabama), the University of Utah, the University of
Miami, and Florida State University.
Funding for the overall program stems from the
International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups Program,
a consortium of the National Institutes of Health, the
Biological Sciences Directorate of the National Science
Foundation, and the Foreign Agriculture Service of the
U.S. Department of Agriculture. Cooperating National
Institutes of Health agencies include Fogarty International
Center, National Cancer Institute, National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institute of
Mental Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, and
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
The Takamanda Project was a collaborative, multiinstitutional
effort to provide an initial series of
assessments for selected taxa in this region of
southwestern Cameroon and elicit the data needed to form