Economic crisis and forest cover change in Cameroon : The roles of migration, crop diversification, and gender division of labour

Field research done by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in 1997-98 provides the first regionally representative assessment of population and migration patterns, changes in cropping decisions, and household farm labor allocation in more than a decade in Cameroon's Center and South provinces. On the basis of these data, the authors conclude that in the period from 1986 to 1997 there was, overall, a substantial increase in the rate of forest clearing. They agree with the conventional wisdom that population and smallholder agriculture are important in any explanation of forest cover change in Cameroon and Central Africa. (DSE/DÜI)