SALAPOUMBÉ, Cameroon — Freddy Mbengue, a 24-year-old farmer in a black polo shirt and denim shorts, keeps a watchful eye on the forest. Mbengue is from the Baka community in Yenga-Tengué village in southeastern Cameroon, near Lobéké National Park. He’s trying to identify fruit trees, or species used for their medicinal properties. He has a black smartphone and a machete for clearing a grassy path, which he hasn’t used since the rains returned last April. Mbengue uses the Sapelli app on his phone to identify forest resources essential for his community’s well-being. He used it on the morning of Saturday, June 7, to map a wild mango tree in a forest close to the village. The wild mango, whose pit is also used as a spice by the Baka, is one of the nontimber forest products (NTFPs) he regularly maps on his smartphone during his forest hikes. “When I find fruit trees, honey, medicinal trees, elephant or gorilla tracks, or poachers’ camps in the forest, I open the app, click on the image, film a video, and send it to the park to report what I saw. Afterwards, they go on site to confirm. This allows us to monitor our forests and transfer information to the park staff,” he says. Members of the Baka community in Yenga-Tengué farming in southeastern Cameroon. Image by Yannick Kenné/Mongabay. The Baka, co-designers of the Sapelli app This technology helps improve Baka access to the forest by mapping important resources for their well-being: fruit trees,…This article was originally published on Mongabay