There is growing interest in designing and implementing climate change mitigation and adaptation (M + A) in synergy in the forest and land use sectors. However, there is limited knowledge on how the planning and promotion of synergies between M + A can be operationalized in the current efforts to mitigate climate change through forest carbon. This paper contributes to fill this knowledge gap by exploring ways of planning and promoting M + A synergy outcomes in forest carbon initiatives. It examines eight guidelines that are widely used in designing and implementing forest carbon initiatives. Four guiding principles with a number of criteria that are relevant for planning synergy outcomes in forest carbon activities are proposed. The guidelines for developing forest carbon initiatives need to demonstrate that (1) the health of forest ecosystems is maintained or enhanced; (2) the adaptive capacity of forest-dependent communities is ensured; (3) carbon and adaptation benefits are monitored and verified; and (4) adaptation outcomes are anticipated and planned in forest carbon initiatives. The forest carbon project development guidelines can encourage the integration of adaptation in forest carbon initiatives. However, their current efforts guiding projects and programs to deliver biodiversity and environmental benefits, ecosystem services, and socioeconomic benefits are not considered explicitly as efforts towards enhancing adaptation. An approach for incentivizing and motivating project developers, guideline setters, and offset buyers is imperative in order to enable existing guidelines to make clear contributions to adaptation goals. We highlight and discuss potential ways of incentivizing and motivating the explicit planning and promotion of adaptation outcomes in forest carbon initiatives.

Cameroon like other developing countries is developing approaches to respond to national and global climate change adaptation and mitigation commitments. Sufficient information on the interplay between sector policies and the causes, impacts and response to climate change is relevant for developing sustainable climate change response plans. Using the agriculture sector as a case, this paper examines this interplay in the context of the humid forest zone (HFZ) of Cameroon. Drawing on secondary information from agriculture sector strategies, forest cover change, climate vulnerability and agriculture systems in the HFZ, we found that: (i) the objectives of agriculture expansion and avoided deforestation and forest degradation are at cross-roads; (ii) agriculture as a livelihood strategy is vulnerable to climate variability and change; (iii) strengthening agriculture production systems technically, materially and financially are main suggestions for climate resilient and low carbon emission agriculture practices. We highlight barriers that need to be addressed for the agriculture intensification mechanism, i.e. the agriculture research and extension services in Cameroon to respond to the needs of adaptation and carbon emission reductions from avoided deforestation. These barriers and others would be addressed if their financial, technology and capacity building needs are carefully evaluated as Cameroon mobilizes resources for the implementation of its National Determined Contributions.

As the role of forests in climate change mitigation is explicitly recognized in the Paris Agreement, the need to enhance the adoption of Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) practices is crucial. Therefore, this paper aims at identifying and evaluating barriers in adopting SFM practices in the context of forest carbon emission reductions. A total of 15 barriers in adopting SFM practices are listed through literature and expert inputs. Using Cameroon as a case study, the listed barriers are then evaluated by experts to determine their relative importance using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. According to our findings, the ‘Regulatory and Legislative frameworks’ barrier category was attributed to the highest importance among other categories, in adopting SFM practices in the forestry sector. ‘Inadequate political will and incentive to enforce regulations’ appears to be the major obstacle in adopting SFM practices in Cameroon. As carbon emission reduction initiatives are being developed, there is need to move from broad to concrete suggestions that will overcome these barriers. However, proper diagnosis is necessary in order to target barriers with the right incentives and enabling conditions that will support carbon programs and projects to deliver effective emission reductions.

Tree-growing support programs are being implemented widely to enhance farmers’ involvement in land restoration schemes. However, the reasons why farmers will continue to engage in restoration activities when support programs end, considered here as “behavioural persistence” has not been sufficiently explored. Taking the Mogazang landscape of Cameroon as a case study, a mixed methods approach involving farmers surveys, key informant interviews and the review of literature, was applied to investigate the factors that influence the behavioural persistence of tree-growing farmers. Drawing on the concept of behavioural persistence, the findings revealed that farmers decision to continue restoration practices on their farm plots after the end of support programs is influenced by a mix of factors, among which positive attitude and perception of farmers, constant motivation, financial profitability, community influence, played an important role. Findings also showed that farmers behavioural persistence aspects were not adequately addressed during the design of support programs and the inception phase of support programs did not prepare farmers psychologically about post support programs. This empirical investigation of farmers behavioural persistence has provided information that needs to be taken into consideration when assessing the feasibility, including the designing and implementation of planned tree-growing restoration support programs and related policies in Cameroon and other countries.