Are community forest leaders downwardly Accountable? Evidence from cameroon

With the failure of centralized system of forest governance in the 1980’s, Participatory Forest Management (PFM) was presented as a panacea that could bring about proper management of forest resources while enhancing forest dwellers’ livelihood. Previous studies, however, have reported mixed results from PFM in Cameroun, and elite capture has been said to be a major contributor. Principal – Agent theory highlights the importance of the principal’s (community) capacity to keep the agents (leaders) accountable as the best approach for controlling elite capture and produce expected results. This study assesses level of leadership accountability in community forestry in Cameroon. Using cross sectional research design, data was collected through administration of semi structured questionnaire to 204 community forest (CF) members selected on basis of willingness and availability, 31 key informant interviews, and documents review. Results indicate a low level of downward accountability of CF leaders, due to inadequate capacity of community members to provide incentive to CF leaders for effective downward accountability. This poor downward accountability was further aggravated by the total exclusion of traditional authorities from CF legal arrangement. Hence, sustainable community forestry in Cameroon requires for forestry stakeholders and the government to make more effort in enhancing community capacity to demand for accountability by ensuring that all elements of accountability mechanism (answerability and enforcement) are effectively implemented. Government institutions have a key role to play in making sure community decisions against poor leadership is strengthened and enforced; therefore, the importance of synergy between community voice and public authority.

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