what poverty means to the bagyeli
people
friends of the earth cameroon
“If you do not collect fruits, you
cannot have soap; if you do not go fishing,
you cannot eat salt; if you do not
cultivate plantains to sell you cannot buy
clothes. I am dirty and without clothes
because I do not do anything. I have
already been forbidden from entering the
forest.”
Indigenous Bagyeli person,
Cameroon.
Participatory
mapping in Cameroon
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The Bagyeli ‘pygmies' living in
the Campo Ma'an national park in
southwest Cameroon have sustained
themselves for centuries using their
vast knowledge of the plant and
animal life of the surrounding
forest. They traditionally survived
by hunting, fishing and gathering
honey, fruit, wild yams, caterpillars
and snails.
When they track animals, they
cover themselves with a powder made
from the bark of the Moabi tree as
camouflage. A nomadic people until
recently, they sheltered themselves
in temporary huts made of sticks and
leaves.
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Although a few Bagyeli still follow the
traditions of their elders, intensive
logging, agriculture and a pipeline
traversing their lands have threatened
their traditional lifestyles as well as
those of other pygmy groups.
In 2000, Cameroon 's Poverty Reduction
Strategy Paper was approved by the World
Bank, making the country eligible for debt
relief. However, Friends of the Earth
Cameroon raised concerns that the voices of
indigenous and tribal peoples such as the
Bagyeli have not been heard, and that their
perception of poverty and aspirations
regarding development are not represented
in the strategy.
To outsiders, the Bagyeli may appear
very poor. They have next to nothing in the
way of material possessions, little or no
money, and are still often without a
permanent house. Yet one of the most
important indicators of wealth for these
peoples is the access they enjoy to the
forest and its resources and the amount to
which they are able to participate in
decision-making processes relative to their
livelihoods. For the Bagyeli, limited
access to the forest affects their
traditional livelihoods and leads to
marginalization, discrimination and
impoverishment.
Since the inception of the Campo Ma'an
national park, which was created by the
government as compensation for the
environmental damage caused by the
Chad-Cameroon pipeline, the food security
and even the very survival of the Bagyeli
people has been threatened due to
restrictions placed on their hunting
activities. This area is known for its
remarkable biodiversity – nearly 390
invertebrate species, 249 fish species,
over 80 amphibian species, 122 reptile
species, 302 bird species, and around 80
species of large and medium-sized mammals –
all of which have been conserved and
sustainably managed by local and indigenous
peoples for generations.
Since 2003, Friends of the Earth
Cameroon , the Forest People's Project and
the Rainforest Foundation have supported
the Bagyeli in the documentation of their
use of the forest and its resources through
a process called “participatory mapping”.
Participatory mapping, widely used by
indigenous communities in Latin America and
Southern Asia , entails the collection of
detailed information by communityselected
cartographers about the land, its features
and its resources. The outcomes clearly
highlight the importance of the forest and
its resources for the subsistence
strategies of indigenous populations in
Cameroon .
For the Bagyeli, the creation of
protected areas on their ancestral
territories has infringed upon their
individual and collective rights,
marginalizing and impoverishing them. They
believe that any poverty reduction strategy
proposed by the government or by external
funders must include their participation,
and must be based upon their collective
right of access to land and forest
resources.
