Wildlife co-management in the Benoue National Park-Complex, Cameroon: A bumpy road to institutional development

Abstract

The ongoing efforts to set up wildlife co-management in Northern Cameroon are investigated. To this end, a situation analysis of legal, social, economic, and organizational factors was performed. It thus appeared that participatory management has been slow to institutionalize due to inadequate legislation, poor planning, and insufficient policy formulation. Building on the results, suggestions are made with reference to the ecosystem approach. It is argued that wildlife collaborative management should be a triadic convention involving state agencies, the private enterprise (professional hunters), and the civil society (community of local users and facilitating nongovernmental organizations) in the sharing of roles and benefits.