What Cameroon can teach others about managing community forests

A quarter of a century ago, Cameroon passed a law which gave people living on the edge of forests the right to own and manage forest areas. These communities depended on the forest for livelihood activities, like agriculture, hunting, fishing and non-timber forest products – like fruits or medicinal plants.

About 40% of Cameroon’s territory is covered in forest. But they’re being threatened by deforestation. Over about 25 years, 3 million hectares of Cameroon’s 22 million hectare forests have been cleared. That’s about the size of Belgium. This is a huge concern for the country as about 4 million people depend on the forests for their livelihoods.

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