International Day of Forests, 2025 edition

• Date de Publication : 2025-03-24

Cameroon joined the rest of the world on March 21 to celebrate the 2025 edition of the International Day of Forests. This day, set aside by the United Nations General Assembly in 2012 aims at rising awareness on the importance of the different types of forests.

Celebrated this year under the theme, Forests and Food, forests play a vital role as pillars of global food security and nutrition, an important source energy by providing wood for cooking. Forests are vital in agriculture as they host pollinators and act in soil enrichment, climate regulation and biodiversity conservation.

As instituted by the UN General Assembly, countries are supposed to commemorate the day by taking on activities involving trees and forests such as tree-planting campaigns.

Minister Jules Doret Ndongo undertook such a campaign in the mangroves on the Ngondo site, along the banks of the Wouri river in the Littoral regional capital city, Douala. During the ceremony, he reiterated the importance of planting trees in degraded lands especially in a town like Douala which is experiencing effects of climate change and unprecedented deforestation. The effects have resulted in the city being exposed to floods and strong winds, due in part to the disappearance of mangroves, owing that these ecosystems are ecological shrubs and protective barriers for the city.