Cameroon is among the leading countries that have submitted updated NDC commitments to address climate change, with an ambitious target to cut emissions by 35% by 2030. The country is also a signatory to the global methane emissions pledge, which aims to cut down methane emissions.  Methane is a short-lived climate pollutant, which does not last as long as carbon dioxide but whose intensity is 25 times more than carbon dioxide; hence, addressing it is a significant boost to combating climate change. One of the most affordable measures to combat methane is investing in biodigesters, for which Cameroon has committed to increase investment by 5 - 10% by 2030, targeting agriculture & agriculture waste, which is the highest source for the country. The country has also committed to increasing the use of solar power which links to its National Development Plan (SND30) objective to enhance and modernise the agricultural sector, including through clean energy value-added actions, as strategic to enhance resilient, inclusive growth.

UNEP through the African Office Climate Change sub-programme is supporting the country to meet these objectives in a manner that unlocks critical socioeconomic opportunities. The focus is on two interrelated areas - air quality & food security with accessible solutions. Specifically, supporting communities to retool their skills and develop and decentralize solar dryers to address postharvest losses in agriculture and unlock additional income opportunities. UNEP is also supporting the same communities to invest in biodigesters that recover agricultural waste and convert it into value - biogas for clean cooking & biofertilizer for agriculture. This is an opportunity for the country to combat indoor pollution from unclean cooking that kills between 7000- 11,400 people every year. It is an opportunity to close the fertilizer access gap while creating non-capital-intensive enterprise opportunities that can generate up to 500% profitability in biofertilizer making.  Moreover, the data generated from such interventions is analyzed to inform investment planning for Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) & SND30 implementation towards bridging gaps & tapping opportunities to enable further expansion and realization of multiple SDGs.

Engagement was done with a local council on uptake of environmental solutions to enhance food systems

Engagement was done with a local council that was set to drive the uptake of climate solutions for food systems, leveraging youth and the informal sector. In Cameroon, skills retooling of local communities, including youth and the informal sector that engages up to 90% of the population, to enable them to develop and apply low emissions solutions of solar dryers has been generating data on impacts, including a reduction of postharvest losses from 95% to 5%, the increased shelf life of perishables by at least 50%, creation of alternative value-added products such as cassava garri that increase incomes opportunities by up to 150% resulting in increased savings & membership in local communal cooperatives among key impacts. This impact data was shared with the local council through the office of the mayor of Awae commune. During the meeting with the UNEP representative, the mayor said that as a result of impact data, the council is set to invest in a green village, starting off with 4 large solar dryers to enhance access by farmers & other enterprises engaged in the agro-value chain to value addition interventions to enable increased revenue generation. This increase translates to an expansion of the tax base for the municipality to ensure better service delivery. The council notes that climate action solutions are socioeconomic accelerators

Engagement of local communal cooperatives in Mve-II that are taking up climate solutions of solar dryers to enhance food systems ;

The UNEP representative also visited the site of a community green village that is applying solar dryers to cut PHLs and create additional incomes, whose impact data was used to inform the Awae municipality commitments. This community is in Mve-II, on the outskirts of Yaoundé, and they have expanded beyond solar dryers to engage in circularity to address waste and create further income opportunities. Specifically, they have diversified to agricultural waste circularity in converting banana leaves into carry/shopping bags to create more income opportunities for themselves. Through these actions in circularity, as well as the solar dryer value addition, they manage to meet their family needs, & fundamental needs. They expressed the need to expand their incomes, which required that they invest in innovative financing to unlock finance for expanding solutions. Accordingly, they are set to pool their resources into a revolving fund to be deployed in capital expenditures towards expanding their production & marketing impact. Specifically, they have set up a revolving fund of $400 towards capital investments to expand these environmental solutions – the solar dryers and waste circularity. Data from their work has informed the Awae municipality in a neighbouring commune to invest municipality revenues towards expanding access to solar dryers, incentivising more enterprise opportunities and thereby expanding the local government tax base.

Engagement of the Cameroon UNCT on work done on the National Environment Summary (NES)

The UNEP representative attended the Cameroon United Nations Country Teams (UNCT) – PMT meeting to share how National Environment Summaries (NES) inform pathways that leverage the environmental dimension to accelerate the realisation of the SDGs. In attendance were reps from UNESCO, UNWomen, UNOPS, UNICEF, and UN-FAO, as well as officials from the planning ministry. The UNEP representative informed the nited Nations Country Teams (UNCT) that at its core, the NES is a data & analysis driven information pack that provides baseline scenarios on 7 environmentally derived SDGs (3, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14, 15) together with energy & food systems that underpin the “leave no one behind (LNOB)” principle, against targets of the SDG indicators. It then analyses gaps & opportunities to be tapped towards ensuring the country’s progress in implementing the environmentally derived SDGs, playing a catalytic role in driving the realisation of multiple other SDGs. The UNEP representative also shared on how the UN Cooperation framework for the country, specifically under results group 4 on environmental sustainability, provides a convening framework to harness the work of all UNCTs towards the shared end of the SDGs as above.

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