In the publication “Etat des lieux de la foresterie communautaire et communale au Cameroun” (Current status of community forestry in Cameroon) Tropenbos International reviews more than 15 years of community forestry in Cameroon and gives some lessons for its application in other Central African countries.
In Cameroon two types of community forestry can be distinguished, community and council forest. A community forest (forêt communautaire, < 5,000 ha) is part of the non-permanent forest estate (agro-forestry field) with a management agreement between the rural community and the minister in charge of forests. A council forest (forêt communale) forms part of the permanent forest estate and requires classification on behalf of the concerned council.
In spite of important progress since the installation of the 1994 Forest Law which provided a favourable framework for decentralized forestry and the participation of local actors, constraints remain for the implementation of community forestry. This publication provides a thorough analysis of community forestry in Cameroon, a strategy of the government to improve local livelihoods. It describes the strengths and weaknesses of the establishment and management of community and council forests, evaluates the long term impacts and gives recommendations to improve legislation and implementation processes of community forestry to better involve local people and improve their livelihoods.