…a bit on

Cameroon

How does globalization affect food security?

Cameroon

Yvette Thompson, M.Sc. Student

Department of Resource Economics and Environmental

Sociology (REES)

Part of Central Africa (within Sub Saharan Africa)

largely covered by the

Congo Basin Rainforest

Source: Woods Hole Research Center: http://www.whrc.org/mapping/informs/cameroon

BS1

Slide 3

BS1 Good to insert a map of Africa with Cameroon highlighted (like this one) for those less familiar with African geography.Brent Swallow, 21/07/2011

study site:

Akok(South Province)

Source: Woods Hole Research Center: http://www.whrc.org/mapping/informs/cameroon

BS2

Slide 4

BS2 Good to insert a map of Africa with Cameroon highlighted (like this one) for those less familiar with African geography.Brent Swallow, 21/07/2011

Traditionalvillage lifestyle

Customary Agriculture(Shifting Cultivation)

Plantain

Peanut

Cassava

Semi-subsistence(most of the yield for household consumption)

Small-scale household/family

Cocoa Agroforestry

Maintains multi-use landscape(habitat, non-timber forest products, biodiversity)

Carbon emission levels maintained (?)

Palm plantations

MonocultureDestroys habitat � biodiversity Increases carbon emissions (?)

• Palm = world’s most consumed vegetable oil – used in at least 50% of consumer goods

• Cameroon is 4th largest African producer of palm oil

What about palm oil?

palm oil – 200 000 tonnes/year; 100 000 ha currently cultivated

• Industrial plantations create jobs for Cameroonians (65 000 direct and indirect)– ~40% live on <$1 USD per day

Example: Herakles Farms ProposalNew York-based agribusiness

Source: Yale environment360 (http://e360.yale.edu)

60 000 ha plantation

• Situated between four protected areas – (Korup National Park, Rumpi Hills Forest Reserve, Bakossi National Park and

Banyang Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary)

• Deforestation• Threatens biodiversity

Critics’ concerns of Herakles Farms project:

• Threatens biodiversity – many of which are endangered and threatened species

• Exploitation/working conditions on plantation• Greenhouse gas emissions (store <40 tons CO2/yr vs. 400 tons

CO2/yr in primary forest)….

• Traditional lifestyle of local people

• Rural communities, such as Akok, are traditionally tied to land

• Food = self produced

Local people and food security

• Income = small marketable surplus of staple crops + cocoa

• Traditional Bulu possession based tenure system; “use as required”

So how does globalization affect food security for local people in Cameroon?

…it changes their traditional way of life

For the better?eg. More potential income opportunitieseg. More potential income opportunities

Or worse?eg. Less (or none) subsistence opportunities