PROJECT TITLE: REFORESTATION AND OPTIMIZATION OF CARBON STOCKS FROM AGROFORESTS IN
THE PERI-FOREST SAVANNAS OF CENTRAL CAMEROON
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS FOR THE RECRUITMENT OF 5 MASTER STUDENTS UNDER THE
RESSAC PROGRAM

1. Context of the project
The fight against climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions and the conservation of biodiversity
are at the center of the concerns of the international scientific community and States. According to IPCC reports
(2007 and 2019), agriculture, logging and other types of land use are responsible for 23% of
human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation and Forest degradation is responsible for 17%
of total emissions. However, forests store 20 to 50 times more CO2 than any other ecosystem, and
they absorb 50% more carbon than other wooded areas (WWF, 2012). Central Cameroon is a territory
of forest-savannah mosaic where, on the one hand, we find islets of dense semi-deciduous forest scattered within
shrubby and grassy savannahs, and on the other hand, savannahs included in the large southern forest block. In this vast area,
cocoa, coffee and oil palm crops on the one hand, and food crops practiced extensively constitute
the main activities of the populations. Recent studies have shown that all these forms of land occupation through
agricultural development contribute to the expansion of agroforests in savannah territory, contrary to
previous studies which highlighted the role of agricultural activities in the degradation of forests and the extension of savannahs. Indeed,

since the beginning of the 1990s, work based on the reconstruction of paleoenvironments has demonstrated that
millennial variations in climate have had repercussions on the distribution of plant populations on a planetary scale.
In tropical regions with currently humid climates in particular, the successions of dry phases and
wet periods have had significant impacts on the distribution of dense forest and bordering savannahs. In Africa in
particular, paleoenvironmental studies have demonstrated that savannahs expanded widely between 3000 and 2000
years BP thanks to climatic drying which affected all of West and Central Africa. The same studies attest
that following a rehumidification of the climate, which occurred around 1500 years BP, the slow progression of the forest into
savannah territory continues spontaneously until the present day. The progression over the last decades is
confirmed by botanical and pedological surveys, but also by diachronic analyzes based on data
remote sensing. This extension of the forest onto the savannah occurs either spontaneously through the establishment of
forest regrowth in savannahs, or is accelerated locally by man through the creation of agroforests, to prevent
bush fires. Given the expansion of agroforests and forest regrowth in the savannah, the environmental and
socio-economic issues are very important in terms of increasing carbon storage, improving population income
and even land appropriation and security in a context where we observe gender inequalities in
terms of access to and control of land. Reducing these gender inequalities nevertheless constitutes an option that could
make it possible to accelerate the afforestation of peri-forest savannahs with regard to the role of women and vulnerable groups
in agricultural activities. They also arise in terms of maintaining part of the savannahs for the diversity of the landscapes
and the preservation of pastures for cattle breeding. These reforestations of savannahs from agroforests also constitute
a real opportunity that could strengthen the fight against global warming, given that

GHG emissions from agriculture in Cameroon in 2010 were estimated at 24,977 MtCO2eq (i.e. 63.82 % of the country’s total)
and could increase to 69,443 MtCO2eq (or 66.59%) in 2035 according to projections (MINEPDED, 2021). Cameroon
committed during COP21 to reduce its carbon footprint by 32% by 2035 compared to the 2010 level based on the
nationally determined contribution (NDC); this through, among other things, the intensification of
sustainable forest management and biodiversity conservation activities in order to strengthen carbon sinks. The country’s ambition is to
promote low-carbon agriculture, which will help reduce CO2 emissions linked to the agricultural sector to the threshold
of 46,543 MtCO2eq by 2035. This project to study savannah reforestation processes from of agroforests at the
Cameroon Center follows the call for research proposals from the RESSAC program funded by the European Union and
led by the Center for International Forestry Research and the International Center for Research in Agroforestry
(CIFOR-ICRAF) inviting institutions of a scientific and academic nature from the countries of Central Africa and Europe, as well
as managers of forest and environmental resources from Central Africa to form a group and
submit research proposals for RESSAC funding. The UMR AMAP, under the supervision of the Research Institute
for Development (IRD), the geography department of the University of Yaoundé I and the Municipality of Ngomedzap formed
a consortium with the aim of submitting a research proposal entitled “reforestation and optimization
of carbon stocks from agroforests in the peri-forest savannahs of central Cameroon.
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2. Fields of study requested
The call for applications is aimed at students regularly enrolled in Master 2 in one of the following disciplines:
geography, sociology, anthropology, botany- ecology, environmental sciences etc.
3. Eligibility conditions
– Be a student regularly enrolled in Master 2;
– Hold a license;
– Be available throughout the duration of the project;
– Master the use of IT tools;
– Mastery of GIS and image processing software is an asset;
– Be autonomous and able to work under pressure.
4. Research axes
Candidates will have to choose from the following research subjects:
1. Extension of agroforests and dynamics of land use on the savannah-forest contact;
2. Socio-economic and carbon storage potential of the Ngomedzap communal forest;
3. The ecological and socio-economic issues of agroforestry systems based on innovative cocoa trees;
4. Gender access to land ownership and dynamics of agroforests;
5. Extension of agroforests and dynamics of carbon stocks in the forest-savannah mosaic.
5.Composition of the application file
Interested candidates must submit a file consisting of the following documents:
– A cover letter;
– Proof of admission to M2;
– A research project of 2 pages maximum indicating the chosen subject and summarizing the problem, the
research questions, objectives and hypotheses and the methodology;
– A resume ;
– A copy of the diploma or certificate of license;
– Copies of transcripts from L1 to M1.

Application files in a single PDF file must be sent no later than February 20, 2024 to Professor YOUTA HAPPI
at the address: youtahappi@yahoo.fr with a copy to Dr MOPI and Pierre COUTERON respectively at the addresses
fabrice.mopitouoyem@ird.fr ; pierre.couteron@ird.fr with the subject candidature_projet_Ressac.
Only selected candidates will be contacted for the launch of activities.
6.Financing
Selected candidates must benefit from support and funding for their research through
RESSAC funds for a period of 6 months.
NB: Female applications are strongly encouraged.