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Naburo, Njohjam Peter 
INTEGRATION OF REMOTE SENSING AND GIS IN LANDUSE PLANNING FOR SUSTAINABLE NATURAL 
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT WITHIN THE MOUNT CAMEROON REGION-WEST AFRICAN. 
Njohjam PETER Naburo 
Surveys department Buea 
South — West Province Republic of Cameroon 
Working group VII/2 
KEY WORDS: GIS, Remote, Sensing, landuse Planning, Forest, Agriculture. 
ABSTRACT 
Population growth in developing countries is a key factor to environmental degradation. The mount 
Cameroon region in West Africa is one of the sites where the equatorial rainforest is disappearing at a 
fast pace due to agricultural plantation expansion and urban development . We shall see how remote 
sensing data and GIS can contribute in finding solutions to pertinent problems in land use planning. 
The mount Cameroon is located at latitude 4°10 and longitude 9°20. It covers an area of 250.000 
hectares with a variety of land use patterns. It is the highest peak in West Africa (4100m). There are 
many activities leading to environmental degradation carried by the local populations. 
It is for this reason that the government of Cameroon with assistance from international NGOs has 
created a project to develop and implement a landuse plan for the sustainable management of natural 
resources within the mount Cameroon region. There are many land cover types and a multiple of 
uncontrolled uses. The Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC) is the major stakeholder within the 
study area and occupies 85 374 hectares of land. Part of this land is developed with industrial 
agriculture, dwelling units, infrastructures and the other part is covered with rainforest for future 
plantation expansion. This creates a conflict between economic development and natural resource 
conservation. 
A base map of the project area was developed and all the land use patterns were mapped as individual 
thematic layers. 
Administrative boundaries, forests, plantations, settlements, coastal zones ( mangroves), water courses, 
road network, soil type and wildlife. 
Significant achievement in participatory land use planning within the project region is from the result 
of remote sensing and GIS applications as is presented in this paper. The method of data acquisition 
and input in the GIS database will be discussed. 
The paper will also elucidate how GIS and remote sensing techniques are applied in urban planning, 
agriculture and nature conservation. Spatial data acquisition and dissemination methods will be 
discussed. 
All stakeholders interest were generated in thematic layers ( overlays) in the GIS database and 
presented as maps used in planning meetings at village and regional levels. 
The land use map shows the best options as decided by the communities concerned; It responds to the 
following questions: 
- What should be done, the selected changes to land and where they should be implemented? 
  
International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXIII, Part B7. Amsterdam 2000. 947