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sdjacbou

Sylvie Djacbou is the Founder and President of Youth in Action (YouAct), she is currently working in Forest governance sector in Congo Basin, campaign and advocacy from the protection of Congo basin forest and right of local and indigenous communities living within and around. Sylvie earned a 4 Master’s degrees with a shared focus on local public health, Governance and sustainability management of natural resources from littoral and coastal, Environmental Sciences land and society, environmental health and green economies and in Molecular Biochemistry respectively from the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin in Yvelines, Cheick Anta Diop University of Dakar and from University of Yaoundé I. She has conducted field research in 2 countries throughout Central and West Africa, focusing primarily on pollutant impact on marine ecosystem and riparian population, land grabbing issue, labor right, deforestation, improving access to social resources for marginalized communities etc. Prior to founding YouAct, Sylvie began her career leading a research project in Senegal.

Industrial agriculture has become one of the main sources of development in African countries. Given the fact that Africa has become a palm oil new frontier for many investors. Land grabbing has become very common in many African countries including Cameroon. Cameron has plans to become an emerging country in 2035 and Agriculture is one of the axes where focus will be put to achieve it. This means more land will be allocated and more conflict will occur. Large scale land attribution for agriculture has become to do more harm than good to some communities. Cameroon can't develop without protecting its communities and its forests. Our land is our heritage; communities depend on the forests. Therefore, there is a need of combining development to forest protection and indigenous communities' rights. Development needs to benefit first the local communities and then Cameroon government. In this case, what is the impact and what could be the solution of developing our country without getting our resources plundered? Today, with the persistent population growth, climate change, deforestation, as well as urbanization have an adverse impact on the availability of fertile lands and other natural resources. At the same time, competition for limited agricultural areas increases due to the growing demand in national and international markets for food and biomass. The increase of land sales and land leases in Cameroon purchase or long-term leases to grow food for export in general, quick benefits from large investments for the sake of increasing Gross Domestic Product (as said). Which is creating pressure to rural land uses with less local economic contributions, leading to an often irreversible conversion of traditional land uses, competition, land grabbing, conflict and loose of our forest. Large scale land allocation for agriculture development has a huge impact on local and indigenous communities. For the simple reasons that land scale land acquisition usually happens with land grabbing, local laws that do not prohibit foreign companies from acting illegally (without impunities). In addition, non-proper consultation of the indigenous community. To begin with, land grabbing usually occurs because no proper consultation and consent is made with local and indigenous communities. Communities are not properly consulted, or are sidelined during the process. Sacred sites are destroyed; indigenous communities are displaced out from the forest without relocation site. The consultation process is usually marred with corruption. It is notably, the case of a company in the South region of Cameroon, which started their operation without proper consultation and proper compensation. Secondly, despite the current existing national law on the acquisition process, most foreign companies do not follow the process. Furthermore, according to the land tenure law of Cameroon a company which wants to develop either an agriculturally project or not (of about 10000 ha or more), a decree has to be signed by the President of Cameroon before the company can start making plans to develop the area. However, most companies in Cameroon do not always follow the law, most of them are exploiting the areas without a proper decree signed by the president. Within the same legal line, free prior and consent process need to occur before they can be grant the concession. Following this further, some chiefs are being manipulation by fake promises of development and money to be paid to them monthly. The concept of land use planning is very much related to the economic prosperity of local communities and the respect of their right on the land. A comprehensive plan can be a tool for planning the future growth or decline of a local community. Most importantly, a good land use plan can be used to address the constant change and evolution of a community related to the forest or not. First of all, land use planning is referred to as land use plans—they often deal with issues related to the appropriate uses of land. Secondly, the process of developing this plan should be a community-wide effort. After all, it is for the community. The citizens of the community should have a say regarding the future of their community. In order to prevent land-grabbing and deforestation for large scale industrial agriculture, land use planning is necessary in Cameroon. With every land a story unfolds about the current and future state of the territory. Land-use planning is important for asserting right and community's values on the development of a Nation's traditional territory, and is an opportunity to engage local and indigenous communities in determining the future use of its natural resources.

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