Au cours des trente dernières années, un nombre croissant d'États ont adopté de bonnes lois qui renforcent considérablement les droits fonciers de leurs citoyens. Cependant, en raison de multiples obstacles, un pourcentage élevé de citoyens de nombreux pays ignorent leurs droits légaux ou sont incapables d'utiliser les lois nationales pour protéger leurs droits lorsque ces derniers sont menacés.
Au Mali, au début des années 1990, la décentralisation fut d’abord un acte politique permettant de proposer une solution viable au problème de la rébellion touarègue. Ensuite, les aspirations aux idées occidentales démocratiques (pluralisme politique, liberté de la presse, etc.) d’une partie des élites urbaines ont rencontré les plans des occidentaux pour le développement de l’Afrique pour donner un système de décentralisation territoriale à la française, mais où la commune est composée d’un ensemble de villages.
Land in Cameroon is under growing pressure for many reasons — powerful commercial interests, changing climate conditions and shifting demographic flows including mass migration and increasing population density. The rights of rural communities and indigenous people to access and use land for farming and grazing have been eroded — primarily due to failure to recognise customary land tenure rights, land use conflicts and lack of effective local governance. The country’s land legislation is indeed outdated and not compatible with customary law and local realities.
In Cameroon, commercial and infrastructural developments are exerting increasing pressure on land and natural resources, which is in turn exacerbating the risks to the rights of indigenous peoples. Against this backdrop, the ongoing process of revising Cameroon’s land legislation provides an opportunity to secure aspects of indigenous peoples’ rights, as part of a wider effort to secure the land rights of local communities.
This brief study has been produced by the partners of the CoNGOs consortium to share our different knowledge and experience, and to set out a joint understanding of the current state of play in relation to community forestry in Cameroon.
Cameroon is part of a global trend towards large-scale investments in infrastructure, agriculture, extractive industries, industrial facilities and real estate that are displacing many people. Deeming these projects in the public interest, governments often acquire land by expropriating locally-held land rights. But compulsory land acquisition has severe economic, social and cultural impacts for families and communities.
Cameroon’s current land law appears to have two conflicting objectives: to attract investors through large-scale land concessions while simultaneously protecting biodiversity, defending local people’s rights and promoting rural development. But the legislation governing large-scale land-based investments is outdated and sometimes incoherent. The land allocation process is investor driven and does not appropriately balance economic, social or environmental considerations.
An estimated 60 per cent of the world’s 17 million refugees currently reside in cities, where they often lack access to financial assistance and legal protection.(1) In their absence, displaced populations depend on participation in formal and, more frequently, informal markets for livelihood generation.
Large-scale land acquisitions are increasing in pace and scale, in particular across parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America. Weak governance and poor land use planning mean that commercial ‘land grabs’ often damage biodiversity as well as dispossessing people from customary rights and livelihoods. Land can also be ‘grabbed’ for ‘green’ purposes, triggering conflicts that undermine potential synergies. Expanded state protected areas, land for carbon offset markets and REDD, and for private conservation projects all potentially conflict with community rights.
Despite progressive provisions on gender equality in Tanzania’s land laws, women have little representation in land allocation decisions, including meetings of village councils and village assemblies. Mainstreaming gender in local regulations can help to address this problem.
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