International Journal of Biodiversity and Conservation Vol. 2(11) pp. 370-381, November 2010 Available online http://www.academicjournals.org/ijbc ISSN 2141-243X ©2010 Academic Journals Full Length Research Paper Upper Nyong valley forest in Cameroon: Ethnobotanical uses and implications for biodiversity conservation T. Jiofack 1,2* , N. Guedje 2 , I. Ayissi 3 , C. Fokunang 2 , L. Usongo 4 and B. A. Nkongmeneck 1 1 Millennium Ecologic Museum of Cameroon (MEM), P. O. Box 8038 Yaounde – Cameroon. 2 Department of Pharmacy and African Pharmacotherapeutic, Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Science, University of Yaounde I, Cameroon. 3 Cameroon Wildlife Conservation Society (CWCS), Upper Nyong Conservation project, Cameroon. 4 International Union for Nature Conservation (IUCN), Yaounde – Cameroon. Accepted 4 October, 2010 The Upper Nyong valley belongs to the forest ecological area of Cameroon. Local people living around use drastically natural resources to enhance their livelihoods. According to the Cameroon forest law, more than 30% of natural area must be transformed into park and reserves. In the process of transformation, ecological studies can be conducted to evaluate potential resources available. This paper highlighted some results of a floristic survey conducted in the Upper Nyong valley through the Cameroon wildlife conservation project (CWCS), in order to evaluate the ecological and ethnobotanical uses of forest products and derived resources. The methodology used was based on linear transects and quadrats. As a result, 352 useful plants were inventoried and categorized into medicinal, food, traditional furniture, threatened and industrial plants. As implications and relevance to management, this study would help in the implementation of protected forest network coupled with the decentralization of forest resources. This could be the most sustained alternative for the conservation of this heritance from generation to generation. The immediate impact of this work is to stimulate governmental process for the implementation of this part of Cameroon valley into reserve. To achieve this goal, it is important to improve local people’s livelihoods and sustainable management of these natural resources by making up community forest. Key words: Floristic survey, local livelihoods, Upper Nyong valley, Cameroon forest law, forest product, protected forest network and forest decentralization, in situ and ex situ conservation, international union for nature conservation (IUCN) red data list, useful plants. INTRODUCTION It is generally admitted that forest resources and their habitats should be managed in order to meet social, economic, ecological and cultural needs for the present and future generations. Forests are among the richest and most stable ecosystems on Earth (WWF, 2000). Forests of the world contain more than 50% of the terrestrial biodiversity and the degradation of this biological heritage continues at distressing pace (GFW, 2000; CIFOR, 2005). Humid tropical forests are the most *Corresponding author. E-mail: renbernadin1@yahoo.fr. Tel: (00237) 99 32 41 85. significant global sanctuaries of biodiversity, sheltering a highly varied fauna and almost half of the world’s plant species (Oyono, 2002). In the understorey, plants like mosses, epiphytes, lianas, herbaceous and shrubs are found at different levels of vegetation and the majority of them are not yet identified. Meanwhile, there are serious problems in the forestry sector, such as environmental degradation, equity and persistent poverty, which translate into increased deforestation, unequal social access to resources and benefits, such as non forest timber product exploitation and trade, low productivity of land and labour and a weak policy and institutional environment (Cyprain et al., 2007). According to present rates of forest degradation, many of these plants are at