Context

Cameroon's forests are of global interest for their biodiversity, and the people living there depend heavily on various forest resources for their culture and livelihoods. As is the case in much of the Congo Basin Forest, bushmeat has been the most significant protein source due to the limited availability of livestock. 

In recent years, however, hunting and the bushmeat trade have attracted global concern as they lead to the depletion of wildlife and the deterioration of people's food security. This is due to the expansion of the logging road network that occurred in southeast Cameroon since the 1990s. Logging roads made it easier for poachers and traders to enter the interior of the forests, and local people became involved in the bushmeat trade.

The Cameroonian government has promoted anti-poaching measures, including the creation of four protected areas in southeast Cameroon since 2001. However, there are obstacles to tackling this problem. One is the lack of trust between conservation actors and local people toward each other, which makes cooperation difficult. 

To quell such conflicts and effectively promote biodiversity conservation, it is essential to foster mutual trust between conservation actors and local people. We believe that one of the most important steps toward this end is to allow local people to engage in subsistence hunting without severe restrictions. We should recognize that subsistence hunting is not only an economic practice but also a cultural practice that constitutes the basis of their way of life.

That does not mean local people are natural-born ecologists and should be allowed to hunt animals without any rules. Historically, people have hunted animals probably in a sustainable manner. However, it may be because of low human density. In fact, when the logging road expansion stimulated the bushmeat trade, hunting intensity increased rapidly and uncontrollably. The “traditional resources use” itself is no more convincing as evidence of sustainable use. It seems inevitable that conservation actors would demand accountability for sustainable use from indigenous peoples. However, local people, especially the Baka, generally base their practices on tacit knowledge and are unfamiliar with explaining their way of life. Therefore, it is difficult (though not impossible) for them to communicate with conservation actors that act based on scientific knowledge.

Against this background, there is a need to strengthen the accountability of local people for sustainable wildlife use by developing and implementing cooperative management for sustainable hunting. It should be operated by local people themselves and be a tool to communicate with conservation actors. We have been working since 2018 to develop a management model for sustainable hunting.