Yet, this longstanding relationship is increasingly under pressure. In several parts of southern and eastern Cameroon, forest territories are affected by logging, agricultural expansion, extractive activities, infrastructure development, and the expansion of conservation areas. The consequences go beyond the disappearance or degradation of trees. As the forest deteriorates, the Baka have to travel longer distances to find certain fruits, medicinal plants and other non-timber forest products. Fish and game are becoming increasingly scarce, while access to certain traditionally used areas is becoming more difficult.

In southern and eastern Cameroon, restrictions on access to forest resources and difficulties related to securing land directly affect the livelihoods of Baka communities. Recent studies show, in particular, that the Baka depend more heavily on non-timber forest products than other communities. Additionally, these studies show that the decline of these resources, particularly when resulting from restrictions on access to the forest, can profoundly alter their patterns of production and consumption. These situations demonstrate that forest protection cannot be separated from securing the land rights of Indigenous Peoples that depend on them.

When Conservation Becomes a Matter of Justice

The challenge is particularly visible in certain protected areas. Biodiversity conservation is essential to preserving the forests of the Congo Basin, but conservation models that exclude populations from their Indigenous territories can have adverse effects on human rights. Research conducted in southern and eastern Cameroon has documented the socio-economic consequences of “fortress” conservation models, under which Baka communities have limited opportunities to negotiate their access to forest areas.

The question, therefore, is not whether to choose between forests and Indigenous communities, but how to protect the forest together with these Indigenous communities. The Baka possess detailed Indigenous knowledge of species, seasonal cycles, water sources, medicinal plants, and hunting and gathering areas. This knowledge constitutes an ecological heritage that can contribute to conservation objectives. At the same time, Indigenous communities must be regarded as rights-holders and not merely as beneficiaries of environmental projects.

This approach requires, in particular, ensuring the effective and meaningful participation of the Baka in decisions concerning their territories and respecting their right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent where measures or projects are likely to affect their lands and resources or ways of life.

Rights-Based Conservation

The experience of the African Indigenous Women Organization Central African Network (AIWO-CAN) shows that such participation can take very concrete forms. One particularly revealing example dates back to 2010, when Baka and Bagyeli Indigenous women leaders, accompanied by AIWO-CAN, participated in the creation of a rainforest garden presented at the Chelsea Flower Show in London. The women presented their traditions, as well as the challenges facing their Indigenous communities, including deforestation, industrial expansion, discrimination and loss of access to forest biodiversity. Maps produced by the Baka to represent their traditional use of the forest were also incorporated into the project.

This example is important because it shows that Indigenous Peoples can document their own relationship with their territories and convey their own messages in international spaces. A map is therefore not merely a technical tool: it becomes a means of making visible a territory and patterns of forest use that may be absent from administrative maps or management plans.

A conservation project cannot be sustainable if affected communities have no means of raising their concerns, challenging a decision or seeking redress when they believe that their rights have been affected.

A conservation project cannot be sustainable if affected communities have no means of raising their concerns.

More recently, the Dja landscape provides a particularly interesting example of this shift towards more inclusive governance. Within the framework of the GEF-8 programme dedicated to the Dja landscape, AIWO-CAN was tasked with contributing to the establishment of a Grievance Redress Mechanism (GRM) designed to enable Indigenous Peoples, as well as local communities to voice their concerns and have access to a grievance mechanism. The mechanism is designed to complement the right of Indigenous Peoples to Free, Prior and Informed Consent process.

This experience is particularly important for the conservation of the Congo Basin. A conservation project cannot be sustainable if affected communities have no means of raising their concerns, challenging a decision or seeking redress when they believe that their rights have been affected. The establishment of culturally appropriate dialogue and grievance mechanisms can therefore transform conservation: from a model in which Indigenous communities are merely informed, towards a model in which they can participate, question, propose and demand accountability.

Indigenous Women at the Heart of Conservation

The participation of women is also essential. Indigenous women in Cameroon play an important role in transmitting knowledge relating to plants, food, traditional healthcare, and the use of natural resources. They are also directly affected by the economic and social consequences of resource degradation.

AIWO-CAN’s experience demonstrates the importance of strengthening their capacities so that Indigenous women can participate in decision-making processes, defend their land rights and contribute to climate and environmental policies. This approach is particularly relevant in the context of the Congo Basin, where conservation and climate change adaptation must be grounded in the realities of communities.

The 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity therefore provides an opportunity to recall that conservation of the Congo Basin cannot be separated from the rights of the peoples who live there.

The conservation of the Congo Basin cannot be separated from the rights of the peoples who live there.

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework provides an important opportunity to rethink conservation policies through a rights-based approach. Its implementation in Cameroon should not be assessed solely through the number of protected areas or species conserved, but also through the extent to which the rights and participation of Indigenous Peoples are guaranteed.

Achieving global conservation objectives should therefore not result in the further exclusion of Indigenous forest communities. On the contrary, biodiversity policies should recognize their knowledge, guarantee their effective and meaningful participation, protect their territories and ensure their involvement in decisions affecting their lands and resources. The 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity therefore provides an opportunity to recall that conservation of the Congo Basin cannot be separated from the rights of the peoples who live there.

Towards Conservation with Indigenous Peoples

This situation reveals a fundamental of human rights issue. The loss of, or restrictions on, access to forest territories affect the rights to culture, food, health, livelihoods of Indigenous Peoples of the Congo Basin, as well as participation in decisions concerning land and natural resources. Finally, it may also undermine the transmission of Indigenous knowledge.

The future of the Congo Basin forests will depend not only on forest policies, international investments or the expansion of protected areas. It will also depend on the ability of States and conservation actors to recognize Indigenous Peoples as equal partners and rights-holders. In Cameroon, the experience of the Baka shows that the forest can simultaneously be a space for subsistence, culture, knowledge transmission and biodiversity conservation. The initiatives to which AIWO-CAN has contributed also demonstrate that Indigenous participation can be organized in concrete ways: community mapping, participation in forest policies, grievance mechanisms, Free, Prior and Informed Consent and strengthening the role of Indigenous women.

The question is therefore no longer simply how to protect the forests of the Congo Basin, but also who decides their future and what guarantees are provided for those who have lived there for generations. Sustainable conservation of the Congo Basin must be rights-based conservation: conservation that protects ecosystems without displacing the Indigenous Peoples who have traditionally protected them, that values Indigenous knowledge without exploiting it, and that transforms Indigenous forest communities into genuine partners in biodiversity governance.

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