Challenges to governing sustainable forest food: Irvingia spp. from southern Cameroon Verina Ingram a,b, ⁎, Marcus Ewane c , Louis Njie Ndumbe d , Abdon Awono a a Center for International Forestry Research, BP 2008, Messa, Yaoundé, Cameroon b Forest and Nature Conservation Policy Group, Wageningen UR, P.O. Box 47, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands c Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine School of Pharmacy, 1858 West Grandview Boulevard, Erie, PA 16509 – 1025, USA d University of Dschang, Faculty of Agronomy and Agricultural Sciences, BP 222, Dschang, Cameroon abstract article info Article history: Received 16 May 2016 Received in revised form 21 December 2016 Accepted 22 December 2016 Available online xxxx Across the Congo Basin, bush mango (Irvingia spp.) nuts have been harvested from forest landscapes for consump- tion, sold as a foodstuff and for medicine for centuries. Data on this trade however are sparse. A value chain approach was used to gather information on stakeholders in the chain from the harvesters in three major production areas in Cameroon to traders in Cameroon, Nigeria, and Equatorial Guinea, the socio-economic values, environmental sustainability and governance. Around 5190 people work in the complex chain in Cameroon with an estimated 4109 tons harvested on average annually in the period 2007 to 2010. Bush mango incomes contribute on average to 31% of harvester's annual incomes and dependence increases for those further from the forest. Customary rules govern access to resources. Although regulations exist, most trade is illegal, with corruption and collective action governing access to markets. The majority of nuts harvested are sustainably collected. Although 51% of the harvest is sourced from the forest, trees are also managed on cultivated land. Forest degradation and deforestation threaten the species. Policy measures such as linking stakeholders, promoting cultivation, pragmatic regulation, and supporting processer groups may make trade in this forest food more sustainable. © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Irvingia spp. Value chain governance Non-timber forest products Forest policy Rural livelihoods 1. Introduction Cameroon has persistently had a low level of development and gen- der equality (UNDP, 2013). Almost half of the population lives in rural areas and around 40% of land area is covered by dense humid lowland forest, which covers southern Cameroon (de Wasseige et al., 2012) In this context, non-timber forest products (NTFPs) have been used for subsistence and trade for centuries (Reader, 1998), and their commerce appears to be increasing (Lescuyer et al., 2011). In 1997 over 1100 traders were involved in the trade of NTFPs from the humid forest zone valued US$ 1.75 million (Ndoye, Pérez and Eyebe, 1997/98). In 1998, NTFPs in Southwest and Northwest of Cameroon were valued at US$ 19 million (CERUT-AIDEnvironment, 1999) and in 2009, five NTFPs traded in the humid zone were worth US$ 54 million, employing 45,000 people (Ingram et al., 2010; Ingram, 2014a; Awono et al., 2016). More people are engaged in NTFP trade than in the formal and informal timber sector (Lescuyer et al., 2011). Although harvesting and trading NTFPs in Cameroon is largely informal and small scale (Eba'a Atyi et al., 2013), interest in NTFPs has increased due to their role in poverty re- duction, conservation, and food security (Sunderland et al., 2013). Achieving and balancing these objectives is however extremely difficult (Kusters, 2009). Growing demand has led to a number of high volume and value NTFP markets. However wild harvests can intensify stress on wild populations, increasing the possibility of over-exploitation and possible local extinction (Clark and Sunderland, 2004). Wild popu- lations are also threatened by continued high rates of deforestation and degradation (0.1% and 0.6% respectively per annum for the decade to 2010) (de Wasseige et al., 2016). Such pressures are illustrated by the use and trade of products known collectively as bush mango in the Southwest region, mangue sauvage, ndo'o, and andok in Centre, South and Littoral regions, and peké in the East Region of Cameroon. These products originate from two species: Irvingia gabonensis, a tree bearing fruits with fragrant, juicy flesh and sweet juice, and Irvingia wombolu (also known as dry season mango), a similar tree with smaller, bitter fruit (Tchoundjeu and Atangana, 2007; Oyen, 2007), Both species grow to between 25 m to 40 m tall and co-exist in the lowland tropical humid forests across Central Africa, with the range of Irvingia wombolu extending further east and west (Clark and Sunderland, 2004). The trees are also semi-cul- tivated, maintained in farms and fallows. Bush mango has ranked among the 10 most economically important NTFPs in Congo Basin coun- tries, and has long been one of the most used and valued NTFPs in Cam- eroon (Ingram et al., 2010; Clark and Sunderland, 2004). Irvingia gabonensis is IUCN Red List classified as lower risk/near threatened (needing updating) and Irvingia wombolu is not listed (IUCN, 2013). Al- though no range-wide inventories have been carried out, the 1998 IUCN Red List risk assessment is based on a perception of declining Forest Policy and Economics xxx (2016) xxx–xxx ⁎ Corresponding author at: Center for International Forestry Research, BP 2008, Messa, Yaoundé, Cameroon. E-mail addresses: verina.ingram@wur.nl (V. Ingram), ewanemarc@yahoo.com (M. Ewane), luizenza@yahoo.co.uk (L.N. Ndumbe). FORPOL-01522; No of Pages 9 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2016.12.014 1389-9341/© 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Forest Policy and Economics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/forpol Please cite this article as: Ingram, V., et al., Challenges to governing sustainable forest food: Irvingia spp. from southern Cameroon, Forest Policy and Economics (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2016.12.014