25 years of non-timber forest product value chain and livelihoods interventions: Experiences, impacts and lessons from Cameroon

25 years of non-timber forest product value chain and livelihoods interventions: Experiences, impacts and lessons from Cameroon
T2.15 Innovations to support sustainability in non-timber forest products value chains
Verina Ingram1 , Rene Kaam1, 2, Louis Ndumbe3, Abdon Awono4, Divine Tita Foundjem4, Michele Danleu5
1 Wageningen University & Research
2 INBAR
3 University of Buea
4 CIFOR-ICRAF
5 GIZ

Abstract
Cameroon represents ''Africa in miniature'' with high levels of forest cover but increasing rates of deforestation, and variable but common use of forest products for multiple subsistence and commercial uses. Despite the national development situation moving from low to medium level development status, rural poverty remains high, particularly among marginalized societal and ethnic groups, and is associated with forest product use, dependence, commercialisation and social-ecological resilience.

Over 25 years of development, conservation and research interventions have sought to support “sustainable” commercialization, value chain development, alternative livelihoods, cultivation and domestication of non-timber forest products (NTFPs)in Cameroon. Over this period, narratives on NTFPs, value chain development, rural development, forest-people relationships, justifications of interventions and impact logics, measurements of impacts using top-down or science based-knowledge - have changed little. Indicators of the effectiveness of interventions, such as changes in prices, profits, value adding, harvesting practices, cultivation rates, resource availability, empowerment, deforestation and conservation have been mixed. This raises questions of what have been the legacy and impacts of such interventions in the long term? What has changed, for who and why? What’s worked and not worked? What lessons can be learnt from evaluating successes and failures of intervention concerning NTFPs on livelihoods and ecosystems – looking at the (un)expected outcomes and impacts? and, what do these lessons imply for future policies, projects, programs and interventions?

This article examines the evidence by taking a long-term view identifying 10 projects/programs, and then involving the beneficiaries and implementers in evaluating long-term socio-economic, political (governance and policy) and ecological outcomes and impacts of these interventions. The discussion is conceptualized in terms of Sustainable Livelihoods Approach and Social-Ecological systems thinking (i.e. impacts on both livelihoods and -ecosystems of the landscapes where these products originate from) and taking a value chain approach to look at direct (and indirect) actors in NTFP value chains and interventions. Implications for scientific research, local knowledge and practices, and policy will be presented.

1. 26
th
IUFRO World Congress
Welcome to the
Stockholm, Sweden, 23–29 June 2024

2. 25 years of non-timber forest product value chain
and livelihoods interventions: Experiences, impacts
and lessons from Cameroon
Verina Ingram
Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands & Cameroon
[email protected]

3. ▪High levels of forest cover -increasing rates of
deforestation
▪Forest products common for multiple subsistence
and commercial uses
▪Moved from low to lower-middle income
development status, ranked low corruption
perceptions index (140/180)
▪Rural poverty remains high, esp. marginalized
societal and ethnic groups, whose forest product
use, dependence, commercialization is higher and
social-ecological resilience fragile.
Cameroon ''Africa in miniature''
325 years of NTFP value chain and livelihoods interventions
World Bank data 2024

4. Decades of interventions
Long term development,
conservation and research projects
& interventions
In “sustainable” commercialization,
value chain development,
alternative livelihoods, cultivation
and domestication of NTFPs
425 years of NTFP value chain and livelihoods interventions
Highlands Forest projects
PSMNR projects
Dja Reserve projects
Campo Ma’anprojects
NTFP uses
Foods Woodfuel Medicinal Materials Cultural
Savannah projects

5. Critical questions......
1.What’s the legacy and impacts of NTFP
interventions?
2.What has changed and for who?
3.What are the successes and failures for livelihoods
andecosystems?
4.What do these lessons imply for future policies,
projects, programs and interventions?
525 years of NTFP value chain and livelihoods interventions

6. Impacts of NTFP interventions
625 years of NTFP value chain and livelihoods interventions
Legacy Impacts
Physical structures Little Low
Organisations Limited Enduring
Sustainable harvesting practices Introduced Mixed
Data generation High Temporal
Knowledge sharing High High
Commercialisation High Enduring
Livelihood improvements Low Limited
Livelihood alternatives Low Limited
Restoration Low Low
Cultivation & domestication Limited Low
Laws & policies Enduring Limited in practice

7. What changed, for who?
▪More individual and enterprise than community or landscape
scale changes
▪Institutional and governance arrangements
▪Little monitoring long term species, ecosystem conservation
and landscape scale degradation/deforestation/restoration
indicators
▪Mixed responses on indicators of intervention effectiveness
(changes in prices, profits, incomes, value adding, harvesting
practices, cultivation rates, resource availability,
empowerment)
▪Forest-people relationships generally more extractivist
▪Little changed narratives on value chain development,
development, forest-people relationships, justifications of
interventions and impact logics, measurements of impacts
725 years of NTFP value chain and livelihoods interventions

8. What are the successes and failures for
livelihoods andecosystems?
Failures
▪Uncoordinated interventions in value
chains –production focus
▪Assuring sustainability of resources
▪Business skills & entrepreneurs
▪Infrastructure to please donors
▪Long term support & follow up
▪Access to capital
▪Mistaken application international
conventions ABS & CITES
▪Elite capture and altered power
dynamics
825 years of NTFP value chain and livelihoods interventions
Successes
▪Organisations & networks still exist
▪Incomes from commercialisation
▪“New” products, value adding &
upgrading
▪Slow diffusion
▪Professionalisation
▪Collective actions
▪Local -scientific knowledge sharing
▪Empowerment –women and ethnic
groups

9. Lessons for future policies, projects, programs
and interventions?
▪Learn from failures & post project impact monitoring
▪More purposeful selection criteria of NTFPs, communities
and organisations -focus on changemakers
▪Pay attention to bricolage not just to laws but
customary, market-based governance
▪Acknowledge projects
▪Longer term projects leave longer legacies
▪Promoting commercialisation & value adding with
ensuring resource supply is senseless
▪“Livelihood alternatives” largely ineffective with limited
scale
▪Diffusion slow, replication limited to persevering
entrepreneurs
▪Local/national & regional markets often more valuable
and accessible
925 years of NTFP value chain and livelihoods interventions

10. 10
•Economically,whenactivitiescarriedoutbyallstakeholdersare
commercially viableinlong-term,wheresourceofproductsisknown,
traceableandlegal
•Environmentally,whensourceofrawmaterialsandproductionsystem
environment ismaintainedinthesamestate(orbetter)andcontinuesto
providefoodsandfoodsecurity,ecosystemservices,doesnotpollute,
suffernegativeenvironmentalimpacts,andisCO2neutral
•Socially,whenpeoplecanbothuseforsubsistenceand/orenteravalue
chain,needsandrightsoflocalcommunities andworkersareaddressed,
principlesoffairtradeadheredto,whenlocalcustoms&customersare
respected,andlivelihoodsofthoseengagedinthechainareresilientand
foodsecurity&nutrition
•Values,becausedifferent,multiplevaluesexistconcerningforestfoods
andtheirgovernanceandmanagementsupportspluralvalues
When are NTFP valueschain interventions
sustainable?
Drawing on Hetemäki, & Hurmekoski2016
25 years of NTFP value chain and livelihoods interventions