**5.1.7 Population pressure**

Like many other natural resources, deforestation and forest degradation in Cameroon and DRC has been linked to population pressure. According to World Bank, World Development Indicators 2000, Cameroon and DRC have the highest population density in the region with a combined population of 73.85 million inhabitants. Within the past five years both countries have witnessed rapid increases in populations, with the population of Cameroon increasing from 16.30 million in 2005 to 19.7 million in 2011 (Central Intelligence Agency [CIA], 2011) while that of DRC increased from 57.5 million in 2005 to 71.7 million in 2011 (CIA, 2011). This increase in population will increase the demand for land to cultivate and fuelwood for energy. It will also lead to cheap labor and generate high profits for agribusiness owners, making them more viable and having the desire for more land to expand their business. Increase in population will also lead to increase poverty as too many people will depend on few individuals for support. According to the United Nations Development Program's Human Development Index14 of 2006, Cameroon and DRC rate among the lowest in the region. The increase poverty will caused many families to depend totally on the forests for survival, through logging and slash-and-burn farming. The problem of population pressure is not only within these countries. The pressure is also coming from outside. Global population growth, together with economic growth mainly from industrialized countries has led to excessive foreign consumption of tropical produce like banana, cocoa, rubber, and palm nuts within the past two decades. Cameroon has responded to this increase in demand by adopting policies that support agricultural extensification hence, expanding its area of cultivation at the expense of the forests. For

<sup>14</sup> The Human Development Index is a multidimensional concept of measuring human development that goes beyond income. It includes three key measurable dimensions – life expectancy at birth, adult literacy and gross enrolment in primary, secondary and tertiary levels, and per capita GDP (PPP US\$).

governments of these countries continue to appropriate forest lands and its resources. About 97% of natural forests in Cameroon belong to the government, while all natural forests in DRC are government owned (Cotula & Mayers, 2009). This clearly shows that land tenure in both countries is unclear or insecure even though both countries allocate community forests for the benefit of the communities. In the absence of well-defined property rights (complete specification of rights, exclusive ownership, transferability, and enforceability) the forest has become a "common property" with the local populations engaging in forest clearance as a way of showing occupation and ownership. They base their actions on the customary law of *droit de hache* – axe right – whereby, ownership of land and its resources is acclaimed by putting it into productive use, by cutting down of trees. The use of common property leads to externalities ("tragedy of the common") as no one is liable for the cost of the externalities. Although the governments of Cameroon and DRC continue to exercise "authoritarian and repressive policing" in their forests sectors, the "limited government capacity to monitor compliance and sanction non-compliance" (Cotula & Mayers, 2009) has allowed the customary law practice of *droit de hache* to continue. A challenge for the REDD mechanism in Cameroon and DRC, and in all other Congo Basin countries therefore, would be to help amend current decentralization policies and encourage genuine land tenure reforms that would lead to effective local control of forest

Like many other natural resources, deforestation and forest degradation in Cameroon and DRC has been linked to population pressure. According to World Bank, World Development Indicators 2000, Cameroon and DRC have the highest population density in the region with a combined population of 73.85 million inhabitants. Within the past five years both countries have witnessed rapid increases in populations, with the population of Cameroon increasing from 16.30 million in 2005 to 19.7 million in 2011 (Central Intelligence Agency [CIA], 2011) while that of DRC increased from 57.5 million in 2005 to 71.7 million in 2011 (CIA, 2011). This increase in population will increase the demand for land to cultivate and fuelwood for energy. It will also lead to cheap labor and generate high profits for agribusiness owners, making them more viable and having the desire for more land to expand their business. Increase in population will also lead to increase poverty as too many people will depend on few individuals for support. According to the United Nations Development Program's Human Development Index14 of 2006, Cameroon and DRC rate among the lowest in the region. The increase poverty will caused many families to depend totally on the forests for survival, through logging and slash-and-burn farming. The problem of population pressure is not only within these countries. The pressure is also coming from outside. Global population growth, together with economic growth mainly from industrialized countries has led to excessive foreign consumption of tropical produce like banana, cocoa, rubber, and palm nuts within the past two decades. Cameroon has responded to this increase in demand by adopting policies that support agricultural extensification hence, expanding its area of cultivation at the expense of the forests. For

14 The Human Development Index is a multidimensional concept of measuring human development that goes beyond income. It includes three key measurable dimensions – life expectancy at birth, adult literacy and gross enrolment in primary, secondary and tertiary levels, and per capita GDP (PPP US\$).

management.

**5.1.7 Population pressure** 

example, since 1991, the Cameroon Development Corporation has expanded about 1,340 hectares of its plantations into the Onge-Mokoko forests in the Sourhwest province of Cameroon (Acworth et al., 2001).
