As part of the Natura Sud Est project, funded by the European Union, UNESCO supports access to citizenship and civil registration documents for Indigenous Baka communities and vulnerable Bantu populations living around Cameroon’s two natural World Heritage properties: the Dja Faunal Reserve, inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1987, and Lobéké National Park, which forms part of the Sangha Trinational, a transboundary property inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2012. The Sangha Trinational also includes Nouabalé Ndoki National Park in the Republic of the Congo and Dzanga Ndoki National Park in the Central African Republic
As part of activities marking the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, celebrated each year on 9 August, 124 new birth certificates were issued to vulnerable Baka and Bantu adults who had previously faced difficulties obtaining these documents. Around Lobéké National Park, 54 birth certificates were issued through collaboration between UNESCO, ASBABUK (Association Sanguia Baka Buma’a Kpode), INADES Formation Cameroon and the conservation service of Lobéké National Park. In the Dja Faunal Reserve, 70 birth certificates were issued through collaboration between UNESCO, the Association of Young Indigenous Peoples of Cameroon (AJPAC) and the conservation service of the Dja Faunal Reserve. This initiative also benefited from significant support from the councils of the areas concerned. These results bring the total number of birth certificates issued under the Natura Sud Est project to 204, benefiting 112 women and 92 men.
A symbolic ceremony for the presentation of the birth certificates was organized by AJPAC, with the active participation of the conservation service of the Dja Faunal Reserve, the Lomié Council and the Divisional Delegate of Social Affairs for Lomié. During the ceremony, the Second Deputy Mayor of Lomié, Mrs Eloa Nadège, thanked UNESCO and the European Union for the initiative and reaffirmed the Council’s commitment to supporting similar initiatives for the benefit of Indigenous and vulnerable populations in the municipality. The Head of the Eastern Branch of the Dja Faunal Reserve also thanked all the partners, stressing that the initiative forms part of the broader mission of the conservation service, which seeks to support the education and citizenship of Indigenous communities living near the reserve. The ceremony received media coverage from Lomié Community Radio, an important local communication channel supported by the Communication and Information Sector of the UNESCO Regional Office for Central Africa.
