Analysis of Cameroon’s forestry sector: Implication for sustainable management

Abstract

Cameroon forestry sector has undergone profound institutional and legislative reforms for the past decades. Consequently, the objective of this paper is to examine the activities of Cameroon administration focused on the strategies for sustainable management of the forestry sector. The target population for achieving this objective constituted members of the forest administrative personnel. Primary data resulted from structured questionnaire and interview of key persons, secondary data resulted from consultation of annual reports and adequate literatures. Result revealed a drastic drop in labour force in all the categories; technical incompetence of more than 81% of the personnel notably with respect to the accomplishment of certain tasks; majority of the respondents agreed with the following: decision making process did not give room for everybody’s opinion; decisions taken, did not reach every level; no quality interaction between superior staff and subordinates and hardworking staffs were rarely usually rewarded. Nevertheless, most of the respondents revealed that the impact of decentralization in the forestry sector and the contribution to the national economy are positive. Consequently, decision makers of the forestry sector should consider the development of human capacity as a priority in view of personnel motivation of the sector, to better accomplish assigned tasks.

Keywords: Forest administration, motivation, devolution of responsibilities, bureaucracy