The Social and Organisational Roots of Ecological Uncertainties in Cameroon's Forest Management Decentralisation Model

Decentralisation in Cameroon's forestry sector has opened opportunities for peripheral actors to participate in forest management. Yet local governance structures created to represent local communities are not grounded in local realities. Instead, these committees obey instrumental and administrative priorities, resulting in weak structures that are not supported by sound institutional arrangements or local collective action. This weak organisational infrastructure has generated inefficiency in the local management of forests and related benefits, a new social stratification and the hijacking of committees by a self-interested elite connected to state authorities. The process has also led to ecological uncertainty, due to local opportunistic behaviour. (Original abstract)