BAMENDA CITY SUSTAINABLE URBAN ENVIRONMENT

1. BAMENDA CITY IN THE COUNTRY AND REGIONAL BAMENDA CITY SUSTAINABLE URBAN ENVIRONMENT TEAM: VINCENT NJI NDUMU (CITY MAYOR) ndumuvin60@gmail.com JUDE NSOM WAINDIM (Secretary General) waindim63@yahoo.com JACOB NGOCK NWACHAN (Town Planner) nwachantiku2@yahoo.com OVERVIEW Cameroon is administratively divided into 10 regions and Bamenda City is located in the North West Region . This is the capital city of the region and serves as administrative seat of government for the region. Bamenda is the third ranked city in Cameroon. With an annual growth rate of 4.9% and rapid urbanisation, the official census figures put this population at 269,530 in 2005. Projections at this rate puts this population presently at 0ver 600,000. The Budget for the City in 2018 stands at 3.8billion CFA.

2. The main urban challenge and planning preoccupation of the city today is enhancing a sustainable urban environment. The city has an approved Master Plan, which has demarcated the ecological fragile zone of the city and the flood plains as protected areas. The challenge of achieving this has been handled through an inclusive approach as follows: • Demarcating the protected areas in the master plan through a participatory approach with all living forces of the city taking part. • Demarcating the developable area for slump upgrading in part of the protected area of the escarpment under PSUP with all slump dwellers. • Involving the slump settlers in the whole PSUP process where some of them living in highly volatile landslide areas are prepared to relocate. • Involving all the stakeholders in the design of the city park through Mindcraft under UN Habitat. • Kick-start the implementation of a the city park project to boost the greening and protection of the area under partnership with UN Habitat. With current obstacles of urbanisation pressure and invasion of this area, the two projects have expected outcomes of achieving target 11 and 13 of sustainable development goals. Not only will this area be protected, but it would serve recreational purposes. MainUrbanChallenge/Priority of Bamenda

3. The current project being carried out with partnership of UN Habitat is the Bamenda City park. Located along the Bamenda escarpment, with a scenic view and designed with technical inputs from UN habitat, the designed stage saw participation of Kids, elderly women and the physically challenged making inputs into the final design. This was developed through an MOU signed between the Bamenda City Council and UN Habitat. The project has the following components: • 70% green space to enhance environmental protection. • Natural treatment of the environment to guarantee that the ecological fragile zone is maintained. • Watch-tower to enable tourists have a bird’s eye view of the city . • Development of a bicycle track to promote leisure sports at the park. • Use of local natural materials for sit-outs and retaining. . PROJECT INTERVENTIONS Natural aspects

4. Positive Out-comes arisingfromtheintervention Positive out-come arising form the city park project are as follows: • Knowledge transfer from UN Habitat, which led to the design of an inclusive park. • Better management approach of parks and protected areas of the city. • Great expectations of the citizens to patronise the park for leisure and same serving as an eventual tourist attraction for the city. • Protection of the environment. The park project has an MOU signed between UN Habitat and the Bamenda city council and this is working positively in implementation.

5. LearningpointsforsharingwithClass • A good project is one where the beneficiaries are part of it from inception(participatory). This will minimize the difficulties during implementation. • Partnership agreements are a positive tool for implementation of well studied and designed projects. • Problem-solving in urban management, especially in projects like this, is not to leave any of the four pillars behind. It must include the funders, city managers, the state and the beneficiaries .

6. Conclusion The City is equally using the same approach of partnering with UN Habitat to promote a climate change project for its Sisia risk zone. This will, among other goals, guarantee sustainable water supply to the inhabitants and protect not only the catchments, but also part of this ecological fragile zone of the city. Thank you!!!