ABSTRACT
Forests are increasingly sites of contestation. This contestation exists on a number of different levels and takes many forms. One example is that the actual definition of the term 'forest' is deeply problematic; what exactly do we mean by forest? Who defines what forest is? Where are forests located? Locally, policy-makers, academics, local residents and migrants all produce different definitions. Similarly, non-African understandings of forest (themselves far from monolithic) differ markedly from the myriad definitions of individuals and groups in many parts of West Africa, and the latter are themselves riven with many contestations. Thus in Cameroon many individuals and groups do not distinguish 'forest' from 'bush' (Sharpe, 1998). Others associate 'forest' with Forest Reserve – land managed for the state by the Forestry Department. Still others refer to zoological or botanical gardens as 'forest'. For some groups, distance is significant; 'forests' are remote areas far removed from settlements (ibid.).
