Cameroon launches its multi-stakeholder platform for inclusive land reform

: Opening during the workshop in Yaoundé, May 27, 2025

FAO is supporting the Government of Cameroon in developing a National Land Policy based on the Voluntary guidelines on the responsible governance of tenure (VGGT) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) to ensure responsible land governance.

Cameroon has no official national land policy document, resulting in fragmented management of land and resources. To remedy this situation, the government has embarked on a process of land and property reform aimed at guaranteeing the legal security of land rights, promoting economic and social development, strengthening social cohesion and protecting the environment.

In order to promote dialogue between land tenure stakeholders in Cameroon, on 9 April 2025 the Ministry of Domains, Cadastre and Land AUairs created the Multi-Stakeholder Platform for Consultation on Land Tenure, State Property and Cadastral Issues, with a view to ensuring inclusive, responsible and eUective governance of land tenure in Cameroon.

The platform aims to propose concerted solutions to land issues, in particular through the drafting of a National Land Policy document in line with international standards, such as the VGGT and the SDGs, to guarantee responsible land governance.

As part of its roadmap for achieving equitable and sustainable land management, the Ministry of Domains, Cadastre and Land AUairs organized a multi-stakeholder workshop in Yaoundé on 27 and 28 May 2025, bringing together more than 80 land sector specialists. Chaired by the Minister Henri Eyebe Ayissi, the two-day workshop brought together representatives of key ministries, civil society, Indigenous Peoples, traditional chiefs, mayors, as well as representatives from the private sector and academia. During the workshop, Henri Eyebe Ayissi reiterated the government's commitment to land reform. The aim is to address the many challenges facing land management in Cameroon. According to the Minister ‘The Multi-Actor Platform will make an active contribution to the formulation, implementation and monitoring of public land policies, based on reliable data, crossdisciplinary expertise and a shared commitment to transformation’.

: Session during the workshop in Yaoundé, May 27, 2025

He also reiterated the decisive role of the new platform, which will help the government to draw up an inclusive land policy in line with the VGGT in the context of national food security. Drawing up a land policy in Cameroon is a complex process that requires the involvement of a wide range of stakeholders to ensure that it is inclusive, participatory and exhaustive, and that it is eUective, owned and legitimate.

During this meeting, group work sessions were organized to enrich the diagnosis of the land tenure situation in the country, which will serve as a basis for the main orientations of the document. The workshop also provided an opportunity to validate the roadmap and activities planned for the development of a national land policy. The next steps include inter-regional consultations aimed at involving various local stakeholder groups in the process of formulating this policy. As the Minister pointed out:

‘The Platform is the place par excellence where everyone's concerns can be expressed freely and taken into account in the decision-making process."

The workshop to launch the multi-stakeholder platform in Cameroon was co-financed by the FAO and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ). For the FAO, this initiative is part of the project entitled ‘Improving land governance and reducing conflicts linked to cross-border transhumance in the Republic of Chad, the Republic of Cameroon and the Central African Republic’. Financed by the Flexible Voluntary Contribution (FVC) instrument, this project aims to build the land governance skills of national and local players in the three countries. It is based on the VGGT.

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Cameroon launches its multi-stakeholder platform for inclusive land reform