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Comittee: Jean-Louis Doucet (promotor), Stéphanie Carrière (co-promotor).

Abstract:

A socio-ecosystem (SES) is a particular group of actors who have an impact on a particular lot of resources allocated to a particular set of institutions. In the context of deforestation and forest degradation in the tropics, this concept could be linked to the forest transition and used to understand both issues and interactions between forest ecosystems and human societies. This study aimed to characterize an agroforestry socio-ecosystem in south of the Centre Region of Cameroon, the village of Abod Mveng. The data collection was conducted in this village and was based on surveys, GPS surveys and participatory mapping. Population density is high, 94 inhabitants/km². Land-use is mostly linked to human activities, cocoa and subsistence agriculture. Cocoa practices are associated with cocoa agroforestry systems (cAFS) and slash and burn agriculture still associates fallows in the cultivation cycle. It participates to maintain forest cover. The theory of land tenure shows that lands and resources are subject to strict land tenure where privatization and individualization is prompted. We show an unequal distribution of land between the land-owners. Slash and burn agriculture associated with an increasing land tenure pressure will probably drive this SES to the bottom of the forest transition curve in the near future. However, cAFS will play a key role by ensuring a forest cover.