Pierre Balomog

Structural Adjustment Program and Sustainable Development in Cameroon: a Case Study of the Agricultural and Forest Sectors Pierre Balomog

The problem in this study was to confront the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) with the criteria for Sustainable Development formulated in view to know whether it is a sustainable program. The case study of the agricultural and forest sectors constitutes the scope of the current study where the New Agricultural (NAP) P and the New Forest Policies (NFP) were formulated respectively as supportive policies to the SAP- The assessment of the NAP and the NFP in the light of Sustainable Development criteria has shown that these policies could not promote Sustainable Development. In fact they are ill suited to the country's realities as they were designed without considering the issues of the population being already weakened by poverty, and the State lacking financial resources due the crisis. This has led to total dependence on natural resources for the first to survive and for the second to generate revenues thus, causing damages to the environment and health risks to people. A series of recommendations have been suggested, and if observed, are believed to bring a synergy between the SAP and Sustainable Development in Cameroon.