Bushland in Mindif Region, Cameroon : functions, decline, context and prospects Wassouni, W. Citation Wassouni, W. (2006, November 23). Bushland in Mindif Region, Cameroon : functions, decline, context and prospects. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/1887/4990 Version: Not Applicable (or Unknown) Licence agreement concerning inclusion of License: doctoral thesis in the Institutional Repository of the University of Leiden Downloaded from: https://hdl.handle.net/1887/4990 Note: To cite this publication please use the final published version (if applicable). BUSHLAND IN MINDIF REGION, CAMEROON Bushland in Mindif Region, Cameroon Functions, Decline, Context and Prospects PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van Doctor aan de Universiteit Leiden, op gezag van de Rector Magnificus Dr. D.D. Breimer, hoogleraar in de faculteit der Wiskunde en Natuurwetenschappen en die der Geneeskunde, volgens besluit van het College voor Promoties te verdedigen op 23 november 2006 klokke 15.oo uur door Wassouni geboren te Malanagome-Kaele (Kameroen) in 1960 Promotiecommissie: Promotor: Prof.dr. W.T. de Groot Copromotor: Dr. H. Bauer Referent: Prof.dr. L.J. de Haan Overige leden: Prof.dr. L. Stroosnijder (WUR) Prof.dr. P.J. Pels Dr. J.C.M. van Santen Bushland in Mindif Region, Cameroon Functions, Decline, Context and Prospects Wassouni Leiden, 2006 Cover photo frontside: Aerial view of Mindif region, with the ‘Pic de Mindif’ in the background. Photo Jean-Yves Jamin, in: Prasac, 2002, CD-ROM ‘Mille et une photos des savanes d’Afrique centrale’. Cover photo backside: Typical bushland scene, with clearance of new field in the fore- ground. Photo André Teyssier, in: Prasac, 2002, CD-ROM ‘Mille et une photos des savanes d’Afrique centrale’. Lay-out: Sjoukje Rienks, Amsterdam CML Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University P.O. Box 9518, 2300 RA Leiden, the Netherlands ISBN-10: 90-9020911-5 ISBN-13: 978-90-9020911-1 Acknowledgement With friendship, faith and hope, one can move mountains! I would like to show my gratitude to Dutch government which has financed my research through Nuffic. I do hope that such international cooperation will continue so that other Africans may benefit from it as I did. Besides, I do not forget Annelies Oskam, Diny van Est and Jose van Santen who have made everything easier to me all along the research process. I am grateful to all the people of CML with special care to the librarians and my colleagues. I also wish to thank the Sub-Prefect of Mindif subdivision (Bello Léon- ard), the state agents of the various line agencies, the chief of former Min- dif – Moulvoudaye Project (Bouba) and the canton chief of Mindif (Lamido Oumarou Sanda) for providing me with the necessary and basic information and for facilitating my contact with local populations during the fist steps of my research. I cannot forget the openness and active collaboration of the local sub-chiefs (Lawans) and all the people of the Mindif region for their delightful attitude and sincerity during group discussions. To my field assist- ants Elisabeth Didja, Tantine Aminatou, Diddirou Aminatou, Paul Amadou, Oumarou Ahmadou, Abdourahman Blou, Sali Taningbe, Modeste Zoua who transformed their tasks into fun, I would like to say that this book is the re- ward of their discipline, faith and full commitment to work. I would also like to thank all the students who did their fieldwork in the framework of my research program. The results of their various themes have contributed to enrich and improve of my own analysis and interpretation of the realities. I specially think about Debby den Heijer, Lilian van Ommeren and Jan van der Ploeg from Holland; Jérémie Mbaïramadji from University of Québec, Canada; Aminatou and Guy Isseri from Ngaoundéré University; Isabelle Nkapnang, Gaston Beidi and Peyani Tambo from Dschang Univer- sity; and Seibou Dairou and Oumarou Sali from University of Yaoundé I. And last but not least, I would like to show my gratitude to Madi Ali for all the support he gave me for my personal and familial matters during the research program, and to Charles Njomaha and Hanson Njiforti who have been of great help to me in solving practical computing problems. I cannot put an end to these acknowledgements without thinking of my elder brother Hélé Pierre who has always taken care of my family during my long stays abroad in the course of this research program. He may find in this book the reward of his efforts with my endless thanks. Contents 1 Introduction: First Overview and Problem Perspective 13 1.1 The study area 13 1.2 Historical background 16 1.3 Government and project activities 17 1.4 Recent revolution 19 1.5 Locally perceived problems of the region 20 1.6 Integrating the problem perspectives 21 1.7 Theoretical framework: transition theory 23 1.8 Dissertation structure 25 2 Concepts, Questions and Methods 27 2.1 Defining the ‘bush’ concept 27 2.1.1 General bush concept 27 2.1.2 Local people’s bush concept 28 2.1.3 Nomenclature 28 2.2 Conceptualizing the ‘bush problem’ 28 2.2.1 Problematic actions 29 2.2.2 Methodological approach 31 2.2.4 Research questions 32 2.3 Methods used to study the bush problem 32 2.3.1 Reconnaissance visit and pre-testing 33 2.3.2 Household census 33 2.3.3 Sample and sampling procedure 36 2.3.4 First round household interviews 36 2.3.5 Secondary data 36 2.3.6 Group discussions 37 2.3.7 Second round household interviews 37 2.3.8 Transects and maps 37 2.3.9 Direct and participant observation 38 2.3.10 Data organisation and analysis 38 2.3.11 Student research 39 3 The Research Area 41 3.1 Social structure 41 3.1.1 Population composition 41 3.1.2 Political structure 44 3.1.3 Civil society organisations 50 3.1.4 General overview of social and economic dynamics 54 3.1.5 Livelihood in the Mindif region 56 3.2 Physical structure 60 3.2.1. Habitat structure 60 3.2.2. Land 60 3.2.3. Crops and farming systems 62 3.2.4 Bush-related activities 68 3.2.5 Off-farm and off-bush activities 69 3.3 Bush areas of the study region 69 3.3.1 Tree and shrub varieties 69 3.3.2 Location of bush zones 70 3.3.3 Typology of the bush vegetation 71 3.3.4 Distribution of bush types 74 3.4 Institutions connected to land tenure and land use 77 3.4.1 State law and agencies 77 3.4.2 Traditional structures 78 3.5 Land use and tenure regulation practices 80 3.6 Population dynamics 82 4 Functions of the bush 87 4.1 Functions classification and valuation 87 4.1.1 Introduction 87 4.1.2 Classification concepts 88 4.1.3 Valuation of bush functions 92 4.2 Habitat: the biodiversity of the bush 93 4.2.1 Introduction 93 4.2.2 Tree species 93 4.2.3 Grass and herb species 96 4.2.4 Mammal species 96 4.2.5 Bird species 96 4.3 Signification function: the bush in teh Mindif cultures 97 4.4 Natural production functions 101 4.4.1 Food collection 101 4.4.2 Firewood, timber and grass collection 103 4.4.3 Grazing and fodder 105 4.4.4 Health: medicine, micro-climate and drinking water 108 4.5 Joint production functions 109 4.6 Overview and conclusions 112 5 Social Dynamics of the Bush Decline 115 5.1 Problem: the loss and degradation of the bush 115 5.1.1 Loss through cropland expansion 115 5.1.2 Degradation through new fields in unused bush 117 5.1.3 Bush degradation driven by firewood cutting 119 5.1.4 Impacts: functions loss and social conflicts 124 5.2 Principles of explaining the problem 127 5.3 Primary actors of the bush decline 130 5.3.1 Problematic actors 130 5.3.2 Potential problematic actors 133 5.4 Explaining the problematic primary actions: options, motivations, culture and structure 137 5.4.1 New field creation 137 5.4.2 Commercial firewood cutting 145 5.5 Identifying the linkages between primary and secondary actors 149 5.6 The secondary actors and their context 150 6 The Institutional Factor in Bush Degradation 155 6.1 Bush regulatons: local and government laws compared 155 6.1.1 Traditional bush use regulation 155 6.1.2 The 1974 land law 158 6.1.3 The 1994 forest law 159 6.2 Case studies of bush resource use conflicts 160 6.3 Conclusion 167 7 Looking to the future 171 7.1 Current life satisfaction 171 7.2 The Malthusian scenario 173 7.3 The Boserupian scenario 174 7.4 Local views of the future 177 7.5 Local innovations towards intensification 179 7.6 Discussion: bush protection for agricultural transition 183 7.7 Policy for bush protection and transition 185 7.7.1 The local voice 185 7.7.2 The policy option for bush protection 188 7.7.3 Policy context 189 Bibliography 191 Annex 199 Summary 205 Samenvatting 209 About the author 213 13 Introduction: 1 first overview and problem perspective Over the past few decades, the environment has become a subject of great in- terest world wide. The present research project is related to the growing global concern about the fact that natural resources are being degraded or depleted, while the world population is increasing. In Africa, this phenomenon seems to be more disquieting as the majority of the population still depends heavily on natural resources for subsistence.