integrating customary and statutory systems. the struggle to develop a legal and policy framework...
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Integrating Customary and Statutory Systems. The struggle to develop a Legal and Policy Framework for NTFPs in CameroonTRANSCRIPT
Integrating Customary and Statutory Systems
Congress of the International Society of Ethnobiology, Montpellier Session 42 Effective and equitable law and policy for NTFPs24 May 2012
The struggle to develop a Legal and Policy Framework for NTFPs in Cameroon
A struggle….
Diverse & many >700 NTFPs
Policyand not….Regulatedand not…Tradedand subsistence
Cameroon: plural tenure
Layers of tenure
Droit d’usage
Customary user rights
Free usufruct rights
Paid rights access for 13 Special Forestry products
Policy and regulatory focus on timber
Resource rights
Laws
Forestry Laws
Agricultural & Livestock laws
Special Forestry Products
Quotas & permits
Community & council forests
TaxationFormal
Permits Market tradeRegeneration
• Corruption– Permits – Transport
ConclusionsVibrant NTFP sector exists – larger than timber sector Steps taken to develop regulatory and policy framework current situation characterised by uncomplementary pluralismCustomary law dominates for majority of NTFPsInsufficient protection for products with high commercial demand and traded in large volumes Result in regulatory framework that undermines sector , livelihoods and sustainabilityBeneficiaries are powerful few, urban and elite at cost of many, local and small scale forest and rural actors
RecommendationsThe range of NTFP values acknowledged. Subsistence use recognized & with small scale local trade, exempt from taxation & interventionLand tenure and resource rights rationalized.Customary law respected & complementary to statutory law.Regulatory framework streamlined and clarified. NTFP laws better elaborated and definedConsultations inform legal & policy frameworkRational, legitimate and just taxation
egulatory framework for NTFPs streamlined and made clear.Government institutional capacity improved
