Eloise Pulos is completing her MA in Human Security and Peacebuilding with a five-month internship at the Centre for International Forestry Research. She is based in the organization's regional office in Limbe, Cameroon and shares these insights: by Eloise Pulos I had been in Cameroon for a mere three days when I found myself trekking through the Takamanda Forest with a group of researchers! We were off to visit some of the local villages in our study area – a place that is home, incidentally, to 60 known mammal species, including the critically endangered Cross River Gorilla.
The Takamanda area is remote and not easily reached. Roads, where they exist, are in terrible condition, especially during the rainy season. The exigencies of cross-country travel are a frequent topic of conversation and cause for consternation among locals and foreigners alike, but the hardships are felt most by the people who live and work here.
Major threats to conservation in this area are loss of forest and demand for bushmeat. While the recently-created Takamanda National Park is expected to benefit biodiversity, it will not be without consequences for people in the local communities who depend on small-scale agriculture and the harvest of non-timber forest products for subsistence and income.
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Collaboration seeks right balance
RRU’s Centre for Non-Timber Resources is collaborating with the Centre for International Forestry Research on this three-year Takamanda study, funded by the Canadian International Development Agency.
The goal is develop tools for improving the way in which government and non-government conservation and development agencies measure and evaluate the impacts of their interventions.
The work is being done in and around the newly-established Takamanda National Park in the South West region of Cameroon. It’s a mixed landscape with high conservation value and increasing development pressure from logging as well as commercial and subsistence agriculture.
“The researchers are working closely with stakeholders to understand what the implications of interventions might be for local people’s livelihoods,” says Brian Belcher, director of the Centre for Non-Timber Resources.
“Interventions” include initiatives focused on conserving forests and biodiversity and, at the same time, encouraging rural development.
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Our first river crossing was by dugout canoe. After a lengthy (and lively) negotiation with the proprietor of the boat, we secured a fair price for passage and embarked on our two-minute crossing, docking on the opposite shore next to the remains of what was once a car ferry.
We then went by motorbike taxi to the village of Kajifu where the footpath to Takamanda National Park begins. Our first destination was Takamanda Village, a community of about 600 people tucked up against the perimeter of the national park.
Throughout the day we were greeted by groups of women moving to the markets, expertly balancing bundles of firewood and cocoa on their heads. Six hours later, the presence of small farms indicated we’d reached our destination.
We were shown a number of nearby development projects and the people there spoke to us candidly, with mixed trepidation and excitement, about the national park and how restricted access will affect them.
This trip lasted five days but it was a most memorable and rewarding experience.
I saw that the communities are impoverished and it’s difficult to predict whether they will see any imminent improvements to their livelihoods, despite development efforts.
The issues in the Takamanda, unfortunately, are representative of what is taking place in tropical forests all over the world.
The trip lasted five days but, says Pulos, was a most memorable and rewarding experience.
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Poverty reduction and rural development are key components of natural resource management policy in so many developing countries. And even though there is an increasing trend toward
integrated conservation and development projects – known as ICDPs – there is still concern about their effectiveness. That’s because oftentimes the tradeoffs are unbalanced, with the costs borne mainly by the poor.
Reconciling conservation and development designed to alleviate poverty is a fundamental challenge and it seems their objectives are inherently conflicted.
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After a lengthy (and lively) negotiation with the proprietor of the boat, we secured a fair price for passage. ___________________
The good news is that this research I’ve been fortunate to take part in is a step toward improving methods for measuring and evaluating the impacts of ICDPs on livelihoods, and detecting early warning signs so that projects can be altered, where necessary.
Most importantly, this research is being conducted in such a way that stakeholders are participating and playing a role in defining the objectives of ICDPs.
My internship has certainly offered me a unique opportunity to combine my human security studies at Royal Roads with my background in environmental science.