Integrating biodiversity conservation into national development policy: A case study of Cameroon
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Peter Bufeh [1]
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[1] Universidad de Lisboa
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- Localización: XI young researchers meeting on conservation and sustainable use of forest systems / coord. por Elena Hidalgo Rodríguez, Francisco Javier Dorado Reyes, Ainhoa Iñiguez Soto, Diego A. Damián Carrión, Samuel Gato Martín, Guillermo Jové Alcalde, Raúl Arcadio Fernández González, 2017, ISBN 978-84-617-9574-1, pág. 15
- Idioma: inglés
- Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
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Resumen
With a total size of about 475 440 km2, Cameroon is part of the Congo Basin and harbors a wide range of biological resources. It is the fourth most bio-diverse country in Africa after the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Madagascar (UNDP et al 2001). Unfortunately, many species are either threatened, endangered or at the brink of extinction including flagship species such as gorillas and chimpanzees. There are a number of drivers of biodiversity loss inCameroon including unsustainable resource exploitation (e.g. slash-and-burn agriculture, poaching of large mammals); an economic system that is reliant on natural resources; land use changes (forest conversion); among others. Indirect drivers are linked to economic, social and cultural factors (e.g. increasing demographic pressures and urbanization, poverty) and to weak institutional responses resulting from a lack of financial resources to enable progress on issues, including the establishment of indicators for sustainably managing biodiversity and mechanisms to mitigate or combat biodiversity loss. As a result of the rapid rate of biodiversity loss, the need for biodiversity conservation has been highlighted in State forestry and legislative policy – in particular the current forestry law (1994) and its 1995 Implementation Decree. Apart from elaborating on the drivers of biodiversity loss, this report reviews the extent to which biodiversity conservation has been integrated into national development policy – and vice versa – and draws conclusions as to whether this has enhanced the implementation of key biodiversity conservation objectives and commitments.
