The World Wide Fund for Nature, WWF, recently stunned about 100 Cameroonian MPs following a presentation by its National Director, Dr. Hanson Njiforti, showing the magnitude of potential land use conflict caused by inadequate land use planning in the country.

Dr. Njiforti made the presentation during a workshop to acquaint the MPs on environmental and land use challenges recently at the National Assembly.

Njiforti’s said more than 60 percent of the country’s 475,650 km2 of land surface area has been designated for mining and possible exploitation.

The issuance of mining exploration permits has resulted in land use conflicts as several economic interests compete over the same land. He said an estimated 50 mining permits overlap with active forest management units under agreements signed with the Government, while some 33 oil exploration permits have been granted inside 16 protected areas.

According to the WWF Cameroon Director, a sector-based approach without coordination and insufficient inter-ministerial communication are exacerbating land use conflicts.

“Inconsistent levels of transparency across the natural resource sectors, allowing for the emergence of avoidable land-use conflicts, contractual and legal rights to investors that are inconsistent across sectors have worsened the problem,” he said.

“Cameroon’s reputation in the Congo Basin as a leader in terms of biodiversity conservation is being tainted,” Njiforti said. He warned that the country’s deforestation rate might increase sharply, thereby jeopardising the possibility of securing funding through the REDD+ mechanism. “Cameroon’s investment climate is jeopardised with possible impact on its Doing Business Ranking,” he said.

Concerned MPs Some MPs took to the rostrum to express their “indignation” at what they consider a “cavalier” manner in issuance of mining exploration permits. “Who will pay for the numerous lawsuits that may arise as a result of these conflicts,” one of the MPs from Khoungkhi in the West Region of Cameroon wondered aloud. The MPs urged the Government to put in place measures that will rapidly forestall this potential crisis while insisting on the urgency of the matter.

With the decline in petroleum revenue, the Cameroon Government has turned to mining as its main source of revenues in the coming decades. This is inscribed in the country’s Growth and Employment Strategy Paper, GESP. “Unfortunately, all this is happening in the context of the absence of an appropriate land use or zoning plan that indicates clearly the different land uses in Cameroon,” Njiforti said.

“Cameroon has limited space and no matter what development project the country intends to embark on, it should be well planned,” he said adding that “The absence of a coherent land use plan will bode ill for the country’s efforts to attain the much touted emergence in 2035.”

In 2011, the Cameroon National Assembly adopted the Land Use Orientation Law (cited as Law N° 201/008 of 6 May 2011). This law puts in place the framework of land use, regional planning and sustainable development in Cameroon.

The law also makes provisions for the National Land Use and Sustainable Development Advisory Committee. According to the Law, the Committee is to make recommendations on the orientation and conditions for the implementation of the National Land Use Policy by both the State and the different decentralised territorial entities.

However, while a legal framework is in place, there is still the need for a joint vision on land use and rural development, the clarification of roles and responsibilities of different ministries, effective mechanisms of inter-ministerial coordination, cooperation and stakeholder participation as well as concepts and strategies of land use negotiations and conflict resolution.