Cameroon is still in the preparatory phase for REDD+, and a number of actors in the arena are jostling to influence the process of designing a national architecture for REDD+. This presentation outlines these emerging policy networks, and concludes that policy making around REDD+ is run by a limited number of actors, with international agencies as key players. Given Cameroon’s previous track record with limited success from externally driven reform processes, further efforts to achieve national ownership and to encourage broader participation may be necessary to achieve actual change in Cameroon’s forests and REDD+ arena. CIFOR scientist Félicien Kengoum Djiegni gave this presentation on 18 June 2012 at a panel discussion organised by CIFOR and partners at the ISEE 2012 Conference at Rio, which convened under the topic "Ecological Economics and Rio+20: Challenges and Contributions for a Green Economy". The panel was titled ‘National strategies for reducing emissions from avoided deforestation and degradation – how much transformational change is possible in current political and economic realities? Part II – A policy network perspective’. For more information, visit http://www.cifor.org/events/rio20/

1. GCS-REDD C1
REDD+ in the Cameroon policy arena:
Perceptions, power and politics
Félicien KENGOUM DJIEGNI
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2. Presentation agenda
1. Introduction
2. A quick refresh on REDD+ policy process in Cameroon
3. Networks in the REDD+ policy arena in Cameroon
4. Conclusion
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3. Introduction
-Difficult to date to assess the real place of non
state actors in the decision making process
• No data available on policy actors (Gami et Al, 2001)
• Few attempt to study actors of the forest arena (Ngouffo et al, 2006,
Dkamela, 2011)
-A policy network analysis of REDD+ in
Cameroon
•Opportune for some (Gami et Doumengue, 2001, Wafeu Toko, 2006)
•…questionable for others (Tchouala, 2006, Darbon,2006)
•…But done by us (within the GCS-REDD+ C1.)
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4. Introduction
3 questions to answer
-Who are the REDD+ actors in Cameroon and what are
their perceptions of the still discussed mechanism?
-What type of power relations do exist between these
actors?
-Which directions to foresee in terms of REDD+ politics
according to perceptions and power relations between the
actors?
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5. A quick refresh on REDD+ policy process in Cameroon
-Increasing interest in discussions on RED (D+)
•Participation to international negociations (Cop to the UNFCC since 2005)
•Increasing discourse of media on REDD+ at the national level (Kengoum, 2011)
•Involvement in the FCPF supported by the World Bank
- Some steps carried out already:
•R-PIN submitted in 2008
•Creation of the REDD+ pilot projet by the decision 09/MINEP OF January 2009
•Agreement signed for a grant of USD 200,000 from the WB for the drafting of the R-PP
2010
- Some undertaken:
•The position of the country on REDD+ international discussion declared in 2009
•The creation of the climate change national observatory in 2009
•The feedback of the participation of the REPAR to the COP meeting in Copenhagen
•The recruitment of the consultant for the drafting of the R-PP outstanding
- Some still left:
•Not yet got the grant for the REDD+ implementation phase
•No results available yet
CONSEQUENCE: No REDD+ strategy available to date
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6. RESULTS
THE REDD+ ACTORS IN CAMEROON:
Who they are!
64 identified with expert panel , 50 met, 42 surveyed and 18
interviewed (semi structured)
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7. RESULTS
THE REDD+ ACTORS IN CAMEROON:
Interest in the mechanism
25
20
15
State organizations
10 National NGOs and individual
International NGOs
International research institute
5
Governmental institutions
International business
0 Agences gouvernementales étrangères
Donors
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8. RESULT
THE REDD+ ACTORS IN CAMEROON:
Mixed perceptions about the REDD+ national strategy
-The broad optimism about the feasability of REDD+ in Cameron
– A good natural potential and a « good » forest legal framework
– Many REDD+ pilot activities undertaken on the field
– An increasing political will (e.g creation of the national climate
change observatory…)
-But some challenges to tackle first:
-The MRV as a non yet a definitively closed concern
-The coordination of agencies from different sectors
-The contradictions in and between some sectional laws (eg.
Forest Vs Mining…)
-The form of the participation of the non state actors to the decision
making process
-The implementation of political decisions
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9. RESULTS
Networks in the REDD+ policy arena in Cameroon:
Influent actors
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10. RESULTS
Networks in the REDD+ policy arena in Cameroon:
Influent actors
Influent actors in the political arena:
Government agencies
International organizations (Donors,
ENGOs…)
Domestic NGOs
Business organizations
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11. Networks in the REDD+ policy arena in Cameroon:
Influent actors and ressources flows (1)
• Ressources flows (1-information)
• High centrality of International actors in the
information sharing (with government, and civil
society actors)
• Very weak information sharing between government
agencies and civil society organizations
• Strong and frequent ties between international actors
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12. Networks in the REDD+ policy arena in Cameroon:
Influent actors and ressources flows (2)
• Ressources flows (2-financing)
• High centrality of International donors in financing
(mostly toward civil society organizations and the
government )
• Absence of the government in financing
• No governmental agency acting as broker
• Governmental organizations competing with other
categories of organizations in search of financing
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13. DISCUSSION
• REDD+ national coordination: A Key challenge in
Cameroon
• Mixed feelings about the power relations between state
actors and non state actors
• Institutional decision power for the government
• Material power for international organizations
• Structural weaknesses and low voice for the national civil
society organizations
• Facts and influence of international organizations in REDD+:
toward a remake of the 1994 forestry reform?
– Central in information sharing, financing, implementation activities
– Difficult ownership of the process by national actors
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14. Merci de votre précieuse attention
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