**Analysing Environment-Development Interventions Through the Lens of Indigenous People in Cameroon**

Mbunya Francis Nkemnyi

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.69885

#### **Abstract**

Ideally, both eenvironmental protection and human development policies should improve human well-being through the conservation of ecosystems that provide valuable services,. However, in practicallye, this rarely happen rarely. Settings for environmentdevelopment interactions are complex because they consist of diverse ecological systems as well as and human engineered knowledge systems. Using the pathways approach analytical framework to sustainability, this paper analysed how actors' understandings and scale of knowledge in environment-development interventions influence sustainable management. Data for this study used mix methods, includeing interviews, questionnaires, policy document texts and field observations. The main findings suggested that the diverse views and scales of knowledge mobilised by different actors in conservationdevelopment interventions is a major challenge in producing sustainable outcomes. The inability of conservation practitioners to conveniently reconcile different narratives held by different actors leads to the domination of powerful actors narrations, on which policies are based. The major setback in attaining sustainable forest management does not necessarily lie in the conflicting interests of actors, but also in the social processes that guided the negotiation of these conflicting interests. This study argues that local people and traditional structures have the potential to contribute sustainable forest management processes if offered the space. Given that lLocal people are often not directly engaged in forest management planning, their actions are directly or indirectly influenced by other actors (elites). This makes it more complicated to achieve processes that might lead to sustainable forest management. There is a need to create Convenient space is needed to that enables conservation practitioners to sees and promotes conservation through the lens of the local people.

**Keywords:** indigenous knowledge, scales of knowledge, environmental conservation, local development, pathway approach, Cameroon

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