Report of BCDP-C General Meeting,
Bamenda August 31, 1996
The objective of the
niectino was to take stock of BDCP-C's progress and familiarize
members as well as potential members with BDCP-C's activities.
It was attended by over 30 people. In a welcome address
by Prof. Johnson Jato, the President of BDCP-C. thanked
everybody at the meeting for making it a duty to participate
in this very important rendezvous. He further stated that
their presence was a tesi i-nony of their committment
to BDCP-C and its goals. The president called on members
to contribute actively to ii-nproving the quality of life
on earth through research, education and other techniques.
He stressed that the importance of the meeting was to
take stock of the existence of BDCP-C since April 1995
and familiarize new and potential members with the organization.
Speaking on membership, the President declared that it
was open to everyone who has concerns for the environment
and for the health of people living in the tropics.He
invited participants tojoin BDCPC, an excellent forum
for tackling environmental problems.
The President's address
was immediately followed by the opening speech from the
Governor of the North-West Province. The speech was delivered
by the Secretary General for the Governor. The Secretary
General remarked that it was an honor for the province
to host the general meeting of BDCPC and that it heralds
a new era in the multilateral relations the province is
nursing with NGOs both within and outside Cameroon. He
observed that irrational and uncontrollable human activities
were creating serious environmental problems which directly
or indirectly affected the quality of life on our planet.
He stated the committment of the government to environmental
protection and saluted the BDCPC's Linking Biodiversity
Conservation to Socio-economic Development program as
a way forward to judicious use of our bioresources. He
further acknowledged the diverse backgrounds and enermous
wealth of expertise of BDCPC's members, which will serve
as a network of convergent ideas that will be useful in
developing strategies for the protection.This was followed
by Presentations and Discussions on the following topics
by BDCP members: - Goals, objectives and domain of intervention
of BDCPC by Dr Anthony Ngenge Wawa of UNDP.
- Organizatioin of
BDCPC within National Territory by Hon. Steven Njinyam,
Foi-i-ner Minister of Agriculture. - NGOs: Their organization,
functioning, networking and fund raising by George Minang
of the World Bank.
A report of BDCPC
activities and program of work was delivered by Thomas
Tata- Fofung, the Executive Secretary of BDCPC. After
giving a brief history of BDCP Cameroon, he went on to
enumerate some of the achievements of BDCPC. These include
the BDCPC Inaugural Seminar Workshop of April 199, the
organization of training course on Ethnobiology and Field
Taxonomy of October 1995, the hosting of BDCP Second International
Congress on the Utilization of Tropical Plants and Biodiversity
conservation of October 23, 1995 and ongoing collaboration
with Shaman Pharmaceuticals Inc. He also mentioned the
projects BDCPC envisaged to carry out in the near future
and these included collaboration with PLANTECAM, participation
in AP- I project of ICBG Program, studies on projects
on Medicinal Plant Garden, GEF projects etc. Members asked
to be clarified between BDCPC and BDCPI. It was concluded
that although no formal protocol agreement concerning
the relationship has yet been made, members should accept
and promote the existing, relationship.
A report of BDCPC's
finances was read by Mr. Njamnishi Augustine of BDCPC's
secretariat on behalf of the Treasurer who was not present
because he was on mission with the Minister. After the
report was presented it was decided that money for the
debts incurred for the BDCP congress and the refinancing
of air ticket for attendance of SI/ MAB sponsored course
in USA should be recovered as soon as possible -iven the
-roup's difficult financial situation. The executive was
advised to ,ivoid prefinancing of projects for which there
are no firm coininittinents of reimbursement. It was decided
that an audit covering the period since BDCPC's creation
to December 1996 should be made and the audit report given
at next general meeting. Due to time constraint, the other
issues on the agenda such as elections, adoption of internal
regulations and field visists were postponed to the next
meeting scheduled for January 1997 at Bamenda.
Biological
Resources is published monthly by The Bioresources
Development and Conservation Programme. The information
contained here is intended to contribute to the development
of an integrated approach to biological resources management
in which human needs and habitat conservation can both
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