The adoption of participatory management in the mid-1990s as a strong orientation of forest policy in Cameroon allowed the establishment of a number of pilot community management initiatives. One of them is called the Community Management Hunting Interest Area (ZICGC) in the South-East-Central forest region of Cameroon. The other is called the Co-managed Hunting Interest Area (CO-ZIC) in the northern forest region.

Nearly two decades later, these scattered experiences have not been sufficiently documented to allow better capitalization of the results obtained and the lessons learned. This brochure, which deals with the establishment of community-managed hunting territories, seeks above all to fill this void by drawing on the lived experiences and lessons learned on community wildlife management within the South-East Technical Operational Unit (UTO) in the South-East, which hosts the ZICGC.

This document is based on some references from the legal framework to describe the administrative circuit, the steps and the conditions to be met by the Committees for the Valorization of Wildlife Resources (COVAREF) to obtain the establishment and management of Community Management Hunting Interest Areas (ZICGC). It can be enriched by the experiences of other community wildlife management frameworks, in particular Community Hunting Territories (CCTs) and Co-Management Hunting Interest Areas (CoZIC) developed by the Unions of Village Wildlife Committees (UCVF) on the outskirts of the Bénoué National Park (northern region).

This brochure is the result of a multi-stakeholder consultation that brought together the Cameroonian forest administration, local communities, civil society and partner organizations. It is intended for anyone interested in the community management process of wildlife in Cameroon. The book first describes the key concepts of national wildlife policy. Next, it presents the processes for setting up the various types of hunting territories made available to communities, as well as their respective management methods. Finally, it summarizes the lessons learned from these various experiences and makes recommendations to follow in order to improve the level of ownership of tools for the sustainable management of wildlife resources by local populations.