Resources

Independent Evaluation of the Lobeke Complaints Mechanism and the functioning of the Mambele Human Rights Centre, East Cameroon  

Independent Evaluation of the effectiveness of current access arrangements for Baka communities around Lobeke National Park, East Cameroon Cameroon’s Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife (MINFOF) and the Association Sanguia Baka Buma’a Kpode (ASBABUK) are b

This training was conducted in line with the Keta project’s objective of empowering a new generation of Baka women and men leaders, in a culturally appropriate manner. It is built on the idea that projecting spirituality brings to the forefront the question of identity and self-determination.

As news of vaccines begins to emerge, signalling at least the beginning of the end of the pandemic that has so altered our ways of living this year, we offer this report as a contribution to understanding the impact of COVID-19 on indigenous and tribal peoples.

The overall aim of this note is to gather perceptions held by local and indigenous communities currently managing, or setting up, community forests in Cameroon.

Today, on the 70th Anniversary of the International Declaration on Human Rights, the Gbabandi platform has launched their report on citizenship of indigenous forest peoples in Cameroon.

Alternative report submitted by Association Okani and FPP to the Pre-Sessional Working Group of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), 3-16 April 2018, to assist with the preparation of the list issues to consider in the forthcoming examination of the State Report of the Republic of Cameroon.

In 2010, Cameroon and the European Union signed a Voluntary Partnership Agreement on forest law enforcement, governance and trade in timber and derived products. One apparently positive element highlighted by the European Union and civil society organisations has been the inclusion of a 'transparency annex' in the document, which aimed to "make information available for public scrutiny to improve transparency and accountability".

Of the indigenous hunter gatherer peoples of Cameroon (the peoples who self-identify as ‘autochthonous’), the Baka are the largest group, numbering about 40,000 and living in an area of 75,000 km2 in the south-west of the country; the Bagyeli/Bokola are the second-largest group with approximately 3,700 people living near the coast in an area of about 12,000 km2; and the third-largest group are the Bedzang who live in the forests north-west of Mbam (Ngambe-Tikar), in the Central Region.

Click here to read related PRESS RELEASE.Read this report in English or in Bahasa Indonesia. Growing global demand for palm oil is fuelling the large-scale expansion of oil palm plantations across Southeast Asia and Africa. Concerns about the environmental and social impacts of the conversion of vast tracts of land to monocrop plantations led in 2004 to the establishment of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which encourages oil palm expansion in ways that do not destroy high conservation values or cause social conflict. Numerous international agencies have also called for reforms of national frameworks to secure communities’ rights and to develop sound land governance.

As multiple international agencies adopt and update their social and environmental policies, this special edition Forest Peoples Programme E-Newsletter reviews experiences of communities and civil society with the safeguard policies of various international financial institutions. 

Dear Friends,Whenever someone remarks that a solution is being frustrated by ‘lack of political will’, I automatically ask myself: whose is the political will and what are the interests pushing for the opposite? 

The purpose of this request is to bring to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination's attention the imminent enactment of a new Forest Law in Cameroon. The submitting organisations Okani, CED and FPP highlight that both the process of reform and the contents of the proposed new law are racially discriminatory towards indigenous peoples.

Dear Friends,

Synthesis Paper - Customary sustainable use of biodiversity by indigenous peoples and local communities: Examples, challenges, community initiatives and recommendations relating to CBD Article 10(c)A Synthesis Paper based on Case Studies from Bangladesh, Cameroon, Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela, Suriname and Thailand.

Contribution to the implementation of Article 10(c) of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Four Baka communities mapped their use of their forests using GIS. These maps, together with an outline of the local administrative and socio-political structures and a record of Baka beliefs and rituals, identify the tension between communities’ customary forest use and conservation objectives. This report aims to help improve implementation of the CBD in Cameroon.