The legal perspectives of local community participation in wildlife management in Cameroon

bibliographic database
Line

Periodical article

Title:	The legal perspectives of local community participation in wildlife management in Cameroon
Author:	Egbe, Egbe Samuel
Year:	2001
Periodical:	Verfassung und Recht in Übersee
Volume:	34
Issue:	1
Pages:	63-81
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Cameroon
Subjects:	popular participation wildlife protection
Abstract:	The participation of hitherto disenfranchised local populations in the management of natural resources is an issue commonly espoused in contemporary development philosophy. In Cameroon, where for a long time hegemonic paradigms were elevated to an art of statecraft management, resource management devolution even constitutes a donor community conditionality for the disbursement of Structural Adjustment Loans (SAL). This culminated in the adoption of a new forestry and wildlife law in 1994, which has as one of its primordial objectives the involvement of local communities in the management of the country's huge natural resources. However, the enactment of a new policy which apparently lacked a domestic constituency, the continued existence of a highly centralized administrative machinery and staff impregnated with authoritarian management styles, coupled with pressure from different interest groups, meant the decentralization exercise would be a difficult and tortuous one. This paper examines the constraints and opportunities available in the reform process, all in an attempt to engender a more forward-looking integrated wildlife management policy. Notes, ref., sum. (p. 5).