Author(s)

Mingang Danielle Liliane¹, Ngueguim Jules Romain², Momo Solefack Marie Caroline¹, Tchongouang Abigaelle³, Tientcheu Tcheugoue Alphonse Loic⁴

¹Unité de Recherche de Botanique Appliquée (URBOA), Department of Plant Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Dschang, Dschang, Cameroon.
²Agricultural Research Institute for Development (IRAD), Yaoundé, Cameroon.
³Department of Geography, Faculty of Letters and Humanities, University of Dschang, Dschang, Cameroon.
⁴Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts, Letters and Humanities, University of Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, Cameroon.

This study was carried out in the forest reserve of Mbalmayo, Center Region of Cameroon, with the aim to analyze the dynamics of land use/land cover (LULC) changes over the past 30 years. The databases used were made up of 3 Landsat satellite images (5TM of 1990, 7ETM+ of 2005 and 8OLI of 2020). The satellite images were processed using ArcGIS and Erdas Imagine software. Ethnobotanical surveys were conducted to investigate the relationships between the local population and the forest reserve. The Mbalmayo forest reserve is consisted of seven main land cover namely: mature secondary forest, young secondary forest, savanna, fallows and crops, built, bare soil and water surface. The dynamics of the forest cover undergoes more significant changes between the years 1990-2005 with losses estimate at 4762 ha compared to the years 2005-2020 (2231 ha), with a marked decrease in the area of dense forests. This regression is much more important in dense forest vegetation. The forest cover lost 6993 ha (26.92%) of its surface, which corresponds to an average rate of deforestation of 233.1 ha/year. The survey revealed the need for NTFPs for the Mbalmayo reserve forest populations. Indeed, all respondents agreed that they use non-timber forest products from the forest, mainly for medication (37%), wood (34%) and food (24%). Therefore, it becomes urgent to redefine a management plan for the Mbalmayo forest reserve which will define how the forest must be managed in order to avoid the loss of large areas of forests disappearing each year under the human action, which exerts pressure on forest species, thus leading to their possible disappearance.

Mbalmayo Forest Reserve, Satellite Images, Ethnobotany, Land Use/Land Cover Change

Liliane, M. , Romain, N. , Caroline, M. , Abigaelle, T. and Loic, T. (2022) Quantifying Forest Loss in the Mbalmayo Forest Reserve (Center Region, Cameroon). Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection, 10, 271-288. doi: 10.4236/gep.2022.109016.