Research and Other Publications
Building African Capacity to Develop and Implement Environmental Law
Protecting Community Forests in Cameroon
A recently enacted law in Cameroon gives priority to local communities seeking access to forests that have been proposed for logging. This law grants neighboring communities the right to express their interest in having a forest designated as a community forest, thereby preventing the forest from being logged. However, numerous obstacles – including lack of political will, competition from logging companies for access to and control over forests, and lack of community capacity to meet legal and administrative requirements – have impeded implementation of the existing legislation. As a result, fewer than ten community forests have been granted in the last six years.
In collaboration with the Centre pour l’Environnement et le Developpement (CED), ELI convened a training course for approximately 30 community leaders and resource persons on community forest designation and management in Cameroon. The training course was held January 15-17, 2001 in Mbalmayo, a town near Yaounde. The course, which targeted people who would be working in the area in the coming months, field-tested a manual that will be finalized and distributed widely to resource persons and villagers through other training courses and means of dissemination. Since the course, a number of the participants have been working with communities to develop applications and management plans for community forests.
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