Mbile Peter Paper synthesis and presentation Serge Ngendakumana Presentation for the conference on Taking stock of smallholders and community forestry Montpellier France March 24-26, 2010

1. Community Mapping and Tenure Recognition in Forest Zones of Cameroon:A Scoping of Cases, Questions and Methods Conference on Community Forests, Montpellier, France March 24-26, 2010 Study By Mbile Peter Paper synthesis and presentation Serge Ngendakumana The World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF).

3. Research methods

4. Main findings and implications

5. Conclusion and policy recommendations3

6. MINISTERE DES FORÊTS ET DE LA FAUNE MINISTRY OF FORESTRY AND WILDLIFE Some RRI Coalition In Cameroon Other National NGOs and CBOs: CED, CAMECO, CAFT

8. Local people’s abilities to make maps only became widely known in the early 1990s

10. But, why this study in Cameroon? Information is very incomplete and incoherent in terms of sample cases and extent of contestations, either in the form of overlapping or conflicting claims or lack of respect for customary ownership and control of forest resources, especially in areas recorded as official domains of the State.

11. Methodology In this Cameroon scoping study we review a selected number of contestations most of which possessed a mapping component, involving local communities and traversing questions from conflicts with agro industries, conservation zones, forest reserves and timber concessions occurring across the entire forest zones (Map next slide).

12. Study sites

13. Three types of mapping products were anticipated in this study Type 1 community maps— ephemeral maps –conceived using local materials (stones, sticks, lines on the dirt-ground, etc), sometimes copied unto Kraft paper, but focusing on very small-scale land use characterization, were ignored as most lacked the essential conflict element and higher spatial scales required in forest policy support. These are also the mostly common maps produced in CM activities.

14. Type 2 community mapping products, comprise a combination of ephemeral mapping, sketch-mapping and geographic information system (GIS) —more elaborate with use of coloured pencils with emphasis on territorial borders; often copied unto Kraft paper and sometimes integrated into a GIS were

15. Type 3 community mapping products comprising mainly of representations of use areas, mostly points in space, using global positioning systems (GPS) werealsocollected.

16. Key findings Three sets of finding have been developed: Our first case is the Korup and Boa plains—south west region This territorial mapping within sought to represent perceptions of customary use zones within the Korup national park and within CDC agro industrial plantation lease holds respectively.

17. Korup NP

18. The Korup case used type 2 and 3 tools and techniques but focused on developing a territorial perception only, without attempting to negotiate retrocession of territories with any State department. The Boa plains communitymapping used both tools, techniques and got the National Cartographic Institute involved in a bid to acquire para-legal recognition of the mapsproduced. [Figure 2: Boa plains communitymapping]

20. Figure 3: Type-1 community mapping in Kienke

21. In both cases submissions have been made to Government including the unimplemented Prime Ministerialdecree n° 95/531/PM of 23rd August 1995, authorizingcreation of enclaves (UFA 07002). In both cases also, facilitation has been done by local NGOs as opposed to international organizations in the Korup case (World WideFund for nature) and Boa cases (Mount Cameroon Project).

22. Type 3 case Perceptions of use conflicts between Bagyeli and Baka pygmies with industrial plantations, protected areas and timber concessions present our third and final case:

23. Fig 4.Map: People and forests conflicts

24. Figure 5: Type-3 representation of usezones by Bakacommunities

25. A number of the Baka maps were endorsed by official governmentstamps and the facilitators report successes in getting projects and park management authorities to collaboratewithBaka populations in joint management of hunting zones and timber concessions

26. Conclusion and policy recommendations CM will represent more effective communication whenfacilitatorshand over the baton to communities. At the moment more time and resources are invested in CM activities than its usefulness for communities. The apparent simplicity of CM encourages facilitators to start implementation before fully considering ethics. Where there is real chance of retro-cession CM tends to be most effective such as in Boa.

27. Conclusion (end) Retrocession was also found to happen more readily with the private sector than with Government. Government’s role remains ambivalent; endorsing community map products but seeming uncompromising in responding to retrocession demands. Mapping tools and techniques represent investments and there is a direct positive relationship between investment and expectedoutcomes.

28. Thanks for your attention