Since 2015.
“Our biggest asset isn’t a budget or a piece of technology; it’s trust.”
ECODAS was born from a simple but urgent reality: in the forests of Cameroon, you cannot protect the forest without supporting the people who live among them. We started our journey on World Biodiversity Day in the Bakossi-Banyang-Mbo region because we saw a heart-breaking cycle: communities trapped in poverty were being forced to deplete the very nature they rely on to survive. We believe that the survival of our endangered species and the dignity of our people are two sides of the same coin. If one fails, so does the other.
We aren’t just dreaming; we’ve spent ten years proving that a different way is possible. Our work has even earned us Cameroon’s first “National Award of Excellence Against Climate Change. Our approach is simple: we turn poachers into protectors. We do this by making conservation a point of local pride, training community members to be professional guardians of their own land, and helping families build green businesses. We want a standing forest to be worth more to a family than a cleared one.
As we look toward 2030, our plan is clear and practical. We are scaling up community-led patrols to restore damaged habitats. We are helping people find new ways to earn a living through sustainable tourism and forest products. Most importantly, we are teaching the next generation to value their heritage while using both modern science and the deep, traditional wisdom of our elders to guide every decision we make.
Our biggest asset isn’t a budget or a piece of technology; it’s trust. We don’t just implement projects, we live and work alongside the people of the forest. Our network includes reformed poachers who have laid down their arms, hardworking farmers, traditional chiefs, and our dedicated field staff. This isn’t a top-down organization; it’s a movement owned by the community. That is why our impact lasts long after a project cycle ends.
Recognizing Cameroon’s rising biodiversity loss and climate crisis, ECoDAs was created on the 22nd of May 2015, which is also World Biodiversity Day, and registered officially as a non-profit and non-governmental association on the 13th of August 2018 (Registration No: 247/E.27/750/SAAJP). Since its creation, ECoDAs’ work has been well received in Cameroon and abroad, as we have been working together with communities and generous international and national donors and collaborators to drive crucial actions to save a range of endangered species and critical forest habitats in the Bakossi-Banyang-Mbo Landscape. ECoDAs has gained recognition as one of the most respected and committed grassroots organizations in the conservation circle in Cameroon through its steadily impactful work.
In addition to the highly qualified technical and administrative staff comprised of six employees and three volunteers, we recruited three permanent field-based staff. The ECoDAs team has academic qualifications and experiences in conservation, ecosystem management, forestry, Non-Timber Forest Product (NTFP) domestication, agroforestry, food security, and climate change. Since 2019, ECoDAs’ skills, as well as our traceable impacts, have made us well-loved by communities and conservation stakeholders in Cameroon. The field-based staff are from communities within the close vicinity of the BMWS and have extensive experience in conducting long distance expeditions in the most extreme and rugged areas of the sanctuary. We also have a track record of successfully implementing third-party funded projects, adequately handling funds from donors, and creating lasting and traceable impacts on communities and conservation. Due to our partnership with large international funders, ECoDAs has developed knowledge and understanding not only in organizational development, project monitoring, and reporting. We have also widened our experience in fundraising.
We see the difference our work has made in the conservation of wildlife in the Bakossi-Banyang-Mbo Landscape: Villagers who once cleared habitats for farming now protect them. Communities once hostile to wildlife now celebrate them. Poachers turned wildlife guardians, schoolchildren who speak proudly of wildlife, and elders who pass on stories not of fear of wildlife, but of coexistence. In 2022, ECoDAs won the “2022 Green is Gold Medal” and Cameroon’s Pioneer “National Award of Excellence Against Climate Change” by the World Echoes Media Group in partnership with the Oxford Climate Journalism Network (OCJN) at Oxford University and the Reuters Institute of Journalism.
In 2024, ECoDAs received a Lifetime Achievement Award for our enormous and outstanding achievements for our commitment to biodiversity conservation and our investment in unlocking new opportunities for sustainable development initiatives in Cameroon. In 2024, the commitment of the ECoDAs team to address emerging environmental issues in Cameroon led us to gain trust, leading ECoDAs to sign a long-term partnership agreement with the multi-stakeholder Program for Sustainable Management of Natural Resources in the South West Region of Cameroon (PSMNR-SWR) of the South West Regional Delegation of Forestry and Wildlife (MINFOF).
Our planet’s biodiversity is at risk. Many wildlife species are at the risk of extinction due to human activities such as poaching and habitat destruction. Many hectares of tropical rainforests have been lost. Human-induced climate change is exacerbating this loss through accelerated global warming, and increased in extreme weather events and natural disasters. We are focused on reversing and slowing species loss, protecting and restoring ecosystems and habitats, as well as engaging and sustaining the well-being of local communities.
Through sustainable natural resource management, awareness raising, and advocacy, ECODAs helps to reduce pressure on natural resources and mitigate climate change.
ECODAs focuses on education, community mobilization and alternative livelihood activities to reduce poverty and ensure sustainable livelihoods for people in rural areas.
Bakossi-Banyang-Mbo Landscape is located in the southwest region, with the smallest part found in the littoral region, specifically in the Moungo division. The indigenes of the area are the Mbo, Bakossi, Banyang, and Basossi tribes. Some communities are made up of the Northwesterners and the indigenous Mbororos.
The landscape has one of the highest numbers of protected areas in Cameroon, and it is also known to host the first-ever area in Cameroon strictly dedicated to the protection of birds, amphibians, and reptiles. Most of the people living adjacent to the landscape conduct agricultural activities like farming cocoa, coffee, and palms and rear animals like pigs, goats, and cattle. About 80% of the population is poor and living below 1 dollar a day, with poor, mostly farm-to-market roads and a limited number of health facilities. The landscape is composed of the Bakossi National Park (29,320 ha), Banyang-Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary (66,220 ha), Mount Muanenguba (4,696 ha), and the Mount Kupe reserve (4,676 ha).
ECODAs is a membership-based organization, funded by domestic and international grant support and donations. ECODAs is governed by a Board of Directors elected by the general membership at the Annual General Meeting. The Board of Directors makes policy decisions on behalf of the organization and its members. The Executive Director and senior staffs are responsible for the day-to-day management of the organization.
ECoDAs focus on environmental education, restoration of fragile ecosystems, conservation of at-risk flora and fauna species, and strengthening communities’ livelihoods through income and economic development opportunities.
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