GESTION PARTICIPATIVE DES FORÊTS : ÉVALUATION DE L’EFFICACITÉ DES COMITÉS PAYSANS-FORÊTS DANS L’EST-CAMEROUN

Cameroon’s forest sector makes a sub- stantial contribution to the national economy and also fulfils a wide range of social and environmental functions. In order to establish sustainable and partic- ipatory management of the forest sector, the forest legislation adopted in line with the Rio Summit recommendations pro- vides for the involvement of Smallholder- Forester Committees (CPF) that must be representative of local populations. This article aims to draw lessons for participa- tory forest management from an assess- ment of the effectiveness of CPFs in two districts (Boumba-Ngoko and Kadey) in eastern Cameroon. The CPF assessment was conducted in accordance with the legal provisions set out in Decision N° 1354/D/MINEF/CAB dated November 26th 1999, from which 6 evaluation crite- ria and 20 performance indicators were developed. Data collected in the field reveal dysfunctions in many areas: non- existence of CPFs in some heavily logged areas, absence of statutory and compli- ance documents in many CPFs, inade- quacy of autonomous funding, lack of cooperation with other forest manage- ment partners and unequal representa- tion of social groups in committee deci- sions. Gap analysis shows that CPF com- pliance with legal requirements in the rel- evant districts is very low. None of the cri- teria are met and compliance is nil for 65% of the indicators. Clearly, the objec- tives assigned to the CPFs are not being achieved, revealing their ineffectiveness. Proposed avenues for improvement focus on information, empowerment and training for CPFs.