Combating Land Grabbing and Empowering Local Communities Through Participatory Mapping in the Upper Balong Clan, Cameroon
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53555/ssh.v4i6.632Keywords:
land grabbing, land use maps, participatory mapping, local communities, Upper Balong Clan.Abstract
Most Cameroonian local communities endure severe land grabbing and boundary misapprehension due to ignorance and inadequate documentation from local authorities and the State. It is in furtherance to these drawbacks that, this paper seeks to introduce remedial solutions through land use plans from participatory mapping. Data collection was done through facilitators from the villages of the Upper Balong Clan. It was used in the elaboration of the land use plan scenario which led to the realization of the land use map. The Landsat7-2016 satellite image was used to visualize the land cover and estimate the percentages of breakdown of different land use types in the community. Results from findings divulge that six land use types within the Upper Balong community from the land cover statistics were identified. The surface area planning was produced with a 37.44% crop land extension. The general community land use planning map for the upper Balong Clan was realized by combining the maps from each of the eight villages. Participatory mapping is therefore recommended in other local communities so as to reduce land gabbing and tenure conflicts.
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