Cécile Ndjebet, a Cameroonian Activist, has won the 2022 Wangari Maathai Forest Champions Award in recognition of her outstanding contribution to preserving forests and improving the lives of people who depend on them.
Presented by the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF), which is chaired by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the award was conferred at a ceremony during the XV World Forestry Congress in Seoul, Republic of Korea on Thursday, May 5, 2022.
“This award celebrates Cécile Ndjebet’s energy and dedication over three decades in promoting women’s rights to land and forests. She has actively shown that women’s participation in forest governance and preservation is fundamental to achieving sustainable forest management,” said FAO Deputy Director-General and CPF Chair Maria Helena Semedo.
Established by the CPF in 2012 in memory of Kenyan environmentalist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Prof. Wangari Maathai, the Forest Champions Award recognises inspiring individuals who have helped preserve, restore and sustainably manage forests.
Roughly 70 per cent of women in Cameroon live in rural areas and are dependent at least in part on harvesting wild forest products for their livelihoods, yet in some communities women are denied the right to own forest land, inherit it if their husband dies or even to plant trees on degraded land.
Ms. Ndjebet has tirelessly promoted the concept that women should be involved in forest management and have equal rights to forest land and resources – and that when they do, forests are better preserved and entire communities benefit.
Through the African Women’s Network for Community Management of Forests, which she co-founded in 2009, Ms. Ndjebet has become a leading voice, both in Cameroon and internationally, in building global recognition on the importance of gender equality in forest management. The organisation now has 20 member countries across Africa.
