Bridging Customary Practices and Legal Reform: Water Conflicts in Northern Cameroon and the Ongoing Revision of the 1998 Water Law

Across Africa, water scarcity increasingly triggers conflicts where formal laws clash with customary resource governance, threatening sustainable development. Cameroon’s northern regions epitomize this crisis: despite Law No. 98/005 of 14 April 1998 declaring water a national resource under state control, persistent farmer pastoralist clashes reveal the law’s disconnect from local realities. Customary systems such as lamido (chief) councils mediation, seasonal rotations remain communities’ primary water regulators, yet lack statutory recognition. This study examines Cameroon’s water governance dilemma through legal pluralism and integrated water resources management (IWRM) lenses, assessing how the ongoing 1998 Water Law revision can bridge statutory-customary divides. Employing doctrinal analysis of the 1998 Water Law and reform proposals alongside socio-legal insights from northern Cameroon’s Northern Regions, the paper reveals critical regulatory gaps. The law’s centralized permitting ignores customary allocations, creating overlapping claims during dry seasons when pastoralists and farmers compete for wells and seasonal rivers. Customary governance demonstrates superior legitimacy through socially enforced rules prioritizing vulnerable households, yet statutory permits for commercial boreholes frequently override these arrangements, fueling disputes. Institutional analysis identifies MINEE’s technocratic dominance versus limited local council roles, while reform consultations signal IWRM-driven shifts toward decentralization. Findings confirm customary systems’ effectiveness in equitable allocation and conflict mediation, undermined only by formal law’s exclusion. The study proposes concrete integration pathways: formal recognition of traditional authorities, codified local water rules, joint enforcement mechanisms, and participatory basin committees. Current revisions offer Cameroon a pioneering opportunity to harmonize plural legal systems, enhancing legitimacy, compliance, and conflict resilience. Beyond Cameroon, this statutory-customary hybrid model addresses Africa-wide challenges where state law struggles against entrenched traditional authority. By embedding culturally legitimate mechanisms within national legislation, Cameroon advances Vision 2035’s equitable resource management goals while contributing globally relevant scholarship on reconciling legal pluralism with sustainable water governance in conflict prone, water stressed regions.