Rethinking Liberia’s Forests Roundtable Conference Justin KAMGA, FODER Monrovia, THE STORY OF COMMUNITY FORESTRY IN CAMEROON

FODER works for a more fair society, free of marginalisation and discrimination, in which natural resources are on the service of sustainable development. … Since 2002 Governance Indépendant monitoring Fight against corruption Capacity building

What we want to Share What is community forestry? The state of community forestry in Cameroon Some constraints of community forestry Lessons learned / How to improve ?

Several definitions of community forest All the situations in which local people are closely associated with forestry (FAO, 1978) “The exercise by local people of power or influence over decisions regarding management of forests including rules of access and the utilisation of products.” (Schreckenberg and McDermott, 2009) Forest of the non permanent forest estate, subject to a management agreement between a village community and the Administration in charge of forests (Cameroon’s 1994 forestry).

Community forestry has been practiced for generations by forest dwelling or neighboring communities and has contributed to the sustainable management of natural resources

FACTS AND FIGURES 1.7 ha out of the 19.6 million ha of Cameroon’s forest More than 1milion people concerned 1994: Introduction of the concept in the forest law 379 agreements signed 560 applications for CF Opportunity of poverty alleviation in rural areas Participation in forest management Forest conservation and protection

Other important outcomes Contribution to local development (Building of classrooms, payment of ‘additional teachers’, scholarships for students, small equipment for health centers); Diversification of sources of incomes through collection and selling of non timber forest products Forest land Security in the context of large scale land concession for agribusiness, mining, etc

Many contraints however ●The complexity of the process (both administrative and technical) ●Capture by elites and/or other actors ●Competition resulting from illegal chainsaw milling ●Poor capacity of communities (technical, managerial and commercial) ●Unaffordable cost for communities ( to USD to realize the ‘simple’ management plan) ●Poor governance including corruption

Some lessons learned The clarification of tenure rights is a prerequesite of an effective community forestry and sustainable forest management The support, engagement and willingness of the government and especially the forestry administration could be improved by :  The creation of training centers for communities on community forest management;  The creation of structures that can help communities to commercialise their products Successful community forestry should be based on and promote traditional knowledge and practices of communities. A coherent and effective community forestry system should be based on the social and cultural specificity of the local community

Full involvement of communities in the design of the system and the definition of rules Investment in the training of administration staff and community members in community forestry Give the time to make participatory and efficient reforms instead of reforming in haste Give voice to community instead of speaking on their behalf Some lessons learned

Contacts Tel : / BP. : Yaoundé - Cameroun Thank you Merci