The Rainforests of Cameroon - PROFOR

34 The Rainforests of CameroonEfforts to Foster Community-based Forest ManagementCommunity forestry was introduced in the humid tropics within the last25 years, initially in Asia. It has experienced mixed results stemming fromvariation in local factors such as management traditions, the relationshipsbetween forest users with respect to their different land tenure rights andpowers, the existence of markets for certain products, the cost of accessingthose markets, the relationship with local governments and authorities,and the behavior of the administration. Among all of the innovationsintroduced in Cameroon’s forest sector by the reforms, community forestmanagement arguably remains the most challenging.Before adoption of the 1994 forest law, there was no concept of communityforestry in Cameroon’s forest regime. The law sought to engagecommunities in managing forests sustainably and conserving biodiversity,while at the same time reducing rural poverty and improving governancein the forest sector. New regulatory and institutional frameworks developedunder SAC III made it possible to establish community forests (onvillage forest land within the nonpermanent forest domain) and localcouncil forests (on state-owned forest land).Community ForestsThroughout Africa’s humid tropics, the term community forestry refers toorganized forest production, mostly of timber products. In Cameroon,the term community forestry refers specifically to a forest placed underthe management of a community at its behest because the communityhas customary rights to that forest. It is important to emphasize that asis the case with forest concessions, community forests do not involve thetransfer of land ownership, but rather the transfer of the right to manageand use the forest land.Community forests are actually a subset of the forests used by communities—adistinction not always maintained in discussions aboutcommunity forests. Most of the forest products obtained by rural andindigenous populations, either for trade or their own consumption,do not come exclusively from community forests but from the muchbroader forest space to which rural and indigenous people have unchallengedlegal or de facto access, including forest concessions, communityDelivered by The World Bank e-library to:hunting zones, and some protected The World areas. BankThe regulation of forest-basedincome- generating activities also IP : 192.86.100.34 extends well beyond what is normallyMon, 09 Nov 2009 17:06:18considered the community forestry framework. The importance ofcommunity forests can therefore not be measured by simply comparing(c) The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank