An assessment of community involvement in the Kilum/Ijim forest management project, Mount Oku Region, Cameroon
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The increasing dependence on forests for livelihood sustainability to rural communities, has put forests under enormous pressure and threat. In addressing these problem, most governments are involving local communities in conservation programs. This study is focused on the level and extent of local institutions’ involvement after forest management rights were devolved to the communities in the Mount Oku Forest Region. The institutional analysis and development framework were used to study the institutional conditions for effective conservation strategies. The study was guided by; reasons for the creation of the Forest management Project (FMP); level and extent of community involvement; and status of the forest before and after the FMP. Parameters for measuring the level of involvement included: organizing meetings, attending meetings, decision making, participatory project investigation, negotiation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, project funding, enacting forest protection laws and direct employment; each activity assigned a score of 10%. The extent of involvement included: forest protection, forest utilization, forest greening and forest monitoring; each assigned a score of 25%. Based on the existence of frontline and secondary villages, five Forest Management Institution (FMI) were randomly selected from the tribes that make up the Kilum/ Ijim Forest Project. Selected Participatory Rural Appraisal tools, and FMI registers were employed to obtain relevant data. The population test and Wilcoxon sign rank test revealed a significantly high level of local community involvement in FMP after implementation (t = 31.81, d.f =543, P=0.00;
significantly high extent of community involvement in the FMP after its implementation (t= 15.88, d.f =543, P=0.00) and a remarkable difference in forest status before and after the creation of the KIFP ( Z = 12.00,P=0.000).The study concludes that, effective decentralization and devolution of forest management rights substantiate communities’ development needs, regenerates forests and ensures their stability.
Keywords: Level of involvement, Extent of involvement, forest regeneration, forest status.
ID: 3476570