The Regulatory Foundation for Forest Sustainability in Cameroon: A Legal Appraisal

The management of environmental resources in Cameroon particularly forest has a long history which could be traced prior to the colonial administration to present-day Cameroon. The development of policies to ensure sustainability of forest resources for the benefit of the present and future generations begun in pre-colonial Cameroon with the adoption and implementation forest use strategies supervised by traditional rulers (village chiefs) with the assistance of the village traditional councils. The chieftaincy institution set-up forest use policies which enabled the local communities to live in harmony with nature (the forest) for the benefit of everyone. During the colonial era in Cameroon, the colonial administration introduced a more formal system of forest use and management which sometimes resulted in tensions between indigenous local communities and the newly formalized administrative structures. Today, Cameroon’s forest use and management policies are motivated and influenced by local traditional customs, colonial policies, domestic legislations, as well as a plethora of international, regional and sub-regional legal instruments linked with environmental management of natural resources. This paper sets to examine the guiding legal framework for forest use and management in Cameroon. In order to realize this objective, data have been collected and analyzed using the doctrinal approach.