Scaling-up Community Participatory Mapping and Land Use Planning to reinforce customary land governance for multi-stakeholder engagement on sustainable investments and trade on land in Southwest Cameroon.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.48346/IMIST.PRSM/ajlp-gs.v7i1.43062Keywords:
participatory mapping, participatory planning, dialogue, land tenure, sustainable managementAbstract
Background and context
With the decentralization processes underway in most countries of the Congo Basin, community involvement in decision-making is becoming an imperative, particularly with regard to land and resource management (Beatty, M.T. et al. (1978). To ensure that this involvement results in a clear and sustained expression of community needs, it is important to think of an integrated, free and committed approach to communities in order to promote a dialogue between land management actors (Joe Watts, 1994).
Goal and objectives
The main goal is to enhance community involvement in the management of lands and natural resources for informed decision making on sustainable investments and trade.
The specific objectives are to firstly depict the importance and approaches to conducting community participatory mapping and land use planning and secondly to showcase community’s use of mapping and planning approaches to sustainably manage natural resources and protect their cultural values, effectively negotiate large scale investments, and make decisions on their lands and resources.
Methodology
Thus, through participatory mapping of community customary land use and tenure, a facilitating accompaniment to local land-use planning is made on the basis of an assessment of socio-spatial data. It is a cross-sectional analysis of land use data, agricultural-climatic-ecological factors and future needs that allows the establishment of scenarios based on development objectives through the use of participatory diagnostic tools (problem tree, venn diagram).
Results
The result shows that participatory planning is an approach dedicated to the sustainable management of resources by local communities. With the diversification of land uses due to the presence of large projects, traditional modes or visions of sustainable land management need to be maintained. The land tenure of the Upper Balong clan in the commune of Nguti is occupied by 65% of land allocations that conflict with the activities of local people. These land allocations do not integrate the local vision of land use with the changes in land use, the needs of the people for local development and those of future populations. There is a risk of land shortages for the conservation of cultural values and communities risk losing their potential biodiversity (NTFPs). The uses proposed in the scenarios for reorienting the allocation of resources beneficial to communities take into account regional and sectoral strategies for harmonization with national development needs.
References
Beatty, M.T., Peterson G.W. & Swindale, L.D., eds. (1978). Planning the uses and management of land. Agronomy 21. Am. Soc. Agronomy 21. Am. Soc. Argon, Madison, USA. 1028 pages.
BUCREP, (2005). 3rd general population census in Cameroon.
Chambers R., (2006). Participatory cartography and geographic information systems: who owns the maps? Who comes out stronger, who comes out weaker? Who wins and who loses? The Electronic Journal on Information Systems in Developing Countries (EJISDC), pp. 1-14.
Corker I., (1983). Land use planning handbook, Tanzania, Land Resources Development Centre, Overseas Development Administration, Surbiton, UK. 178 p.
Diaw, C., OyonoP.R., Robiglio, R., (2001). Les dimensions sociales du classement et de l'aménagement des unités forestières de gestion. Theoretical lessons on the approach and experience of the Dimako "Forêts & Terroirs" Project. Unpublished report, CIFOR, p.53.
Forest Atlas of Cameroon (2017). World Resources Institutes.
Gemma H., and Mathijs L. (2009). la gouvernance foncière comme un moyen de renforcement de l'État au niveau local dans l'Est de la RDC, IS Academy Occasional Paper, 49 p.
Gueye B., Schoonmaker Freudenberger K., (1991) Introduction à la méthode accélérée de recherche participative: rapid rural appraisal, quelques notes pour appuyer une formation pratique, London, IITD.
Hache, É., (2012). Political ecology: cosmos, communities, environments. Paris. Éditions Amsterdam p47-52.
Hirt I., (2012). Mapping Dreams/Dreaming Maps: Bridging Indigenous and Western Geographical Knowledge, Cartographica: The International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization, PP. 105-120.
Jardinet S., (2006). Capacity development and PGIS for land demarcation: innovations from Nicaragua. Participatory Learning and Action, 54: 67-73.
Landon, (1991), Booker tropical soil manual. Longman, Harlow, UK. 474 p.
Lindgren D.T., (1985). Land use planning and remote sensing. Part II. Remote sensing input to GIS. Nijhoff, London. 176 p.
MINFOF (2016). Article 18 du décret 1995/531 fixant les modalités d'application du régime des forêts http://www.minfof-psfe.com/ressources/doc9_doc473.pdf 02/5/2016.
Mollett J.A., (1984). Planning for agricultural development. Croom Helm, London. 384 p.
National Research Council, (1976). Systems analysis and operations research; a tool for policy and program planning for developing countries. United States National Academy of Sciences, Washington. 98 p.
Ngoumou H., (2005). Étude empirique de la fiscalité forestière décentralisée au Cameroun: un levier de développement local?, DEA dissertation, Ecole Nationale du Génie Rural, des Eaux et des Forêts, Montpellier, France, 94 p.
Nguiffo S., (1998). La perception de la forêt et conflits au Sud Cameroun, in The Congo Bassin-human and natural resources. IUCN, 85p.
Nguiffo. S, (2005) Loi, transparence, responsabilité et droits des citoyens dans les forêts camerounaises, in la transparence, la gouvernance et la loi; Étude de cas du secteur forestier en Afrique Centrale. 57 p.
Ostrom, E. (1990). Governing the Commons. The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action. Cambridge University Press, p122.
Pearce, D.W, & Turner, R.K., (1990). Economics of natural resources and the environment.Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA. 373 p.
Peter M., (2009). Rights Conflicts and Community Mapping in Cameroon, World Agroforestry Centre and Rights and Resources Initiative.
PNDP, (2009). Communal Development Plan (CDP), Nguti Council.
Project reports on forest mapping and governance in the Nguti district (2017).
Van H., Gemma & Heijke M., (2013). Conflict, governance and institutional multiplicity: Parallel governance in Kosovo and Chiapas, Mexico. In: D.J.M.Hilhorst (ed.), Disaster, Conflict and Society in Crises; Everyday politics of crisis response. London / New York: Routledge, p43.
http://www.minfof-psfe.com/ressources/doc9_doc473.pdf 02/5/2022.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 African Journal on Land Policy and Geospatial Sciences
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The African Journal on Land Policy and Geospatial Sciences (AJLP&GS) is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/. Authors with free access retain the copyright of their manuscripts. All open access manuscripts are published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that the original work is properly cited. The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trademarks, etc. in this publication, even if not specifically identified, does not imply that applicable laws and regulations do not protect these names. Even though the advice and information in this journal are true and accurate as of the date of its publication, neither the authors, the editor, nor the publisher can assume any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions.
