Since 2009, Green Development Advocates (GDA) has been advocating for local community and indigenous people’s rights in Southwest Cameroon, where the development of large-scale plantations as well as a conservation area have created various environmental and socio-economic pressures on these communities. During the project’s annual meeting in January 2023, we interviewed GDA’s coordinator, Aristide Chacgom.
How did you get involved in GDA? I am an environmental lawyer and joined GDA after graduating from school, and I have been coordinating the activities in GDA since 2015…so that means it has been more than six years!
What does GDA do? Beside advocacy work for local communities, we support them by introducing them to agroecology practices, as one alternative form of supporting their livelihoods. In Campo, for example, where we have been working since 2019, communities have been impacted by the clearing of intact forests adjacent the biodiversity rich Campo Ma’an National Park for oil palm plantations by the company CAMVERT. We also work on capacity building. This involves ensuring that community members understand the legal provisions, laws on NTFPs etc. so that they have the knowledge to negotiate and are aware of their legal rights when a company approaches them.
What are some ideas or concepts about understanding forest-agriculture frontiers that contribute to some of GDA’s activities, and how? The discourse analysis of newspaper articles is a useful approach for us to see what kind of discourses are present in the public. We are also able to understand how various actors try to promote or justify their agenda in the media, such as the oil palm companies.
What needs to change in order to reach a more equitable future in the frontiers? There are many, many things that needs to change…from the legal perspective, these things need to change. First, procedural law needs to ensure companies respect FPIC and include communities in the negotiation process. Second, forest and agricultural laws need to secure customary rights and local people’s rights to access land and forests. The important question is, how can the law protect communities and provide them benefits in the face of companies looking to extract resources? Communities have the right to benefit and should be able to access the courts when they have grievances and companies should also be held accountable for their actions.