[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-152435-en":3,"doc-seo-152435-105":29,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":89},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":27,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":11},152435,1649267921044,"Ava Thompson","https://us-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/1800007509477c92dfb?_k=1786009248482753345",8,"Research & Report","Cameroon - Baka Losing Out to Lobéké and Boumba National Parks","The text examines how Lobéké and Boumba National Parks in south-east Cameroon, established over extensive forest areas, have reshaped access to land and forest resources for Baka hunting-and-gathering communities. While regulated permission for subsistence activities was introduced, conservation pressures and stakeholder governance structures marginalize Baka customary rights. It highlights elite-dominated community committees, restrictive membership criteria, and resulting livelihood conflicts, including cases where Baka were chased from hunting zones, as conservation and commercial interests expand.","Cameroon: Baka Losing Out to Lobéké and Boumba National Parks   \n\"We are born in the forest and we do everything there, gather, hunt and fish. Where do they want us to make our lives? They say we cannot go to the forest-where are we supposed to live?\" Baka community member from the Lobéké and Boumba region.  \nLobéké National Park was established in 1999 in South East Cameroon over 220,000 hectares of flora and fauna rich lands, much of which had until then been used for subsistence purposes by Bantu communities and the majority Baka \"Pygmy\" communities, who primarily hunt and gather in the extensive forests covering the region. To the North West of Lobéké adjoining the Boumba River lies Boumba National Park, which was officially established after Lobéké . The area between the Boumba River and Lobéké Park is home to many communities engaged in farming, hunting, fishing and gathering for mainly subsistence purposes, along with commercial safari companies who operate across the huge (greater than 400,000 hectares) sport hunting areas which were established around the Lobéké Park, the smaller community-managed hunting zones, and several large logging concessions.  \nThe two parks' proximity to the borders of the Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo, coupled with the enormous number and variety of large mammals in the region's forest have made this area a prime target for illegal commercial bushmeat hunters and traders, and trophy hunters, who pay hefty fees to local safari companies to hunt. Live parrots, ivory, and other illegally obtained forest resources are regularly obtained in or smuggled through the area, and several logging companies are also active.  \nFor hunting and gathering peoples in Cameroon Lobéké National Park is significant because the Cameroon Ministry for the Environment and Forests along with various international NGOs established legal government permission for strictly regulated access by Baka and other local communities to a minor portion of the park to carry out subsistence fishing and gathering, which under normal circumstances is contrary to Cameroon law. Current plans by conservation agencies active in the zone, including WWF and GTZ, are to ensure that each of the newly gazetted zones surrounding the parks are attributed to clear stakeholders, who would become involved in the management of their areas over time. Key stakeholders in the forests upon which many Baka have relied comprise conservation interests, including large, Northern-based conservation organisations; commercial interests, including sport-hunting enterprises and logging companies; poachers and bushmeat traders, who often have significant local political backing; and Bantu (mostly Bagando) communities relying mainly upon agriculture, but who also rely upon products from the forests around their communities.  \nThis stakeholder approach to conservation is laudable, and one that reflects a wider trend in much of Sub-Saharan Africa towards the devolution of land management authority. However, from a human rights perspective there are serious problems with the matrix of conservation zones around Boumba and Lobéké, especially the way in which Baka customary rights to forest resources are being eliminated under the impulse of conservation pressures from outside the area. For example, Baka communities are key forest stakeholders in the region as they are numerous, and most rely upon  \nforest resources to secure their livelihoods. However, their views were marginalised during consultations about the establishment of the parks, and they have been almost totally marginalised from most or all of the schemes which are supposed to enable local involvement and empowerment in the management of the different classes of protected areas, including the park and the various types of \"buffer zones\" which have been created.  \nOne of the new mechanisms for enabling local participation in these different zoned areas is to establish Zones d'Intéret Cy","cbCaijLkDPxqGvPw","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaijLkDPxqGvPw","pdf",14992,1,3,"English","en",105,"# Background on the parks and local livelihoods\n## Illegal wildlife trade, logging, and hunting pressures\n# Conservation governance and stakeholder dynamics\n## Community zones and ZICGC mechanisms\n# Human rights concerns and participation gaps\n## Marginalization of Baka during consultations\n## Consequences for subsistence hunting and access","[{\"question\":\"Why are Lobéké and Boumba National Parks significant for Baka communities?\",\"answer\":\"They overlap with forests where Baka rely on hunting and gathering for livelihoods, and the parks were linked to regulated permission for limited subsistence access that would otherwise conflict with national law.\"},{\"question\":\"What governance mechanism is mentioned for local participation around the parks?\",\"answer\":\"ZICGCs (Zones d'Intéret Cynégétique à Gestion Communautaire) allow communities to exploit flora and fauna under community-led management plans with government oversight.\"},{\"question\":\"How does limited Baka participation affect decisions in communal forest management?\",\"answer\":\"Community delegates are dominated by local elites and selection criteria reduce Baka representation, leading to committee decisions that can permit safari access to prime hunting areas and directly conflict with Baka subsistence needs.\"}]","Cameroon - Baka Losing Out to Lobéké and Boumba National Parks | PDF",1787861511,{"code":4,"msg":30,"data":31},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":32,"title":13,"keywords":33,"description":14,"schema_data":34,"social_meta":84,"head_meta":86,"extra_data":88,"updated_unix":28},"cameroon-baka-losing-out-to-lobeke-and-boumba-national-parks","",{"@graph":35,"@context":83},[36,52,66],{"@type":37,"itemListElement":38},"BreadcrumbList",[39,43,47,49],{"item":40,"name":41,"@type":42,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":44,"name":45,"@type":42,"position":46},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":48,"name":12,"@type":42,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",{"item":50,"name":13,"@type":42,"position":51},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/cameroon-baka-losing-out-to-lobeke-and-boumba-national-parks/152435/",4,{"url":50,"name":13,"@type":53,"author":54,"headline":13,"publisher":56,"fileFormat":59,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":60,"datePublished":60,"encodingFormat":59,"isAccessibleForFree":61,"interactionStatistic":62},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":55},"Person",{"url":40,"name":57,"@type":58},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-08-27",true,{"@type":63,"interactionType":64,"userInteractionCount":4},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":65},"ViewAction",{"@type":67,"mainEntity":68},"FAQPage",[69,75,79],{"name":70,"@type":71,"acceptedAnswer":72},"Why are Lobéké and Boumba National Parks significant for Baka communities?","Question",{"text":73,"@type":74},"They overlap with forests where Baka rely on hunting and gathering for livelihoods, and the parks were linked to regulated permission for limited subsistence access that would otherwise conflict with national law.","Answer",{"name":76,"@type":71,"acceptedAnswer":77},"What governance mechanism is mentioned for local participation around the parks?",{"text":78,"@type":74},"ZICGCs (Zones d'Intéret Cynégétique à Gestion Communautaire) allow communities to exploit flora and fauna under community-led management plans with government oversight.",{"name":80,"@type":71,"acceptedAnswer":81},"How does limited Baka participation affect decisions in communal forest management?",{"text":82,"@type":74},"Community delegates are dominated by local elites and selection criteria reduce Baka representation, leading to committee decisions that can permit safari access to prime hunting areas and directly conflict with Baka subsistence needs.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":50,"og:type":85,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":57,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":87,"canonical":50},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":24},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":90},[91,95,99,103,108,113,118,121,126,129,133],{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":92,"show_sort_weight":93,"slug":94},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":96,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":98},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":51,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":100,"show_sort_weight":101,"slug":102},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":104,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":105,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":107},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":109,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":110,"show_sort_weight":111,"slug":112},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":114,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":115,"show_sort_weight":116,"slug":117},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":119,"slug":120},30,"research-report",{"id":122,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":123,"show_sort_weight":124,"slug":125},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":124,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":127,"show_sort_weight":124,"slug":128},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":130,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":131,"show_sort_weight":130,"slug":132},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":134,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":135,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":136},19,"General","general"]