Political Economy of Forestland Grabbing in the Congo Basin: A Literature Review and Neglected Issues in Cameroon, Gabon, and the Republic of Congo

This article’s objective is to examine how forestland grabbing has been handled as an issue by both scientists and organizations in the Congo Basin’s context. Forestland grabbing here refers to an act of occupation of large scales of land (scale of capital) in forestry areas by actors with substantial financial or material resources, in a situation of unbalanced cognitive, political, or economic resources among involved actors, with the aim of accumulation, in a scope of action whereby the vulnerable populations are dispossessed of their customary lands, being their principal resource for survival and the network of foreign or local land controllers, who may be multinationals, international or local elites, is widened, with the consequence of the intensification of the social and political economic gap between the capitalistic elites and the communities. It is therefore a discussion based on a comparative review of Cameroon, Gabon, and the Republic of Congo. From a desk research method, it appears that the Congo Basin has been neglected in the scientific discussion on forestland grabbing. If there are some research works in Cameroon, they become scarcer when we go to Gabon and almost nonexistent for the case of the Republic of Congo. Yet, the phenomenon is very present in all three countries. Moreover, the literature is more foreign investor-oriented and the intranational perspective of forestland grabbing is neglected. Very little research in Cameroon discusses the local elite and authorities as facilitators, but not as grabbers. These neglected issues are an important aspect if addressing the land grabbing phenomenon is to contribute to sustainability.

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