Customary rights and interethnic relationships in the African tropical rainforests

虽然中部非洲国家的新森林法第一次提到了人们对森林的习惯权利，但人们对传统森林使用的实际情况和承认还没有清楚地了解。协调各利益相关者之间利益冲突的方法还不完善。这项研究指出了中部非洲国家最近修订的森林法中的各种问题。它还根据在喀麦隆和其他国家的实地工作记录了实际的传统土地和资源使用情况。还澄清了非木材森林产品对生计和商业用途的重要性。利用全球定位系统绘制森林习惯使用的时空模式并使其形象化，从而促进当地不同群体对森林使用的相互了解。为森林资源的可持续利用提供了基础数据。

While new forestlaws in central African countries refer to the people's customary rights to the forests for the first time, actual situation and recognition of customary forest use have not been clearly understood. The way to adjusting the conflicting interests among various stakeholders are not well established. This study pointed out various problems in the recently revised forest laws in central African countries. It also documented actual customary land and resource uses, based on the fieldworks in Cameroon and other countries. The importance of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) for subsistence and commercial purposes were also clarified. The spatio-temporal patterns of customary forest use are mapped and visualized by using GPS, thus facilitating the mutual understanding of forest uses by different groups of local people. In these ways, the study provided the basic data for establishing sustainable use of the forest resources.