Because of the important role of the Kilum-Ijim Forest in local economy and culture, forest conservation, to be successful, must involve local people and address their needs. Recognising this, MINEF and the project agreed to shelf the original plans to gazette the whole forest and work towards the establishment of community forests covering most of the Kilum-Ijim Forest, with a core gazetted conservation area at the center of the forest (Plant life Sanctuary). This was made possible by the new Forestry law of 1994, which allowed for the establishment of legally recognized community forests, in which management of a forest can be devolved to the communities bordering the forest, on the basis of an agreed forest management plan. Thus, since 1994, the project has been working with communities surrounding the forest for the establishment of legally recognized community forests that will cover most of the Kilum-Ijim Forest. During the previous phase of the project, which ran from July 1995 to June 2000, project efforts were focused on assisting Forest Management Institutions established by the forest-adjacent communities to go through the legal steps needed for the legal attribution of their community forests. A crucial part of the process involved negotiation of forest use limits based on MINEF conservation objectives for the forest and local use objectives by the communities around the forest. This study presents the case of the Community forest management at the Kilum-Ijim mountain forest region in Cameroon.

Type of Case
Printed publication (book, sourcebook, journal article…)

Publisher
FAO

Region
Africa

Biome
Tropical

Forest Type
All forest types (natural and planted)

Primary Designated Function
All