It is increasingly becoming clear that reforms based on the claims of local forest communities regarding the right to natural resources will be needed to adequately address issues of sustainable development in Sub-Saharan Africa. The current institutional and policy frameworks of Cameroon and other SSA countries have bestowed exclusive land tenure rights to the State, while curtailing access of local farmers to forest and forest-based resources on which they depend for a living. It is therefore unlikely that successful forest conservation and implementation of REDD+ can be possible without recognition and enforcement of customary tenure. This paper aimed to sense smallholders' perceptions on rights and risks in the current forestry policy arena linked with the climate change debate in Cameroon. Using semistructured questionnaires and focus group discussions about 7 key informants and 66 community forest users were investigated about the current tenure systems and the risks of related conflicts. Findings from the field provide empirical evidence on the sources of conflict. Based on failures and positive elements of community forestry, the lessons learnt could enrich the on-going REDD safeguard debates and serve as guiding milestones towards the effectiveness of this initiative across the country and the continent. 1. Introduction Cameroon is a tropical forest country with about 42% forest cover and hence it is known as an area with high potential to implement the concept of REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation plus sustainable management of forests, conservation of forest carbon, and enhancement of carbon stocks). As in many other developing countries, in Cameroon there are few reliable statistics on forest cover loss, but estimates of annual deforestation range from 0.4 to 1.0 percent [1, 2]. Also the causes of deforestation are uncertain and in Sub-Saharan Africa, those drivers are embedded in socioeconomic relations between the state, the private sector and local people as well as in poor governance within the forestry sector [3]. While smallholder slash and burn agriculture and fuel wood demand are widely believed to be responsible for about 80 percent of deforestation [4], these factors are often secondary effects of tropical timber harvesting that degrades forest cover and contributes to associated declines in biodiversity. In the light of the climate change debate and the role which deforestation plays to stock and sequester CO2 from the atmosphere, the international community came up with a mechanism called REDD
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