A Voice from Cameroon: Gaining Knowledge on Climate Change through UN CC:e-Learn Courses
By Loic Tchinda
Mr. Maurice Henri Tadjuidje, Cameroonian, is a lover of nature. For him, the rational exploitation of the energy resources, the management of protected areas and the protection of the planet represent enormous stakes in economic, ecological and financial terms.
He has a solid background in Environmental Economics (DEA) and several degrees to complement his curriculum, such as a Diploma in International Environmental Law from the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), a Master Degree in Project Management from the Pan-African Institute for Development-Central Africa (PAID-CA) and a training diploma in Management of Protected Areas in Africa.
He also has 17 years of professional experience in the coordination, implementation and monitoring & evaluation of local development projects and programs about protected areas, mainly in Central Africa.
A few years, he learned about UN CC:Learn and UNITAR through a Rwandan friend. Since then, he has taken trainings and certifications that propelled him to the top of his career and significantly increased his salary.
In 2017, he completed UN CC:e-Learn courses, which enabled him to obtain the certificates from the following courses: Introductory e-Course on Climate Change; REDD+ Academy e-Course (REDD = Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation).
Maurice also received certificates from Environment, Natural Resources and UN Peacekeeping Operations and Natural Resources and Peacekeeping Operations: Restoring the Governance of Natural Resources, taught by UNITAR.
“These trainings have enabled me to strengthen my background in climate change, adaptation and mitigation, and above all the transition of the Central African States to the green economy. The benefits are incredible in operational, technical and consequentially, financial benefits in the short and long term,” Maurice said.
An environmental economist, Maurice began his professional career as a Technical Assistant to the Central African Forest Conservation Program at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) where he became interested in management of protected areas. He then moved to the same institution as coordinator of the “ Livelihoods and Landscape Strategy Program” in the Sangha Tri-National Landscape (Lobéké National Park in Cameroon, Nouabalé Ndoki National Park in Congo, Dzanga Sangha Protected Areas in CAR). He began to understand the need to improve his knowledge of climate change.
With his climate change studies obtained through the UN CC: e-Learn platform, he was hired within ECCAS/COMIFAC as PACEBCo Program Manager in the Sangha Tri-National Landscape funded by the African Development Bank (ADB), where his salary has doubled. In this Program, he has been responsible for monitoring the implementation of activities of partners in the field and especially the project “Climate Change and Forests in the Congo Basin: Synergy between adaptation and mitigation, the analysis local vulnerabilities to climate change in the Sangha Tri-National Landscape.
He has also worked as an Organization Expert responsible for the legitimacy of Protected Areas in Central Africa within the Network of Protected Areas of Central Africa (RAPAC), based in Libreville, Gabon. It was mainly responsible for disseminating and harmonizing practices, methods and tools for governance and enhancement of protected areas in Central Africa among grassroots practitioners, and within RAPAC, good practices in internal governance and external partnerships. This allowed him to launch the process of certification of protected area management in Central Africa. It is thanks to this work in the Congo Basin that he has was admitted as a member of the World Commission on Protected Areas of IUCN (WCPA). This process has stimulated interest in forest conservation and the REDD+ programme.
Through the REDD+ Academy e-course, together with his academic training, he was offered a post as a consultant at the International Labour Office — Regional Representation for Central Africa, as national expert in the formulation of a document program to promote green jobs in Cameroon in support of the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training. In fact, Maurice admits that every three years he has seen a double in his average income and says that the UN CC:e-Learn and UNITAR courses have significantly boosted his financial revenue.
“The training have been a life changing experience for me through the incredible opportunities that are attached to it,” he said.
He invites students, professionals, and citizens from all over the world to take part in UN CC:e-Learn training courses for the development of their skills and abilities. UN CC:e-Learn is training for life and for our planet.
About UN CC:Learn
UN CC:Learn is a partnership of more than 30 multilateral organizations supporting countries to design and implement systematic, recurrent and results-oriented climate change learning. Through its engagement at the national and global levels, UN CC:Learn contributes to the implementation of climate change training, education and public awareness-raising.
