Benefits and Barriers to Certification of Community-Based Forest Operations in Cameroon: An Exploratory Assessment

Community-based Forest Operations (CFOs) have played a notable role in promoting sustainability within Cameroon??s indigenous forest-dependent communities, but they are fraught with a range of socio-economic and ecological hurdles. As a means of achieving more sustainable forest practices, one possible solution would be for CFOs to adopt forest certification, though various barriers would have to be overcome. Using a number of examples at the regional level, this paper examines the potential benefits and barriers to community forest certification in Cameroon. Specifically, the paper identifies these barriers as legislative and political, economic, and informational in nature. While adoption of forest certification hinges upon what initiatives are employed by CFOs, it is argued that there is also a need for the government of Cameroon to play a leadership role in removing hurdles and promoting the uptake of certification.