In ternationa l Scholars Journa ls African Journal of Environmental Economics and Management ISSN 2375-0707 Vol. 6 (2), pp. 406-412, February, 2018. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. Full Length Research Paper Prevalence of environmental degradation in natural resource management Philémon Mafany George Department of Geography, University of Yaounde I, E.N.S. Annex Bambili, P.O. Bamenda, North West Province, Cameroon. E-mail: mafany.george@gmail.com Accepted 04 December, 2017 The predominance of environmental degradation in Africa has generated waves of concern from international and national non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Since the 1990s there has been a remarkable increase in the number of NGOs with environmental protection interest in the South. The paper appraises the involvement of NGOs and stakeholder community in environmental protection projects in terms of resource mobilization, organizational strengthening and the institutional development of civil society. The paper which is a product of field investigations concludes that these NGOs are having a significant impact on the social, political and economic life of their populations. However there is the question of their sustainability as local NGOs derive most of their inspiration and resources from NGOs in the North. There is need to appreciate the issues surrounding capacity building beyond technical and sectoral aims. Capacity building must contribute to the long-term organizational strengthening and institutional development of civil society as a whole. Key words: NGOs, civil society, sustainability, environmental protection, participation, appraisal. INTRODUCTION The past decades have seen steady growth of non- governmental organization (NGO) at the local, national and international level along with an increasing interest from both donors and the NGOs themselves in seeking ways to make NGOs more effective. The profile of NGOs has grown among policy-makers, activists, and resear- chers in both North and South (Abongwa, 1999). NGOs now feature prominently in discussion of service delivery, advocacy and lobbying, social movements, philanthropy and charity giving, building civil society, and social entre- preneurship. This rich diversity of NGOs in both the North and the South is widely celebrated, with a growing num- ber of publications devoted to them. Although there are voices challenging the claims which are made for NGOs, these are generally restricted to the context of humani- tarian assistance in emergency situations and NGOs con- tinue to be “flavour of the month” in development circles (IRED, 1998a). There has been a general and rising interest among countries on environmental issues, most especially envi- ronmental protection, since the United Nations Confe- rence on Environment and Development (UNCED) or the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in Jane 1992. Theoretically, this conference expected countries to recognize the rather complementary relationship that exists between development and the environment. The challenge of environmental protection was made formal by the Cameroon government’s recognition of NGOs as partners in natural resource management and rural deve- lopment (Ndenecho, 2003). The challenge is that NGOs must perform efficiently in realizing local, regional, na- tional and global environment plans, which means they must have adequate capacity and resources (Acho-chi and Ndenecho, 1994). This requires an appraisal of the financial means, sustainability of NGOs, cooperation between NGOs and GOs (Governmental Organization) in tackling natural resource management, the focus on the grassroots resource users, the degree of participation (empowerment) and the global dimension of the reflection /activities of NGOs. This paper seeks to identify NGOs involved in development work and to appraise the input in the natural resource management process by NGOs in order to establish a base for cooperation between local and international NGOs and to elaborate strategies in Philémon 407 Figure 1. Core problem identification and strategies employed by NGOs in partnership with stakeholder communities (Zimmermann, 1996). achieving sustainability through local resource mobiliza- tion, organizational strengthening and the institutional development of civil society. Study area and core problem The study area is the Bamenda Highlands. It is character- rized by soaring mountain peaks, plateaux, upland watersheds and intermontane basins. There is a high lava plateau with elevations between 2000 and 2800 m, an intermediate plateau between 1000 and 1900 m, and a low plateau between 900 and 300 m above sea level. The montane forests of the area are unique in that they have one of the highest levels of endemism (Macleod, 1986; Stuart, 1986). Their scientific importance has re- ceived both international and local conservation attention from non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The up- land or hilly watersheds have combinations of forests, farmlands and grazing lands and are densely populated by farmers (96 inhabitants / km 2 ) with and annual growth rate of 2.3% (MINPAT/UNDP, 1999) Since the early 1990s, road improvements have increased the agricultural value of the area. The increasing population combined with the increased mar- ket access has resulted in a much more intensive system of farming without the traditional fallow periods that were used to restore soil productivity. The end result is that crop yields are poor and natural forest is being rapidly cleared to augment impoverished farmland. The new lands are on steep and highly erodible slopes. These scenarios are analyzed in Figure 1. The decrease in fallow and encroachment of agriculture on to grassland has led to a reduction in land available for grazing. Con- sequently livestock range freely within montane forest preventing regeneration and threatening some of the best remaining areas. Overgrazing and trampling have caused the complete loss of vegetation in some places. Serious erosion is now occurring, aggravated by deliberate burn- ing. Over the past two decades there has been a notice- able decrease in the dry season water flow and many water catchments are being endangered by the destruct- tion of the forest (Ndenecho, 2006). Intensive conservation measures are needed in the area. Since the early 1990s there has been a remarkable increase in the number of non-governmental organi- zations involved in environmental protection in the area. These organizations design and implement land manage- ment measures based on the strategies are summarized in Figure 1. There is the tendency for these organiza- tions to seek for additional assistance, most often in the form of finances from international donor organizations in the North. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Data for this study were obtained from the SNV sponsored project by Marion Wiendels (1994) and a study by Ndenecho (2OO3). Complementary information was gathered by interviewing one representative of each relevant organization. To be of interest in the framework of this research, an organization had to meet five criteria.  The organization is active in the region at the moment, which implies that co-workers are either established on a permanent base, or are playing an important role in enabling organizations which are physically present to execute their activities. To be included, an organization has to have at least an office based in Cameroon.   The organization is not a base organization. A base organization is defined here as an organization existing due to the initiative of the target population.  The organization is either in direct contact with the target population, or works directly with organizations which are in direct contact with the target population.  The organization aims at the development of the area.  The organization is apolitical and non-commercial. These criteria include governmental and non-governmental organizations. An inventory of organizations operating in the domain of rural deve- lopment and environmental protection in the region was made using an established list of NGOs telephone directory and know-ledge of organizations which are active in the region acquired through inter- views and field surveys. The study set out to achieve the following research outputs:  An inventory of organizations operating in environmental protect- tion and rural development in the region.  The geographical location of NGOs in the region  The degree of spatial concentration of NGOs in the region  Typology and roles of NGOs  Weakness/limitations of NGOs  Scope for achieving greater efficiency in sustainable environmental management and protection. A case was made of the involvement of an international NGO (Helvetas) in watershed management in collaboration with local stakeholders and beneficiaries at local level. This is the case of the 408 Afr. J. Environ. Econ. Manage. Tubah watershed protection project (Table 1). Typology and viability of NGOs The field survey established the following typology of development organizations involved in environmental protection issues. This typology will enable us to evaluate the contribution of NGOs (Figure 2): Membership Organizations (MO): These are farmers’ organizations and are involved in agricultural development and marketing of pro- duce. The main MOs are the Cameroon Cooperative Credit Union League (CAMCCUL) and North West Cooperative Association (NWCA). MOs mainly serve the interest of their members. The problem with some of these organizations is that for a long time they were organized by government officers rather than by farmers themselves and work for farmers but implement government poli- cies. Donor organizations targeting communities (DOs): These organi- zations are active in poverty reduction programmes at the grass- roots. They started by giving aid to people in distress. Unfortu- nately, most of these have been more successful in instilling a dependency attitude among local people by making them to expect free inputs, tools and credit at favourable rates rather than in emphasizing the importance of improving managerial capacity. The main DOs include the North West Development Authority (MIDENO) and church organizations. In order to raise finances, they sometimes try to create the image that their target group is in a very difficult situation that will not improve without external support. Unfortunately, their target groups include poor people in complex, diverse and risk -prone environments where the agro-ecological and socio-economic situation is very difficult. They evidently lack the capacity to handle environmental and resource management issues under these circumstances. Most of them are isolated while others may assign projects to other organizations. Community based organizations (CBOs): These are very active in the region and include: Farmer Groups, Forest User Groups, Bee Keeping Groups, Tree Nursery Groups, Common Initiative Groups, Villages Development Associations, and socio-cultural and develop- ment organizations involved in rural road construction projects, rural water supply schemes, community forest management, watershed protection, provision of basic village socio-economic infrastructure and rational use of village natural resources. Unfortunately, they face the same limitations experienced by grassroots support organi- zations because they are championed by local and external elites. International NGOs and Public Service Organizations: These are international support organizations. They help membership organi- zations, CBOs and local NGOs through financial and material sup- port, training and expertise. These are based in the developed countries but are represented in the study area to provide training and expertise. They also act as a channel to transfer donor assis- tance to local NGOs, CBOs and membership organizations. Those active in the region include AFVP (Association Française de Volon- taires du Progrès). Bird Life International, Food and Agricultural Organisation, Swiss Association for Development and Cooperation (Helvetas), German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), Heifer Project International (HP!), INADES (Institut Africain pour le Développement Economique et Social), Netherlands Development Organization (SNV), and Plan International. Although operating under different legal statuses these organizations have the common characteristic of possessing high technical capacity and the financial means to implement its policies. Local NGOs: These are local organizations receiving direct funding from International and Northern NGOs in order to reinforce local civil society through the development of new partnerships. Several proliferate in the study area as there has been an emergence of a new generation of local NGO “contractors” since Philémon 409 Table 1. Inventory of organizations involved in rural development. Code Abbreviation Full name (See Figure 2) 1 ACSD Association Camerounaise pour la Santé et le Dévéloppement. 2 ACT Association for Creative Teaching 3 ADEID Action pour un Dévéloppement Equitable, Intègre et Durable 4 Africa 2000 Network 5 AFVP Association Française de Volontaires de Progrès 6 APICA Association pour la promotion des Initiatives Communautaires Africaines 7 Bird Life 8 BVCP Bafut Village Community Project 9 CAMCCUL Cameroon Cooperative Credit Union League 10 Catholic Church 11 CBC Cameroon Baptist Convention 12 CIPCRE Circle International pour la Promotion de la création 13 CODIDSC Comite Diocésain de Développement et d’Activités Socio Caritatives 14 DED German Development Service 15 DETMAC ASSOCIATES 16 EEC Eglise Evangélique du Cameroun 17 FAO-PAM Food and Agriculture Organisation - Programme Alimentaire Mondial 18 FIMAC Financement d’Investissement de Micro-realisation Agricoles et Communautaires 19 GTZ Gesellschft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit 20 Helvetas Swiss Association for Development Cooperation 21 HPI Heifer Project International 22 INADES Institut Africain pour le Développement Economique et Social 23 Living Earth 24 MIDENO Mission de Développement de la province du Nord-Ouest 25 MINAGRI Ministère d’agriculture 26 M1NASCOF Ministère d’Affaires Sociales et de la Condition Féminines 27 MINEPIA Ministère d’Elevage des pêches et d’Industries Animales 28 NWCA North West Cooperative Association 29 ODERREB Organisation pour le Développement Rural et Reboisement 30 ORICAA Organisation for Rural Infrastructure, Community Animation & Afforestation 31 PAFSAT Permanent Farming Systems and Animal Traction Project 32 PCC Presbyterian Church in Cameroon 33 Peace Corps 34 PRODEC Programme de Dévéloppement Communautaires 35 PSMP Provincial Social Marketing Programme 36 SAILD Service d’Appui aux Initiative Locales de Dévéloppement 37 SASH Sustainable Agriculture and Self-Help 38 SETRAHAC 39 SLF Sustainable Livestock Foundation 40 SNV Netherlands Development Organization 41 UNV-DDS United Nations Volunteers-Domestic Development Services. See Figure 2 for the geographical location of the NGOs by their corresponding serial numbers. the 1990s. International NGOs have more financial resources than local NGOs, Donor Organizations (DOs) and Membership Organizations (MOs). They promote a great deal of rhetoric about partnership and enhancing civil society as they channel the majority of their funds to local NGOs through semi -contractual arrangements for service delivery projects. There is an exaggerated emphasis on specific sectors and services to the detriment of a wider strategy of funding long-term goals, which cut across sectors, such as poverty reduction and strengthening civil society. Unfortunately, these funds are channeled to a very small number of local NGOs, thus several local NGOs present misshapen organizational profiles. The lack of financial means implies a threatened continuity, poor cooperation among the NGO community, poor integrative approach, and parti- cipation. The local NGOs have no international dimension. Member- ship organizations such as CAMCCUL, NWCA and Bamenda vega- 410 Afr. J. Environ. Econ. Manage. Figure 2. Geographical distribution of NGOs involved in rural development (see Table 1 for the Legend). table Cooperation (BVC) dispose of large amount of means and reach many persons in their areas of operation. CAMCCUL is limi- ted only to the rural finance sector and isolated in its organizational network. However, its influence in rural savings and credit gene- ration is enormous. NWCA used to have a large impact in the development process for it had the monopoly in coffee trade during the period world prices were high. At this moment, NWCA faces severe problems in meeting its obligations. The impact of NWCA has decreased considerably. Local NGOs are limited in their sphere of activities as a consequence of the limited organizational profiles. On the contrary international NGOs are very active in the area as a result of their high organizational profiles. Membership organi- zations except BVC cover the entire region. The BVC is based mainly in Mezam. The spatial influence of International NGOs is a result of their policy of support to local NGOs through financial assistance and adoption of local NGOs and CBOs as co-workers. A model of collaboration between NGOs and stakeholders The international NGO, Helvetas (Swiss Association for Develop- ment and Cooperation), together with the Community Development Department (CDD) in the Ministry of Agriculture and a few local NGOs, in 30 years have constructed about 350 rural water schemes and 150 water points in the North west, South West and West Provinces serving about 1.2 million rural people (Zimmer- mann, 1996). The CDD and NGOs as partners of Helvetas at exe- cution level design, plan, implement and monitor the performance of village-based water maintenance committees, which operate and maintain the schemes. Helvetas and its partners started a comprehensive process of information and sensitization on improved water resource manage- ment for water maintenance committees, traditional councils and regional authorities. The villages are the project stakeholders and through their management committees (WMC) and caretakers mobilize local peoples to contribute in kind and cash for construc- tion, maintenance and operation. Bigger villages require river intakes and water treatment for which sedimentation tanks and slow sand filters (SSF) are designed and constructed. Water intakes are classified as land of common interest and are controlled by local authorities like village and traditional councils. However, with increased agriculture activity in most intake areas and watersheds, water contamination in small streams becomes serious (Zimmer- mann, 1995a, 1995b, 1994a, 1994b, 1994c). The Tubah Project (Figure 3) demonstrates 30 years of experiences in watershed pro- tection by Helevetas. Some 10 years after initiation the benefits are already being harvested from this project (Tah and Zimmermann, 1994). Philémon 411 Figure 3. Layout of the Tubah Watershed Management Project: Model of a holistic approach involving the following sectors: institution building, forest management and conservation, pasture improvement, agroforestry and soil conservation, income generating activities, and a potable water supply scheme. The physical and economic benefits, which will result from water- shed improvement or improvement in land use practices, are forest conservation, forest management, afforestation, grazing controls, agroforestry and soil conservation. The NGO’s strategies for water- shed management derived from this study include:  Development of local institutions: Formation of farmers’ groups and federations in programme area, the formation of project and programme committees and training.  Ensuring active participation by target population: Definition of roles of various population groups, participatory approach for plan- ing decision-making, sharing responsibilities, promotion and com- munication. This also applies to equal access to benefits for all pro- gramme participants and active participation of all in the learning process. Women are empowered in land use management and production. This is accompanied by the development of self-help potential for the target population (formation of common initiative groups and creation of alternative income generation).  Conflict management: Creation of forums and mechanisms of negotiation.  This requires the setting up of a comprehensive and permanent monitoring system to allow proper control of activities in target areas. The role of NGOs, local communities and civil society is crucial in achieving sustainable watershed resource management. The strengths of NGOs in this direction are impressive but can be exag- gerated. Local institution building has proved difficult and it is com- mon for projects to fail when NGO staff has departed. A key issue is how to build on local successes in providing services nationally. The danger is that Northern NGOs will be used even more actively as channels for donor assistance, which would threaten to suffocate the flexibility, independence, and low bureaucratic costs that have made local NGOs effective. Helvetas is working alongside the government to develop the capacity of national NGOs. Training, technical assistance, networking to disseminate technical informa- tion among local NGOs and other activities are being pursued. However, it is difficult for local NGOs to know when financial sup- port will be extended to them by northern NGOs like Helvetas (Ndenecho, 2000):  Too early and it may weaken the self-help motivation.  Too late and it frustrates attempts to move ahead with schemes for water supply. The issue of sustainability and independence of local NGO there- fore needs to be addressed. Partnership and participation are important in the relation between NGOs and the beneficiary com- munities as they are to those between the NGO and the govern- ment. If projects are to be sustainable and yield long-term benefits, communities must be more explicitly involved in design and imple- menttation and in defining their own contribution. Most local NGOs operating in the region have sometimes unwill- ingly incorporated older- style management ideas such as strategic planning now dismissed by development workers as having failed to live up to its promise when it was developed in the 1970s rather than heading for the most up-to-date ideas. The most up-to-date mainstreams management theory and practice is now concerned with areas which NGOs themselves should be on the top of flexible work teams, reduce hierarchies, building on organizational values and cultures. This should improve their effectiveness and generate new ideas and approaches-once rooted in different cultures and values, and in a genuinely developmental approach to overcoming obstacles to positive social change. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION The community of NGOs and civil society organizations is now far larger than they were a decade ago as it is increasingly being felt that they have more advantages than disadvantages compared with government agen- cies, which perform similar tasks. Donors and national governments therefore direct an increasing part of their funds through NGOs, which increase the likelihood of dependency on external funding with the risk of being more responsive to donor agenda than the need of their constituencies. The issue of the long-term sustainability of NGOs is real. There is the fear that agencies funding NGOs in re- source poor societies, where there is no evidence of medium-term capacity to absorb these costs, are simply reinforcing what some have termed the “global soup kitchen” or globalization of social welfare. There is there- fore a need to focus attention towards the goal of sustain- ability through local resource mobilization. As of now there is no evidence in the country of such resource mobilization through tax-based state funding, local philan- thropic action or income-generating schemes. Under such circumstances sustainability is simply a myth. On the contrary local NGOs are noted for their dependence on diplomatic services and perpetual support from inter- national donor organizations (IRED, 1998b). With globalization and international trade, NGOs have become increasingly influential in World Affairs and are consulted by both governments and international organi- zations. These organizations are having a significant impact on the social, political and economic life of their target populations. However there is the question of sus- tainability as local NGOs in Cameroon derive most of their inspiration and resources from foreign NGOs. In this way both foreign and local NGOs serve as agents of recolonisation rather than as liberators as they pose as new missionaries. NGOs encounter a number of problems. Some local NGOs that gain access to official funds through related government projects geared at rural poverty alleviation report encountering confronting bureaucratic bottle-necks in their functioning which creates room for masquerading to gain access to official funds. The majority of local organizations suffer from a weak organizational network. There is need to appreciate the issues surrounding capa- city building beyond technical and sectoral aims. Capa- city building must contribute to the long-term organiza- tional strengthening, or the institutional development of civil society as a whole. Local NGOs also suffer from management problems. NGO leaders and staff are sometimes too reluctant to think about organizational questions because it might interfere with their primary task of using almost all funds 412 Afr. J. Environ. Econ. Manage. for working with poor people and should not spend mo- ney on administrative questions. A second set of pro- blems revolves around the view that many NGOs are established by people searching for alternatives to main- stream thinking and there is sometimes the feeling that management issues could be dealt with on an ad hoc informal basis may grow in size and develop more com- plex, multi-dimensional programmes, and suddenly find that they need new ideas, systems and procedures to cope. 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