Sustaining livelihoods around community forests. What is the potential contribution of wildlife domestication?

What is it about?

Participation of local people is said to improve natural resource management. The case we are looking at is the conservation of a community forest, i.e., the Kilum-Ijim Mountain Forest in Cameroon. Especially in those regions of the world, where public agencies in terms of natural resource management fail and where the local population suffers from scarce and overused natural resources, this local governance approach carries the promise to work in terms of nature conservation. Within local governance structures, however, there are management issues. These management issues might become critical when participating people have unequal access to the local institutions managing the natural resource. The paper finds that livelihood differences of the participating people result in varying management patterns, which has effects on the evolution of species in the community forest over time. The paper discusses the potentials of wildlife domestication for livelihoods and conservation in forest communities. The results are important in the light of ongoing conservation efforts in natural resource hot-spots in sub-Saharan Africa.

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