Crises, Complexities and Claims in Protected Areas: Landscapes of (In) Coherent Biodiversity Governance and Social-Environmental Injustice in Southwest Cameroon

Abstract

Biodiversity and its conservation strategies are facing a global, regional and national crisis that is jeopardizing the future of humanity. In this light, it is necessary to rethink current political strategies in order to build models that are adapted to the new challenges (global warming, COVID-19, armed conflicts, etc.) – and can overcome past failures. The objective of this chapter is to illustrate some of the multiple aspects of the crisis affecting forest biodiversity and related governance in the Congo Basin, with specific attention to Cameroon. The review of subregional and national policies and the in-depth analysis of the biodiversity conservation crisis in four protected forest landscapes in the Southwest region of Cameroon brought out the existence of a top-down and incoherent mode of governance, characterized by negative impacts on biodiversity, the rights of local communities, environmental justice and human wellbeing. Such a precarious situation is compounded by an armed conflict, since 2016, that aggravates socio-environmental injustices and the loss of biodiversity. It is therefore necessary to rebuild an alternative model of biodiversity conservation based on justice, local knowledge and culture.