Cameroon

Forest Peoples Programme has worked with partners in Cameroon since 1994. In the 2000s, we expanded our programme work, investigating the impact of the Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline on Bagyeli peoples in southern Cameroon and the widespread dispossession of forest peoples’ land by the creation of protected areas.

With our partners, we are currently working with Bagyeli communities affected by palm oil and mining in the Océan department and Baka communities living in the TRIDOM and TNS conservation areas. 

Cameroon’s constitution commits the state to "preserv[ing] the rights of indigenous peoples in accordance with the law”, but its land tenure laws do not recognize customary or collective land rights and it has not ratified ILO Convention 169. Principles of Free, Prior and Informed Consent are rarely upheld and indigenous communities across the country are being dispossessed by militarized fortress conservation and large-scale development and infrastructure projects. A significant number of indigenous people lack citizenship documents, depriving them of civil, political, economic, social and cultural lights.

Main activities and current work

We have a particular focus on: 

• Agro-industrial development
• Exclusionary conservation
• Lack of access to civil rights
• Mining

Our main activities include:

• Providing communities with legal advice and training on land and rights issues
• Supporting communities in strategic litigation and other legal processes
• Facilitating grassroots cultural valorisation programmes
• Supporting community management of customary lands

 

Baka Community, Cameroon. Credit: Adrienne Surprenant