Redevances forestièrse annuelles et développement local au Cameroun : expériences de deux communes rurales : une analyse anthropologique

Our thesis is an examination of the relationship between annual forest royalties (AFRs) and local development in two communities in Cameroon. This anthropological study joins the debate that is taking place on an international scale with regard to the role and the future of local populations in the management of natural resources. In the past, the management of annual forest royalties was, especially in Central Africa and in Cameroon, the sole responsibility of the state. Such a policy did not offer the guarantees necessary for the sustainable use of these resources, which are indispensable to the lives of riverside village populations and the stability of the environment. Taking advantage of the crisis of the 1980s and 1990s in Africa, the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and the World Bank applied pressure on African States to revise their policies, in accordance with the Conference of Rio (1992), regarding the management and conservation of forest resources.  In 1994, Cameroon was the first country in the Congo river basin to revise its forest laws by means of a decentralization of the forest tax system: taxes received were distributed between the State, decentralized territorial collectives and riverside village populations. Funds transferred to these collectives and riverside populations were to be used for local development, specifically by contributing to the improvement of the general conditions of these populations through the realization of social works, water delivery, the construction and maintenance of roads, schools, health centers, etc. In practice, the impact of the decentralized forest tax system is hardly visible in the dynamics of the local development of communities to this day.  Our doctoral research project is in the field of the anthropology of development centered on the study of the solutions local populations bring to the problems they are confronted with in their daily lives. The analysis of the impacts of economic development policies on the village populations of Africa is here foregrounded, not only in the sense of a criticism of state policies regarding forestry development but also in the sense of better understanding the conditions of their implementation and impact on village populations; both from the point of view of direct financial benefits as well as ecological changes forestry activities introduce to the agricultural practices of the villagers.  On the methodological level, it is essential to note that it was very difficult to obtain the necessary information, the subject of the study proving to be very sensitive in its political implications. We were nevertheless able to collect a solid set of data by means of a local qualitative approach that was carried out in two forest communities, those of A (68 villages) and B (17 villages), which represent two different realities in terms of the management of annual forest royalties (AFRs). Through an intensive approach, data collection was undertaken in seven villages that responded to our criteria: we were able to study, in depth, the situation of the most disadvantaged social groups excluded in the sharing of the forest royalties.  In building out theoretical framework, we combined elements borrowed from environmental theory, economic anthropology and the analysis of management styles. It should be noted, moreover, that the anthropologist is neither a forester, nor an environmentalist, nor a specialist in managerial studies. We focused our comparative study in the municipalities of A and B on the objective of understanding the mechanisms for the management of AFRs set up by the local leaders and to estimate their impact on the improvement of the living conditions of the village populations and their ecosystems. Our concern was to know if AFRs establish vectors for the socioeconomic development for village populations living and from the forest.

Keyphrases: Development, Sustainable forest development, local development, Annual forest royalties