Orange Cameroun affirms commitment to environmental protection.

The meeting took place on Monday, June 3, at Orange Complex in Makepe in the Douala V Subdivision. 

Opening the session, Alain-Blaise Batongue said it was with renewed pleasure that he was, on behalf of Orange Cameroun and its General Director, Patrick Benon, receiving the representatives of the fourth estate at Orange Makepe campus. 

He recalled that the month of June is largely devoted to reflection on the major environmental challenges within the national and international community, wherein three days have been recognised and set aside to address the problem of the future of the planet, the question of the resilience of communities and individuals in the face of climate risks and calls for individual responsibility and collective actions. 

The three days, he said are: World Environment Day, which shall be celebrated on June 5 under the theme: “Land restoration, desertification and drought resilience”; World Oceans Day, celebrated on June 8, and World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought to celebrated on June 17.

With the so much emphasis the international community is placing on the need to save the environment, the officials of the telecoms operator noted that their founding principles have committed them to take responsibility for the impacts of the activities they lead towards their customers, partners, communities, the environment and the planet

"In general, our involvement in Cameroon as a social actor inserted in a national community, ecological, economic ecosystem, makes our involvement in environmental issues a necessity for the continuity of our activities and future generations," Batongue noted.

Orange Cameroun environmental vision

The company's environmental sustainable approaches and projects deployed in Cameroon, as explained by the Orange Foundation Secretary General, Elizabeth Ehabe, is mostly geared towards attaining energy sobriety by reducing carbon emissions through energy solutions. 

She said they plan to attain a balance by 2040; as such, have engaged all stakeholders in the said mission. 

She said in 2023, the company installed solar plants occupying 1,500m² surface area. These solar plants, with the capacity of generating 250kw per hour, she noted, have greatly reduced dependence on electricity to 30%. 

Orange Cameroun, it was said, had put its digital centre at the disposal of green economy. The Orange digital centre enables start-uppers to develop solutions to agriculture.

Still as part of their move towards renewable energy, Justo Epee Ndumbe, the Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at Orange Cameroun, said they have actively engaged in replanting the mangroves.

It should be noted that the company and its partner, Planète Urgence, in November 2022, launched the Cameroon Mangrove Ecosystem Restoration and Resilience, CAMERR, project. 

The project aims to restore 1,000 hectares of mangrove forests in the Ntem estuaries over a 30-year period, making it the largest-ever mangrove restoration project in Cameroon. 

The project contributes to global carbon neutrality and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. 

Experts say mangrove forests are extremely valuable ecosystems: they are havens for biodiversity, prevent coastal flooding, filter pollutants, and sequester significant amounts of carbon from the atmosphere. 

In Cameroon, however, 66% of the mangrove forests are depleted; it is estimated that nearly 3,000 hectares of mangrove forests in the country disappear every year. This has led to destructive flooding, contaminated drinking water, and a significant strain on aquatic life, which is detrimental to the economic and food security of local communities. 

The Orange Cameroun officials, at the presser said, they are by this project restoring life to the fishing communities in Cameroon. Already, they have planted 100 hectares have been planted in Dibombari in Moungo Division of the Littoral Region.

"The importance of these trees is that, their emission is equivalent of 2,800 air conditioners. As an operator, we are moving towards renewable energies to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions in relation to our activities. We are also involved in projects that capture carbon in the atmosphere in order to sequester it in the future," Justo Ndoumbe Epee added.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue No3132 of Wednesday June 05, 2024