Evolution of Community involvement in the Management Forest & Wildlife Resources, the case of Protected Areas, South-west Cameroon

The southwestern region, is an important conservation area in cameroon. It host  protected areas (PA) which are the hotspot of flagship, endemics and high vulnerable animal species like Elephante, Drill, Chimpanzee, Preuss’s red colobus monkey, Picathartes. However, PAs are surrounded by riparian villages, which therefore depend directly and/or indirectly on the forests, for their subsistence and their household’s revenue. With time, the population of class A species have dramaticaly decreased, due to huge poaching, the growing of bushmeat demand and the destruction of native habitat for wildlife, associated with encroachment and disapearance of plants and trees playing an ecological function for the restauration of the habitat and feeding of animals. Thus, a plateform between the park service and riparian communities for the sustainable management of natural resources (MNR) become a necessity.

Formerly the MNR was done following a top down approach in which the decision about NRM was taken at top government hierarchy level without consulting the neighbouring communities. These Communities living in and around protected areas considered as mere custodians of the resources and not stakeholders for their management. And also the absence of a benefit sharing mechanism to make sure the local communities and councils benefit from the resources of their area. So, Government policy focuses their management strategy more on repression and law enforcement. This generate a conflicts of interests between NRM institutions and resource users. Consequently, the link between NRM and local development was not strong and riparian communities remained poor despite the resources in their area.

First world summit on environment and sustainable development took place in Rio de Janeiro 1992 is an Historic reference for community participation in NRM concept mainstreaming. Cameroon officially represented by the Ministry of Environment and Forest, was signatory of the Rio Convention (Cameroon NGOs participated), which is the starting point for integration of community participation and NR benefit sharing in national policies and laws. So, Cameroon adopted a new forestry policy (1993) in compliance with the Rio World Summit recommendations to institutionalize participatory management of natural resources (2nd objective). The new forestry policy is enforced by the elaboration of the Cameroon 1994 forestry law and its decree of implementation 1995, which enshrined user right, village forest management committee, community and communal forest.

A “new paradigm” for protected areas has been evolving for decades in which indigenous peoples and local communities are recognized as land and resource owners and managers, with positive results for both human rights and conservation. Thus, the importance of collaborative management to enhance biodiversity protection has become critical for the long-term success of PAs

It is based on this appraisal that the Program for the Sustainable Management of Natural Resources, South West Region (PSMNR-SWR) has been conceived in order to consolidate existing legal instruments and support the introduction of mechanisms and tools to foster the effective participation of communities in the management of the park. The PSMNR-SWR intervention is guided by a Collaborative management approach in which park services and villagers are seen as partners seeking collaboration, in order to ensure protection of the national park for the benefit of all. The collaborative management approach initiated in 2011 intends to enhance community participation in the management of Protected Areas (PAs). 

It has been introduced in 04 PAs (Korup NP, Mont Cameroon NP, Takamanda NP, Banyang Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary), and with the consistent support of German Cooperation and conservation partners (WWF, WCS, GIZ/ProPFE, GFA). Co-Management approach is adopted through the negociation and elaboration of Conservation Development Agreements (CDA), signed by many villages closely to the park which consists of establishing long term partnership arrangements between the Park and communities.

The Cameroon Forestry Law and decrees of application acknowledge the primordial role of local communities in the management of forest and wildlife resources. The legal regulatory framework promotes their active involvement at all levels including access to resources, benefit sharing and participation in decision making. Community participation and involvement is foreseen in the legal instruments guiding both the creation and management of Protected Areas in Cameroon. To date, real appropriation of conservation issues by communities is insufficient and most of PAs are still struggling to promote and generate long term sustainable financial mechanism.

By 

   TANEBANG Cyrille

Forestry and Wildlife Engineer