Projet Coméca 2018-2024
Co-création d'une gestion innovante des ressources forestières combinant les méthodes écologiques et les connaissances autochtones
The six-year project ended on July 4, 2024. Despite the two-and-a-half-year interruption in field activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have achieved our project purposes. The end-of-term evaluation by the JST was an "A" grade.
We are publishing more and more papers based on unpublished data obtained in the project and continue our research and social implementation activities through new projects that share our overall goals.
We will continue to update this website. Thank you for your continued support.
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The Institute of Agricultural Research for Development (IRAD), Cameroon, and The Center for African Area Studies (CAAS), Kyoto University, Japan, carry out an international joint research project Co-creation of innovative forest resources management combining ecological methods and indigenous knowledge from 2018 to 2024, in the framework of Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS), funded by Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and the Cameroonian Government. This is a trans-disciplinary project in which researchers from a variety of fields participate and the research outputs of which are expected to be implemented in the near future.
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.
Sustainable use of wildlife and NTFPs is reinforced in Southeast Cameroon on the local people's initiative, with a view to contributing to biodiversity conservation in the TRIDOM landscape.
A road map is built for the sustainable use of wildlife and NTFPs in Southeast Cameroon based on the involvement of local people and their initiatives.
Output I: A model of sustainable use of wildlife is elaborated based on a wildlife monitoring method that is manageable for local people.
Output II: The production and processing system of NTFPs is built to alternate bushmeat income.
Output III: A process for implementing a sustainable forest resources management model combined Outputs I and II is proposed to conservation actors.
Gribé, Zoulabot Ancien, and the surrounding forest including Boumba-Bek and Nki National Parks, East Region, Cameroon.
