ABSTRACT
Cameroon’s oil boom differed markedly from those of Gabon and Venezuela in being much smaller in size and shorter in duration.Thus, agriculture also remained much more important for the national economy – before, during and after the boom. In particular, the shifting cultivation of food crops for a growing population was a stronger vehicle for land-use change than in the two previous country cases.Yet, forest loss and degradation from oil wealth also decreased in this context, though as an effect that was superimposed on preexisting trends. Shifting oil wealth contributed significantly to a boom-and-bust cycle that was stronger than in any other country of this book, allowing us to test for asymmetries in the adjustment to wealth changes.
