Power imbalances, social inequalities and gender roles as barriers to true participation in national park management: The case of Korup National Park, Cameroon

Forest resource management has undergone profound changes in the last decades, including a tendency to apply participatory approach that seeks involve local communities. However, success of tends remain dependent on historical and societal context question. To understand how participation forest communities been changing as result enforcement or non-enforcement practices, we carried out study Cameroon's Korup National Park, with villages within outside park continue utilise resources park. The empirical research included focus group discussions semi-structured interviews three key informant selected community members, government officials, non-governmental organisations involved park's management. Research findings show although system changed various policy documents, over past years from top-down approach, centralised state is still operational national park, approaches used merely legitimizing tool. We existing horizontal power relations (such gender roles communities) vertical government-community dimensions) simultaneously impact outcomes ground. Finally, our case shows governance structures reproduce inequalities exclusions originated colonial times through path dependency influence livelihoods day-to-day survival people