Lancashire Insurance Company, a UK-based firm, has granted financial support to ERuDeF to support the running of its different operations such as reforestation, education and communication.
By R. F Leke
Funds granted to ERuDeF have helped advance awareness on environmental issues through press conferences bringing together journalists from different media houses with the aim of educating the Cameroonian public on the threats facing the environment and how together they can work to protect it.
Recently, journalists at a conference were drilled on ERuDeF’s programmes and how the NGO has been working towards protecting some great apes such as the Cross River gorilla and the Cameroon-Nigeria chimpanzee in the Lebialem Highlands.
The NGO equally used one of the press conferences to disclose its reforestation programme with vision to plant over 50.000 trees to curb the effects of climate change. The different print and audiovisual media houses later relayed the message to the public and educated them on the importance of protecting the environment.
Financial support from Lancashire Insurance Company has also permitted ERuDeF to organize radio and TV programs to educate the Cameroonian public on the need for them to join their voices in environmental protection. Through the NGO’s environmental newspaper, The Green Vision, Cameroonians have been able to get first-hand information on key environmental issues in the country, including the state of its forests, wildlife, water and sustainable development. The fund has supported investigation into core environmental issues in Cameroon leading to the production and distribution of over 6.000 copies of six editions in 2014 circulated nationwide. This has in turn helped in raising awareness amongst Cameroonians as some of its readers say, “I am a fervent reader of The Green Vision paper because I love following nature-related story. A year ago before the birth of the paper, I had noticed that there was a gap in the media landscape and there was really no media organ that published environmental stories. I think the paper is really filling the gap,” Ngalle Thompson, a reader in Buea said. He equally called on other media houses to report issues of the environment as their own contribution to conservation.
“For conservation to be a success, the media has an indispensable role to play. They are the ones to relay the crucial environmental problems to the government for policy making. They are equally supposed to report if strategies put in place by the government to protect the environment are working,” Ngalle further said.
The Lancashire Insurance Company’s support has permitted ERuDeF’s Agro-forestry Assistant for West and Littoral, Payong Marquise, to plant over 70.000 agro-forestry species including Leucaena, Caliandra, Moringa, Prunus africana and Acacia for soil health improvement in farmers’ fields.
Funds from the insurance company has also permitted the organisation’s Coordinator of Special Projects, Ndimuh Bertrand Shancho, to implement different marketing activities such as the production of banners, flyers and T-shirts all with the objective of increasing the visibility of the organization and at the same time raising awareness on biodiversity conservation in Cameroon.
The grant from Lancashire Insurance made it possible for the management of ERuDeF led by the CEO, Louis Nkembi, to coordinate the implementation of different projects in the organization. Through the organization of component meetings and evaluation of different projects, management has been able to forge ahead and looks forward to better results as it rounds off the first semester.
Lancashire Insurance Company Limited is a class 4 general insurer which offers insurance, reinsurance products and underwriting services. The company was incorporated in 2005 and is based in Hamilton, Bermuda, UK. It is a subsidiary of Lancashire Holdings Limited. The company is committed to understanding risks and helps companies and people around the world to deal with the various threats that our societies face. The company deals with the effects of the unexpected including major disasters like earthquakes, floods, windstorms and terrorist attacks. Risk and responsibility are central to Lancashire’s strategy and the company tries to ensure that they are responsible corporate citizens and individuals in all that they do. Her support to ERuDeF is part of this corporate social responsibility to protecting the global environment.