This fourth edition of the Science Festival is celebrated this week, from November 30 to December 1, 2023. The choice of Somalomo, in the Haut-Nyong division, Eastern region of Cameroon, to host this event is not insignificant.
After Oku in 2013, Gambe-Tikar in 2015, Kribi in 2017, the fourth edition of the Science Festival organized in Cameroon was expected in 2019. But it could not be held because of the Covid-19 pandemic . After five years of waiting, “this year relaunches the Science Festival in Somalomo”, as Télesphore Sime Ngando, resident representative of the Institute of Research for Development (IRD) in Cameroon, said at the microphone of the CRTV National Station.
This fourth edition of the Science Festival is celebrated this week, from November 30 to December 1. The choice of Somalomo, in the Haut-Nyong division, Eastern region, to host this event is not insignificant. For more than thirty years, the IRD has been carrying out research of all kinds in this city, the gateway to the Dja biosphere reserve. Télesphore Sime Ngando indicates that this celebration will be an opportunity to return the results of IRD research to the populations of Somalomo. “It’s a restitution as close as possible to our work sites,” indicates the resident representative of the IRD in Cameroon.
In addition to this scientific restitution, tourist and cultural activities will also be organized in Somalomo during this celebration. The IRD also plans to raise awareness among young people of the importance of continuing to preserve the Dja reserve, one of the main lungs of the world.
The Science Festival is a French-speaking institution organized by the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research with the aim of promoting science to the general public. It has been held in France every October for 32 years. Abroad, it is organized in November and December.