The World Bank/WBI’s CBNRM Initiative

Case Received: February 17, 1998

Author: Bruno Njombe Ewusi, Mount Cameroon Project

Tel/Fax: +237 43 1876

The management of forest resources in Cameroon is the responsibility of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MINEF). The Mount Cameroon Project (MCP) is a multilateral biodiversity conservation project working directly within MINEF, on Mount Cameroon and surrounding villages.

The Goal of the MCP is to maintain the biodiversity in the Mt. Cameroon region. It will be achieved if the project is successful in its purpose which is to increase the capacity of users and other stakeholders to manage sustainably, and conserve natural resources in the Mount Cameroon project area. To maximise the potential for project success and impact, MCP focusses on key resources, and broadens paticipation to all key stakeholders

With this objective MCP has focussed much attention, in collaboration with the local Forestry service, Plantecam (a phamaceutical company), and the local inhabitants , to the sustainable management of Prunus africana in the area. The sole commercial exploitation license for prunus on the mountain is held by Plantecam. They export an extract from the bark to their mother company in France for the manufacture of drugs to cure ailments of the prostrate gland.

Prunus africana is a pan-african montane tree species found through out the highlands of Cameroon. Mount Cameroon supports the most important population of prunus in Cameroon and probably in West Africa. It is the third most abundant canopy tree species in the upper montane forest of the mountain. The tree is of immense economic and social importance in the area and beyond, and is possibly the most well known tree on the mountain. The bark is used locally for traditional medicine, and it is also the raw material for Plantecam. MINEF, MCP, Plantecam, and the local inhabitants are therefore all stakeholders in the management of the species on Mount Cameroon.

In 1972 the economic importance of the tree became apparent with the start of commercial exploitation by Plantecam in the area. Until recently, harvesting of the bark was done solely by Plantecam employees (mostly non indigens), and benefits (paid only to the Village Traditional Councils) to local communities were very small.

By 1995 prunus harvesting had become a major source of cash income for young men and their households in the area. However harvesting in this context was mainly destructive and uncontrolled. Transactions with the illegal buyers were done at night, and there were frequent conflicts within the villages, and between the villagers and the Forestry service, MCP, and Plantecam. There were also conflicts in the field between Plantecam harvesters and the villagers. The trees were either felled or totally girdled by the villagers to supply barks to these illegal buyers. These methods of harvesting killed the trees and negatively affected the surrounding plant and animal habitat.

Despite attempts made by the local MINEF and Plantecam, the situation described above continued until November 1996. In response to the growing conflicts within the villages and between villagers and outside stakeholders, MCP facilitated a process of conflict management with regard to the harvesting and trading of Prunus africana. This work was piloted in one of our project villages. The premise of the work was that

a) by developing partnerships between local communities, Government, and business, sustainable harvesting of Prunus africana could be achieved and b) in order for this to work in the long term, the benefits accruing from Prunus exploitation to the local communities needed to be increased and sustained.

MCP started by carrying out a desktop stakeholder analysis to identify all the stakeholders in the management of the resource, thus laying the ground work for a prunus management forum. The concerns, fears, hopes, and vision of all stakeholders were recorded separately. A conflict map was drawn up from which common grounds were identified. One important common ground was that all parties recognised the need for sustainable harvesting of the resource. The perceptions were then presented to all stakeholders in a specially convened meeting.

Also in 1996 Plantecam commisioned a management inventory (1% sample) of the Prunus africana stock on Mount Cameroon. The survey which was carried out by ONADEF, a Government parastatal agency, (and with the invovement of the local population) was jointly sponsored by Plantecam and MCP, and closely monitored by joint teams of Plantecam, MINEF, and MCP staff who independently cross checked a sample of the field work and confirmed the results to be sufficiently accurate.

In order to prepare the local inhabitants for their eventual legal involvement in the harvesting of Prunus bark, MCP assisted Plantecam to organise a training course for villagers on proper harvesting techniques.

The presentation of the perceptions initiated a large debate at local and National levels on the sustainable harvesting of Prunus on the mountain. Locally, the village youths who were doing the illegal harvesting decided to form a Prunus Harvesters Union, elected an executive, and drew up rules and regulations to bind the union. A mixed team was also formed made up of representatives from the harvesters union, village elders, including women, and the traditional council to represent the village in negotiations with outside stakeholders.

After a series of negotiations between MINEF, Plantecam , and the village representatives, MCP brokered an agreement between the harvesters union and Plantecam, that allowed the villagers to harvest legally, under Plantecam’s license. The agreement set forth terms which regulated the amount to be harvested per month, method of harvesting and supervision, punishment for non respect of norms, modalities for prunus regeneration, and a system of benefit sharing to the village. All bark harvested is sold directly to Plantecam, thereby increasing income to the village by at least 3 fold.

To ensure that the system continues to work, MCP initiated and put in practice a participatory monitoring and evaluation (PME) system involving all stakeholders. The purpose of the PME system is to ensure that all the agreements reached so far continue to work in order to guarantee the sustainable management of the resource. It permits learning from experience and enables stakeholders to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the prunus management system.

MCP has also carried out several capacity building workshops to strengthen the Prunus harvesting union. The main objective of the capacity building was increase participation, motivation, and trust among members of the Prunus harvesters union, and to jointly agree on the objectives of their union.

Presently the conflicts in the area have considerably reduced and harvesting is being done in an orderly and controlled manner, and income to the villages has significantly increased

In collaboration with all stakeholders, MCP is currently working towards replicating this model to cover all interested villages in the area.

The concept of participatory conservation is relatively new, and relies on the intergration of biological and social issues for an understanding of realistic options. The Government of Cameroon has given MCP the mandate to pilot new approaches that achieve forest management and conservation objectives. This is to inform policy debate, nationally and internationally, and to allow the newly enacted Cameroon Forestry Law to be tested and improved. This law provides openings for local communities to be more involved in the management of forest resources around them.

One of the greatest lessons that has been learnt from this case study is the importance of supporting existing sustainable livelihoods based on forest resource use, instead of simply promoting alternative income generating activities (IGAs) designed to attract forest users away from unsustainable practices. While intended as some form of compensation for forgoing benefits from the forest, alternative IGAs such as rabbit keeping, provision of roads, schools, clinics, etc, are not directly linked to forest resource use and tend to encourage local communities to adopt a "take and take" behaviour, rather than developing "give and take" attitudes favouring sustainable resource management. This approach should however not be confused with small scale development efforts which can be used in confidence and rapport building between project and communities.

As long as conservation activities remain context specific, and address stated resource management requests (e.g. improved Prunus bark harvesting), they will be replicable in other areas. Participatory conservation therefore becomes a reality, and not a myth.

Cunningham, M., Cunningham, A.B. & Schippman, U., 1997, Trade in Prunus africana and the implementation of CITES.