Indigenous Knowledge and Anthropological Constraints in

the Context of Conservation Programs in Central Africa

Daou Joiris

Brussels Free University

Translated by Charles Mironko with Hilary Kaplan (Sangha River Network)

ABSTRACT

This paper deals with the main sociocultural criteria that conservation programs in tropical rainforests ought to take into account. These criteria are specific to the forest economies of central Africa. The author tackles issues of customary lands, subsistence production, and political power at the village level. She also contemplates the socioeconomic changes brought about by management in protected areas. The paper is illustrated by case studies from projects supported by the ECOFAC program.

INTRODUCTION

The challenge of a trinational conservation project does not focus

solely on issues of ecology and administration, but also involves

human concerns. The rural populations that rely upon natural

resources in the Sangha River region, including the zone of Lobéké

in Cameroon, the Dzanga-Sangha Reserve in the Central African

Republic, and the Nouabalé-Ndoki Park in Congo, have witnessed a

changing ecological, economic, and social reality since the 1970s. The

arrival of logging companies, the development of safari-hunting in-

terests, and the initiation of protected areas have contributed to a trans-

formation of the socio-economic context at the local level. Local

people have found themselves deprived of their rights to use forest

resources; instead, the forest yields profits for logging concessions

and sports hunters, and provides the context for integrated conser-

vation programs. At the same time, outside demand for forest prod-

ucts, especially the appetite for bushmeat, has increased significantly.

The challenge for conservation projects that wish to integrate

local communities into the management of protected areas is situ-

ated at several levels, raising numerous problems within the frame-

works of development, public health, and the rational exploitation

of the forest environment. I will only address one aspect of this

problem here: the right to land access and tenure. For those rural

communities whose economies depend primarily on forest re-

sources, the issue of access to land is fundamental.

The objective of this paper is to raise the question of how to

integrate “customary lands” within the limits of a “village exploita-

tion” zone, organized and administered through integrated conser-

vation programs. Searching for a balance between customary land

tenure and integrated land management also raises the question of

how to maintain and encourage those elements of local economies

that rationally utilize forest resources. In the first part of this paper,

I will introduce the main characteristics of the rural population

affected by the proposed trinational Sangha region conservation

area. Second, I will discuss the definition of customary lands in a

forest environment. Finally, based on the examples from the

ECOFAC (Ecosystèmes Forestiers en Afrique Centrale) Program,

I propose to illustrate my remarks by comparing case studies of

appropriate and inappropriate zoning.

PROTECTED AREA	AREA	POPULATION	DENSITY
Lake Lobéké (Cam.)	3,000 km ^2 (ext.)	109,002 (East Province, entire)	1 per/ km^2 (1987 census)
Dzanga-Sangha (CAR)	335,900 ha (1990)*	19,412 (Sangha-Mbaéré)	3 per/ km ^2 (1975 census)
Dzanga-Ndoki (CAR)	122,000 ha (1990)*	19,412 (Sangha-Mbaéré)	3 per/ km ^2 (1975 census)
Nouabalé-Ndoki (Con.)	n-a	55,800 (Sangha)	0.1-0.8 per/ km ^2 (1974 census)

Table 1 Population density in the proposed area of trinational conservation. *IUCN 1991

MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HUMAN MILIEU IN

THE SANGHA RIVER REGION

In the rural zones where the proposed trinational project would

be situated, human population density is very low. The official

censuses of populations of hunter-gatherer communities are out-

dated and very approximate. Because of this dearth of demographic

information, personnel employed by integrated conservation and

development projects are often compelled to update these data

themselves. In doing so, it is necessary to take into account (1)

individual mobility, (2) dispersed habitat, and (3) peripheral zones.

Concerning the mobility of individuals, the village population con-

sists of permanent residents who are relatively constant inhabitants

of a given village. In addition, individuals may circulate among

villages of their kin, living there as “occasional” residents during

holidays, ceremonies, and social visits. Villagers also exploit diverse

habitats. All the traditional villages are at the same time comprised

of a hamlet as well as temporary hunting, collecting, and fishing

camps established on communal land in proximity to the hamlet, or

at some distance in the forest.

Some villages are located in zones peripheral to the land that

they consider to be their customary land. For example, a traditional

village may be established on the margin of the protected area, as the

protected area itself includes the land considered to be the custom-

ary soil of the villagers. In addition, local people may live on the

periphery of their customary lands, in the semi-urban centers of a

project, where the administrative center and workers’ compounds

are also located. Demand for forest resources, particularly meat,

emanates from this zone of habitation located on the edge of the

protected area.¹

The northwestern Congo River Basin, and more specifically the

region proposed for trinational conservation, presents a great lin-

guistic and cultural variety. Groups of sedentary and semi-mobile

swidden agriculturalists and fishermen include four Bantu and six

Oubangian communities. Hunter-gatherers, so-called “pygmy”

communities, are represented by one Bantu group (the Aka-Mbenzélé)

and one Oubangian group (the BaAka).

Regardless of specific cultural labels, these ethnic groups all share

similar living conditions: they are essentially peasant societies whose

economies depend directly on the forest environment. They also

share a similar concept of nature. As far as these forest communities

are concerned, living in the forest implies living in an inhospitable

milieu in which one has to use considerable energy and knowledge

in order to successfully utilize the forest resources on which they

depend. In other words, they “domesticate” nature, both technically

and symbolically. This concept of “domesticated nature” is dia-

ETHNIC GROUP	LANGUAGE	LOCATION
Aka Mbenzélé	Bantu, C 10	Dzanga-Sangha, Nouabalé-Ndoki
Baka	Ubangian	Lobéké
Bangando	Ubangian	Lobéké
Bomassa	Ubangian	Dzanga-Sangha, Nouabalé-Ndoki
Kaka	Bantu, A 93	Lobéké, Dzanga-Sangha
Kwele	Bantu, A 85	Lobéké, Nouabalé-Ndoki
Mbomam	Bantu, A 85	Lobéké
Mpiemo	Bantu, A 86	Dzanga-Sangha
Ngundi	Ubangian	Nouabalé-Ndoki
Pande	Bantu, C 12	Dzanga-Sangha
Pomo	Bantu, A 92	Dzanga-Sangha, Nouabalé-Ndoki
Yangéré	Ubangian	Dzanga-Sangha

Table 2 Main ethnic groups living in the protected areas of the trinational project.

metrically opposed to the perspective held by “naturalists,” for

whom the same forest represents neither a viable surrounding for

living, nor a set of resources that fulfills their needs. The forest, to

naturalists, represents a space for discovery. A simple example clari-

fies these opposing perspectives on the forest. For the forest-dwell-

ing peoples, an elephant represents food, money (ivory), and a

menace that devastates their plantations (not to mention the dread-

ful fright it causes families). For the “naturalists,” on the other hand,

the same elephant reflects a scientific and moral interest (a protected

species), and a financial interest (foreign currency influx from tour-

ism and publicity), but never a source of food and rarely a security

threat. This duality of meaning is embodied in many species of

animals in the forest. Thus within the context of conservation in

central Africa, the divergent experiences with the forest inevitably

lead to different concepts and representations of nature.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF SUBSISTENCE ECONOMY

Rural economies within the forest zone of the Congo River basin

do not comprise a monolithic model of subsistence and commodity

economics. Several types of traditional economies are practiced, the

basic one being swidden agriculture or “itinerant slash and burn”

agriculture. Contrary to commonly-held notions, swidden agricul-

turalists do not only practice agriculture but also engage in other

forest activities such as hunting, gathering, and fishing.

Figure 1 Local economies in the Intervention Zones of ECOFAC Program in Cameroon,

Gabon, Congo, and CAR (percentages do not add to 100% due to rounding).

Following a general tendency in central Africa, literature on

particular ethnic communities is scarce, particularly concerning

ethnoecological studies. Agricultural communities are less studied

than hunter-gatherer communities, which represent less than five

percent of the population within central African forests. A similar

dearth of ethnoecological information applies to the Sangha River

region. Thus, it is necessary to extrapolate from data collected in

societies situated at the periphery of the proposed protected area,

and occasionally from zones quite far away (despite different eco-

logical and cultural perspectives) in order to begin to understand the

various modes of environmental utilization within the forest.

PROTECTED AREA	SWIDDEN AGRICULTURE	FISHING	HUNTING- GATHERING	COMMERCIAL HUNTING	COMMERCIAL FISHING
Lobéké	Bangando		Pygmées	Kaka
	Mbomam		Baka
	Kwélé
Dzanga-Sangha	Mpiemo	Pande	Pygmées		Pomo
	Kaka Bomassa	Ngundi	Aka-Mbenzélé
	Yangéré
Nouabalé-Ndoki	Bomassa	Kwélé			Pomo
	Kaka				Bomoali

Table 3 Types of rural economy within the proposed protected area in the trinational region.

ACEPHALOUS POLITICAL ORGANIZATION AND LIMITS

TO PARTICIPATORY MANAGEMENT

The majority of central African forest societies have political

systems without hierarchy, centered on the authority of the kin

chief. Relatively weak overall hierarchical organization limits the

possibilities for active, participatory management of resources

through formal organizational structures. Leadership qualities em-

bodied in the kin chief still represent an ideal system of values, to

which the young generation refers. These kin chiefs do not necessar-

ily serve as political officials in contemporary government positions,

raising the problem of legitimate representation of local communi-

ties vis à vis conservation programs.

In the Fauna Reserve of Dja, where a cultural and political con-

text similar to that of the Sangha River region is found, the ECOFAC

program has identified local associations and has conducted studies

of their political organization and functions. The managers of the

integrated conservation and development project in the Dja Reserve

are basing their model of community management on pre-existing

local structures.

A major problem concerning collaboration with local associa-

tions is the opportunistic disinclination of certain local associations

(which are created spontaneously, with the help of village “elites”) to

submit to restriction. For example, the ecological discourse in favor

of environmental protection that is vocalized at association meetings

does not necessarily correspond to reformed behavior, such as relin-

quishing locally-based commercial hunting of bushmeat. Because

the advisory committees of local conservation associations control

access to communal lands, young people are motivated to partici-

pate in the associations. Despite this general enthusiasm for partici-

pation, serious logistical problems persist in the organization of the

associations and in the allocation of land rights. Because kinship

relations extend beyond the village to include those who have

moved to other regions, village “elites” may live in towns and cities,

but still control access to the communal lands through their tradi-

tional and economic influence. Because village associations are such

complex political organizations at the local level, it is inconceivable

for either the state or conservation organizations to monitor and

shape the organizational form of local associations.

The “participatory management” model utilized by ECOFAC is

adaptable according to the socioeconomic and political conditions

of different protected areas. The model proposed by Pimbert and

Pretty (1995) appears to be essentially a model of participatory

management by engaging villagers’ participation in information

gathering, coupled with a method of inspiring villagers’ participa-

tion in conservation associations for material incentives. Popula-

tions affected by the ECOFAC program participate in conservation

“management” by answering questions that the researchers and

managers pose through questionnaires and committee meetings.

However, the villagers have no opportunity to influence the deci-

sions based on their answers, because they are not informed about

research results. In the Lopé Fauna Reserve in Gabon, where the

ECOFAC staff is composed primarily of local villagers from the Lopé

District, villagers participate in the program by providing manpower

and by receiving salaries (which could be seen as a “participation for

material incentives” model to generating local involvement). This

type of “participant management,” which is adopted by many con-

servation and development projects, has the disadvantage of creating

financial dependency that may not be supported beyond the end of

the project.

LAND TENURE AMONG SWIDDEN FARMERS

As a general rule, central African forest villages are surrounded

by a double zone of resource utilization. The first zone corresponds

to an area of agricultural production; the second is a wider zone of

forest resource utilization. The region of cultivation includes fallow

zones of various temporal spans (two to three years, 10 to 20 years,

and up to 30 years). The agricultural zone also includes secondary

forests that are apparently abandoned, but to which collective as well

as individual property laws apply and which will one day be culti-

vated again by the village community. In the forest zones of resource

use, lines of traps follow trails allocated to particular members of the

community. In this context, the forest exploitation zone of a village

extends beyond the cultivated plots of land and fallow gardens,

covering several dozens of hectares on either side of the trail.

Areas considered to be “village lands” vary according to the local

economy. For example, at the Boyela in the former Zaire, studied by

Sato (1983), a village of 200 people covers about 110 sq. km. The

area for hunting hamlets (made up of 24 people on average) repre-

sents about 15 sq. km, the hunting area per person being around 0.4

km ² . At Mvae in Cameroon, studied by Dounias (1993), the hunting

area is estimated at 100 km² . In the Dja Fauna Reserve, the zones

utilized by villages under study extend a distance of at least 30 km

from the trail. Finally, data collected from the Odzala National Park

presents a similar picture of land use, although the agricultural lands

are less extended and conversely, the forestry lands are vast.

Village lands correspond to the vital space of the village. In the

forest environment, village lands comprise the area on which local

people depend, strategically alternating their exploitation of agricul-

tural zones as well as hunting, gathering, and fishing zones in accor-

dance with indigenous systems of rotation. These rotation systems

are utilized by several generations. Thus, the customary land is

dynamic: it does not only correspond to land that is utilized at any

given moment in time, but to all land that is potentially exploitable

by the village inhabitants.

LAND TENURE AMONG HUNTER-GATHERERS

As for semi-nomadic forest peoples, the inhabitants of a hunter-

gatherer camp move within definable limits in the forest. At present,

the great majority of hunter-gatherer communities are semi-

sedentarized and live in proximity to villages of agriculturalists, with

whom hunter-gatherers carry out exchanges. In southeastern

Cameroon, hunter-gatherer families exploit small food plantations

and live in the forest seasonally, for varying periods of time. The

mobility of hunter-gatherers poses a problem for compiling the data

from the various areas of the forest through which they move. At

this point, no researcher has produced an ethnoecological mono-

graph on the Aka and the semi-sedentarized BaAka.

ZONES FOR VILLAGE EXPLOITATION:

EXAMPLES FROM ECOFAC PROGRAMS

Two examples will help to illustrate approaches to resource

management taken by conservation organizations. The first example

concerns a protected area managed by ECOFAC, in which village

exploitation is not integrated into the management of the zone of

protection. In this protected area, the Lopé Faunal Reserve in

Gabon, the villages situated in the protected area have been subject

to the regulations of the reserve for more than a decade. Hunting

and trapping in villagers’ plantations are prohibited; only agricul-

tural activities in the outskirts of the villages are allowed. The ban on

setting traps in subsistence gardens has not only provoked a great

increase of crop destruction by animals, but has also had continuous

repercussions on security (increased presence of gorillas and el-

ephants near the villages), public health (pollution of sources of

drinking water by increasing animal populations), a sharp decrease

of animal protein available in daily diets of villager, and land degen-

eration by intensification of cultivation near villages (women move

their gardens closer to the villages for increased surveillance). The

myriad factors of resource management are extremely complex. On

one hand villagers, due to a decrease of game species, perceive that

conservation limits their access to already limited resources. On the

other hand, villagers recognize the need to protect resources from

overexploitation by both local users and outside interests. Finally,

villagers dread the heavy-handed and often repressive ordinances

instituted by the Ministry of the Environment.

As a counterexample, consider a protected area managed by

ECOFAC in which conservation zones are integrated with local

village use of resources. In the Odzala National Park in Congo,

according to the current management plan, village activities take

place in a 5 km “buffer zone” along both sides of the road, as well as

in the “common use” zone situated outside the protected area. The

ECOFAC program plans to extend the buffer zone to include cus-

tomary lands. In fact, gathering and fishing zones are now only

available to those individuals holding high-priced licenses, and who

assume the personal risk of gathering and fishing in areas replete

with animals, without a gun or weapon for self-defense. At the same

time, the “common zone” is overexploited because hunting is banned

in the protected zones. Note here that the part of Odzala National

Park affected by human habitat is only a tiny part of the protected

area as a whole; these village areas are far removed from the most

interesting ecological and touristic zones.

Where “village exploitation zones” exist, as in the Odzala Na-

tional Park, they do not necessarily correspond to the needs of local

people. In this case, a 5 km buffer zone includes the agricultural lands

of the villages but not their forestry lands. This zoning plan was not

designed for communities whose economies combine agricultural,

hunting, gathering, and fishing activities. Customary lands extend

beyond the present demarcation of “village exploitation zones.”

Consequently the local people are deprived of access to their tradi-

tional lands, and must purchase licenses to exploit resources that

they believe are theirs by customary right.

It is also clear that inappropriate zoning, as in the Lopé Fauna

Reserve, can easily provoke situations that undermine conservation-

ists’ objectives. In the case of the Lopé Reserve, the lack of a “village

exploitation zone” around the villages, coupled with the prohibition

against trapping animal-pests in the gardens (which normally ensures

the protection of the crops), has directly undermined the agricul-

tural system. This weakened agricultural system has compelled

villagers to bring their gardens and crops together into larger, com-

munal areas to reduce destruction of crops by animals, which has in

turn undermined the system of rotation, resulting in overall agricul-

tural intensification and accelerated environmental degradation.

Thus the ban on trapping has literally removed a vital element of the

agricultural system and has provoked the emergence of nonsustain-

able uses of the land.

In the context of human societies that fundamentally rely on the

natural environment for subsistence and well being, failure to recog-

nize customary land tenure in conservation management plans is a

source of considerable tension. Such an omission has inevitable

repercussions concerning usage rights, as local notions of land use

are disrupted or banned. During several meetings that we observed,

villagers repeatedly expressed their indignation and worry.

Throughout areas targeted for natural resource protection in

central Africa, villagers clearly sense that with the arrival of “conser-

vation” their lands no longer belong to them as a community. In-

stead, the land is now intended for new uses, such as exclusive pro-

tection. Local communities are also concerned about aggressive

environmental administrators, from whom they solicit help in case

of destruction of crops by animals, but from whom it is generally

impossible to ensure intervention in time to protect gardens (or

even to assist a person who was injured while trying to protect the

crops). The villagers expressed, not without irony, the belief that

conservation officials and Ministry representatives force them to live

in such insecurity to determine if local people are indeed “less than

animals.”

CONCLUSION

The question of integrating traditional land tenure and conserva-

tion zoning that is adapted to local realities should be at the center

of debates on “participatory management.” Land management

systems directly affect the modalities of resource utilization by local

populations. Land management systems also determine the quality

of relations between local people and conservation programs. What-

ever the status attributed to “village exploitation zones” (“buffer

zone,” “common use zone,” “rural development sector,” and so on),

it is necessary that these land management strategies be conceived

and demarcated in a manner that allows local people to use the

environment according to their perceptions of nature and their

subsistence needs. This approach requires finding a means of know-

ing the affected populations and their modalities of environment

exploitation.

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DAOU JOIRIS has conducted ethnographic research in southern Cameroon, focusing on the Bagyeli and Baka pygmies, since 1985. She serves as technical assistant to the ECOFAC project coordinator for anthropological studies, while also serving as a consultant for the EEC DG VIII project entitled “The Future of Tropical Rainforest Peoples” (APFT). In addition, since 1992 she has been teaching at the Free University of Brussels, and a research associate of the LACITO CNRS-France.

See “REFERENCES” for author’s publications.

Daou Joiris, Centre d’Anthropologie Culturelle, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 44 Avenue Jeanne, 1050 Bruxelles, Tel: 32.2.650.34.28, Email: vjoiris@ulb.ac.be