Complementarity, rivalry and substitution in the governance of forests: Learning from independent forest monitoring system in Cameroon

Abstract

The consequence of state controlled forestry in Cameroon has been the overexploitation of forest resources often in conflict with local forest dependent communities and state conservation objectives. The failure of state controlled forestry to achieve sustainable forest management has led to the emergence of new network like arrangements amongst which is independent forest monitoring (IFM) by civil society. The aim of this paper is to scrutinize the factors which affect the effectiveness of IFM governance network in Cameroon. Our research focused on a case study of Cameroon, employing a governance network perspective. The main findings are that national civil society in Cameroon is playing a significant role in improving transparency in the forest sector and holding decision makers to account. The paper finds a shift from technical areas of forest monitoring to the monitoring of social obligations and the respect of community rights by private companies. An analysis of actors highlights a strong network of national NGOs with self-defined goals and strategies engaged in very fluid relationships with law enforcement agencies beyond traditional ministries of forests and wildlife characterised by a spectrum ranging from complementarity, substitution and rivalry. The lack of sustainable funding and weak capabilities of national NGOs to navigate these fluid relationships emerges as core constraints for network effectiveness. Accordingly, recommendations for effectiveness entail strategies for sustainable funding, capacity strengthening and network coordination to address current weaknesses but also to build trust and credibility of the governance network.

Complementarities in CSO Collaborations: How Working with Diversity Produces Advantages

“…Analyses of complementarity commonly emphasise comparative advantage as a main starting point as well as the context-dependent nature and often at least partly emergent quality of complementarity resulting from interactions over time. We also find emphasis on mutual respect and autonomy of the actors involved (Coston 1998;Najam 2000;Mbzibain and Ongolo 2019). Studies that go into complementarity in advocacy collaborations address structural aspects rather than contingencies and relational dynamics.…”

“…Gyrd-Jones and Kornum 2013) to governance (see, e.g. Coston 1998, Mbzibain, andOngolo 2019). Analyses of complementarity commonly emphasise comparative advantage as a main starting point as well as the context-dependent nature and often at least partly emergent quality of complementarity resulting from interactions over time.…”

Analysis of Agro Alternatives to Boost Cameroon’s Socio-Environmental Resilience, Sustainable Development, and Conservation of Native Forests

“…This could also strengthen the country's institutions in general and give them greater credibility in the eyes of the public. On the other hand, there is evidence that from this innovative concept of mixed governance, understanding has been gained about different formal and informal components, which often directly affect environmental and forest governance in these countries [80,81]. Many organizations involved in environmental governance often have to cope with and manage multiple variables, related to social constraints and expectations of the various stakeholders involved, usually due to a lack of competence or capacities of the ones holding responsibility [64,82].…”

“…However, this is very difficult to materialize in the short and medium term because of a very top-down, inefficient, and incompetent governance and institutionality, with bad practices rooted from colonial times [1,34,64,69,70,75,84,166]. However, there are some signs of awareness of the importance of migrating from the current top-down governance system towards a mixed system, including reflexive and arguably even environmental governance [37,64,[80][81][82]167,168].…”

“…However, it should be noted that there has also been timid progress in the intention to bring about change through the implementation of the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA), signed in 2010 and ratified by Cameroon in 2011 [177], with which, the aim is to reduce, to a certain extent, those who illegally exploit the timber extracted there, considering the sharp decline in the country's forest cover from 22 to 19 million hectares, mainly due to illegal logging [14]. However, there is a systematic relapse into the vicious cycle of poor institutions and poor-quality governance in the country and human capital is poorly educated to solve this problem, [74,81,178,179].…”