Impact of mount ngaoundal exploitation on vegetation evolution: implication on sustainable management

A study was carried out on the impact of exploitation of mount Ngaoundal vegetation evolution. Anthropic activities expose mount Ngaoundal to damage and heavy deforestation. The main activities in practice on the mountain include agriculture (91.82%), pharmacopeia (85.46%), ecotourisim (75.72%), military activity (71, 38%). Hunting (69. 08%), rearing (64.58%) and activities practiced by miners (36.27%) constitute secondary activities. The local population picks enough products from mount Ngaoundal. Firewoods (92.42%), followed by barks (52.80%) and leaves (36.67%) are mainly picked from mount Ngaoundal. The populations get foodstuffs mainly from the mountain. Some people treat themselves specifically from local plants. Products less represented include arabic gum (1.44%), seeds (4.62%), and flowers (7.53%). Products such as honey (21.04%), mushrooms (33.06%), roots (33.90%) and fruits are intermediates. All these activities have impacts on the vegetation evolution. Analyses of satellite images on the mountain evolution showed that mount Ngaoundal vegetation is heavily fragmented since 1985. The grassy savanna has cut down dramatically and given room to vegetable formations such as thin or gallery forests. Those forest surfaces have increased on the detriment of grassy and ligneous savannas with 152.84ha and 430.67ha in 1985 to 505.79ha and 657.97ha in 2016 respectively. In order to preserve anthropic activities, revering populations have put in place protective measures such as village eco-keepers (31.40%), vigilante committees (21.12%) and intensification of sensitization of revering populations on the importance of mount Ngaoundal (11.52%).