Actor-driven institutional change in forest communities: insights from the Bakossi Landscape of Cameroon
Jude Ndzifon Kimengsi,
Alfred Kechia Mukong,
Lukas Giessen and
Jürgen Pretzsch
Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 2024, vol. 67, issue 11, 2553-2582
Abstract:
The institutions-cum-forest use dynamics literature is growing, albeit marred by scanty evidence on actor roles in shaping the process in sub-Saharan Africa. Cameroon represents a useful “laboratory” to explore such actor-driven change processes. Recent studies have reported the change process linked to a colonial hangover in parts of Cameroon that came under French influence, suggesting the need for fresh evidence to uncover such change processes in parts of the country which came under British influence. Using the Bakossi Landscape as a case, this article (i) traces the pathways of forest-linked institutional change, (ii) estimates the role of actor groups in shaping forest-linked institutional change, and (iii) explores the determinants of forest-linked institutional change in the Bakossi Landscape. A representative sample of 116 households in 3 selected communities was performed. This was complemented by focus group discussions (n = 6) and key informant interviews (n = 10). Descriptive statistics were used to establish forest-linked institutional change, while the ordinary least square was employed to estimate the effect of actor groups and other determinants on forest-linked institutional change. The results lead us to the following conclusions: First, both forest-linked institutional structures and processes witnessed changes over the years. Second, raising the intensity of actor group processes (in-migrants, local elites, traditional leadership, timber dealership and NTFP traders) significantly decreases changes in forest-linked traditional rules, while migration, state officials and the church significantly increase changes in forest-linked institutional structure. Finally, an increase in the composite index of process-mix traditional leadership and NTFP traders decreases changes in forest-linked institutional structures. Future studies should uncover gender dimensions of changes in forest-based institutions, as well as the role of conflict actors in engendering institutional change.
Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:
Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/09640568.2023.2193309 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:jenpmg:v:67:y:2024:i:11:p:2553-2582
Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/CJEP20
DOI: 10.1080/09640568.2023.2193309
Access Statistics for this article
Journal of Environmental Planning and Management is currently edited by Dr Neil Powe, Dr Ken Willis and George Bill Page
More articles in Journal of Environmental Planning and Management from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().