Forest exploitation in Cameroon (1884-1994): An oxymoron of top-down and bottom-up forest management policy approaches.

<p> Forest exploitation in Cameroon goes back to the pre&hyphen;colonial period when early ethnic settlers used the &lsquo;law of status&rsquo; system to manage land and forests in the territory. With the arrival of colonial powers, beginning with the Germans in 1884, the law of status system was replaced by top&hyphen;down state&hyphen;centred management system. This top&hyphen;down management system was inherited by post&hyphen;colonial authorities and enforced until 1994 when a new forestry law was launched, based on bottom&hyphen;up management system. This paper reviews all these three systems. Communities are not benefiting from an actual bottom&hyphen;up management system. The author argues that the forests sector in Cameroon needs a new management paradigm.</p>