Date: March 5, 2013

For the past few decades” statutory tenure systems in African countries were subjected to small legal changes whose main feature was the devolution of rights and responsibilities to peripheral actors” especially local communities. In other sub-continents” more decisive and substantive changes have reformed the structure of land and forest tenure rights by recognizing and allocating property rights to local and indigenous communities. In 2009″ West and Central African countries organized an international conference on “Forest Tenure” Governance” and Enterprise” in Yaoundé” Cameroon. New challenges – such as those related to large-scale land acquisitions – were discussed and recommendations were proposed. This report provides a preliminary assessment of the implementation of those recommendations