Participatory approaches towards forest conservation: The case of Lobéké National Park, South east Cameroon

SUMMARY

One of the biggest challenges for protected area management in most of Africa has been moving from an exclusive and colonial system to a participatory one that takes into consideration the interest of the local people. Lobéké National Park, situated in the southeast comer of the Republic of Cameroon has been at the centre of an ‘experimental process’ of putting in place a collaborative management system through local communities (Bantus and Baka pygmies) and private sector involvement in design and implementation of innovative collaboration platforms for management of natural resources of the area. As part of the process, five community hunting zones were established where these communities carry out subsistence hunting to meet protein needs and also lease their territories during particular periods of the year for sport hunting. The income generated was used for various development activities in the villages. This pioneering process has also been expanded to include collaborative conventions signed between local communities and various stakeholders operating in the region. It is hoped that the present initiative in Lobéké will be implemented for other protected areas being established in southeast Cameroon and on a national basis.

Key words:

• Collaborative management
• local people
• natural resource
• protected areas