In this interview, we spoke to Julie Gagoe Tchoko and Merline Touko Tchoko, two sisters from Bafang in the Uper Nkam department of the West Region, Cameroon, who have been working with Synchronicity Earth as affiliates in our Congo Basin Programme since 2021. With their local and cultural knowledge, these members of our team provide a vital bridge between Synchronicity Earth’s London-based programme staff and our conservation partners.
Julie has over 15 years of experience working for international organisations monitoring and evaluating development projects, particularly with a gender equality and community-led focus. She provides support to Synchronicity Earth’s field partners, assisting them with monitoring and evaluation, helping them to integrate gender into the tools they use on a daily basis to monitor and evaluate their activities in the field. She is responsible for the initial review and analysis of progress reports sent in by these field partners. This approach to monitoring combines both virtual and face-to-face exchanges and training, as well as field visits, helping partners to improve performance and effectively demonstrate the impacts of their interventions.
Merline is a communications expert, journalist and author. She has worked for several international research and sustainable management institutions over the last 13 years, helping them to develop and implement their communications strategies. Merline has a degree in organisational communications and, like Julie, she has studied a Master’s degree in Natural Resources Management. Merline supports Synchronicity Earth’s partners in the Congo Basin by helping them to present their results effectively, strengthening their communication tools and implementing communications activities adapted to the realities of the region.
In this first part of our discussion, we explore the personal experiences that shaped their desire to protect the Congo Basin and its communities, and learn about some of the challenges of working in this unique environment.
Q: Can you tell me about your relationship with nature and why and how you came to make a career out of conserving the natural world?
Julie: I’ve been interested in nature since we were both very young. Our parents instilled in us the importance of our relationship with the land. We grew up in the West Region of Cameroon, an area that is quite environmentally degraded, but where our late father had combined fruit trees with shade trees and created a little green oasis that was quite different to the rest of the town, where most trees had already been lost.
“One thing I understood very early on: if you want to eat, you need to work the land, and if you treat it well, the land will nourish you.”
In her role as Congo Basin Affiliate, Julie provides support to field partners, particularly regarding gender.
Merline: When we were little, we had a tree behind our house. It didn’t produce any fruit, so our father decided to cut it down. I was upset because I’d become quite attached to it.
My father told me OK, if you look after this tree and give it what it needs, then I won’t cut it down.
He gave me time to take care of the tree. And less than six months later, it had started producing lots of fruit! To this day, that tree still produces fruit…
“What I learned is that sometimes you need to give something a second chance, whether that’s a person, an animal, a tree; what doesn’t seem important today, could be very important tomorrow.”
And it wasn’t just trees, fruit, and vegetables – my father also helped us to learn about animals. We raised a whole menagerie of animals, like cats, guinea pigs, even snails.
Our childhood environment was one where we were in harmony with nature, with other species. It was an easy decision to work in the conservation field, to protect nature.
Julie and Merline’s parents instilled in them the importance of looking after the other species we share our planet with.
Julie: My early attachment to the environment around me nudged me towards the academic choices I made. I chose a path that would deepen my knowledge of people as part of their environment.
Q: For people who might not know much about the Congo Basin, what makes it so unique as a region?
Merline: When you see an aerial view of the Congo basin, you just see this vast expanse of green.
“This is the second-largest forest ecosystem in the world. Its gift to the world is pure water, and oxygen, it is home to a multitude of plant and animal species found nowhere else on Earth.”
Julie: Yes, and it’s worth remembering that the Congo Basin includes six countries sharing the same ecosystem, the same biodiversity, with all the natural corridors that link these countries together. Animals can move freely between th