Innovative visualisation methods for landscape development and restoration: feasibility study in Cameroon

Context

The municipality of Lagdo has been selected by ProFE (Forest and Environment Programme) as a pilot area under the AFR100 initiative (a pan-African initiative aimed at restoring 100 million hectares of degraded land in Africa by 2030), due to the significant pressures on its territory.

The area has experienced sustained population growth and significant population movements since the construction of the dam, leading to increased competition for access to resources. It is also characterised by a wide diversity of stakeholders and ethnic groups, with sometimes divergent land uses and claims.

At the same time, unregulated logging, for both commercial and domestic purposes, is contributing to advanced land degradation and undermining the Lagdo forest massif, which is currently in the process of being classified. This complex and evolving context fully justifies the implementation of participatory and visualisation tools to support communities in defining restoration scenarios tailored to local challenges.

Activities carried out

The feasibility study was conducted in four complementary phases, from the initial scoping to the final analysis of the results.

Phase 1 — Scoping and documentary analysis

This first stage made it possible to clarify the objectives, expectations and scope of the intervention, while gathering available information on the targeted landscape. It resulted in a methodological scoping note validating the mission’s guidelines.

Phase 2 — Conceptualisation of FORLAND tools

In collaboration with GIZ, ONFI adapted and conceptualised the FORLAND tools for field testing. An interim report detailed:

• the content of the tools used,

• the planned course of the mission,

• evaluative questions related to feasibility. This deliverable was validated by ProFE.

Phase 3 — Field testing of FORLAND tools

This phase corresponds to the operational implementation of the tools in the target villages. The observations, feedback and results from this stage form the basis of the final report.

Phase 4 — Analysis, feedback and reporting

The final phase involved analysing the feedback from the field and presenting the results to the stakeholders. It resulted in:

• a presentation of the results obtained in the villages,

• an analysis of the feasibility of the tools in the local context,

• a final presentation to sectoral organisations and cooperation partners, highlighting the key conclusions and prospects.

Project details

The project aims to test a participatory approach to developing land use scenarios, with a strong focus on forest restoration, in two municipalities in northern and far northern Cameroon. The tools used — participatory role-playing and the FORLAND digital platform — enable the production of reliable data and solid lessons for developing landscape evolution scenarios.

This experiment serves as a basis for defining a clear action plan for the next steps: deepening the participatory process, discussing the scenarios with all stakeholders, and setting up a system for monitoring field activities via the FORLAND platform.

In practice, this involves proposing a structured participatory process in which tools are designed, tested and progressively updated, while all data is centralised and ready for use. This platform will then become an operational support tool for land management and forest restoration within the framework of the AFR100 sub-projects.

Expected results

.

In the pilot municipalities of Lagdo and Ngong, the study led to the introduction of innovative methods for rethinking land use planning with local communities.

• Participation reinvented :A tailor-made role-playing game enabled local stakeholders to express their visions, discuss the issues at stake and jointly imagine the future of their territory.
• Advanced visualisation : The FORLAND platform was enriched with local data and used to visualise planning choices, their impacts and restoration opportunities in real time.
• For each municipality, two planning scenarios were developed and validated with stakeholders, providing a solid basis for the continuation of the AFR100 programme.A clear roadmap for the future.

Budget

65 000€

Partners

GIZ staff on site; the municipalities of Lagdo and Ngong

Beneficiaries

The municipalities of Lagdo and Ngong

Donor

GIZ ProFE Cameroon