Bosquets anthropiques et afforestation des savanes au confluent du Mbam et de la Sanaga, Centre Cameroun

Abstract

The mosaic of plant stands in central Cameroon is home to nearly 100,000 sq. km of semi-deciduous moist, dense forests and grassy and shrubby savannahs. On the southern part of this area, at the confluence of Mbam and Sanaga rivers, we are witnessing a dynamic to the advantage of forests because of both natural and human factors. While the natural factors have already been well documented, the effects of the human activities need to be better studied. The present contribution has for objective to understand how the actions of peasant societies contribute to the construction of landscapes and particularly to the creation of forests in detriment of savannahs. It is question to determine the stages and mechanisms of this forest conquest which begins with the occurrence of groves and patches of forest in savannahs. The methodology uses botanical surveys and interviews with the population. Primarily linked to security, the concerns responsible for this landscape dynamics then became economic and now land-related. Originally planted and used around villages as a defensive hedge in the 19th century in the backdrop of tribal wars, the tree was thereafter used as firebreak and windbreak around houses and as support for agroforestry, for example by providing a shade for the cultivation of cocoa. It is also henceforth planted to signal the appropriation of a space. The combination of these factors leads to an afforestation of the savannah through groves surrounding huts, post-cultural groves and agroforestry groves.

Keywords

• afforestation
• anthropogenic groves
• forest-savannah contact
• Central Cameroon