Towards alternative tenure and forest enterprise models - case studies: opportunities, constraints and recommendations for community forest enterprise development in Cameroon

The following report was written as a contribution to a group of global, national and regional studies on alternative tenure and enterprise models, commissione d by Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI). This body of research assesses the contribution of small-scale forest enterprises to the economy in Central and West Africa, the emergence of small-sc ale, including community, enterprises in response to tenure and policy reforms, and their potential to foster economic growth, local development, and improved well-being for those living in and near forestlands. The studies identify the need to strengthen tenure and access rights of local fo rest actors and level the playing field for such enterprises, so that they can be more competitive in the marketplace and reach their potential. Recent macroeconomic and poverty studies by well- known development economists recognize that export trade based on industrial concessions in many countries is not contributing to widely-shared growth or development. Further, they find that the governance effects of the concession model are negative—concentrating wealth, weakening the rule of law, and fostering corruption. In Central and West Africa, measures to regulate forest concession s have had the further perverse impact of barring entry to less capital-intensive operations that do not have the capital or influence to navigate the rules. Alternatives to the large-scale con cession model exist. Indeed, it is informal small-scale enterprises that have generated greater social and economic r eturns for people in forested regions and direct impact on improving local livelihoods. Analysis of the contributions of SMFEs has shown that, differently from concessions, they are intrinsically ti ed to the communities in which they are located, they provide needed goods and services and they generate wealth that stays within communities. They also create more opportunities for local employment and are more linked to domestic processing industries, adding value to timber an d indirect multiplier effects. Thus, small and medium forest enterprises have the potential to contri bute to poverty alleviation, social and economic development and the sustainability of forest economies

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5716/WP15921.PDF

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