Logique des gestions écologiques de l’aire protégée de kalfou et leurs impacts sur la médecine traditionnelle : une contribution à l’anthropologie médicale

Abstract

The analysis of protected areas evokes a problem of ecological fragility of biodiversity. This is why our research focused on culture and mapping of illegal activities around protected areas: the case of Kalfou in the Far North of Cameroon: a Contribution to Medical Anthropology. The search for the relationship between culture and the protected area of Kalfou poses a problem of the anthropic pressures which persist. However, the main objective was to analyze the vision of a protected area in the cultural universe of the peoples who live around that of Kalfou. To achieve these objectives, the qualitative method was adopted. We started from a main hypothesis according to which, the illegal activities practiced around and in the protected area of Kalfou lead to the loss of plants with pharmaceutical properties, to the disappearance of animal and plant species or to their migration to neighboring sites. , the wanderings of certain mammals (pachyderms, hyenas, etc.) which cause death and enormous damage in their path each year, the breaking of contact between individuals and their deities, the proliferation of new diseases or harmful insects, climate change, etc.To collect useful data for our research subject, we proceeded by sampling. Among the five villages that surround the protected area, we have chosen three. In these villages we find the Tupuri, the Mousgum and the Foulbés; peoples among whom we conducted our surveys. At the end of this research, we obtained results according to which the anthropogenic pressures that persist in this protected area are due to the culture in place, because these peoples have been attached to this space for years, before the colonial period and maintain a close relationship with nature. Despite the texts that formally attest to human activities in the protected area, these peoples have remained indifferent to this. This space is linked to their history and represents a cultural richness that they do not want to cede to the State. Also, interviews were conducted with these peoples (farmers, breeders, hunters, therapists, housewives and traders) in order to understand and learn about their way of life and the relationship they have with the protected area. The data obtained were analyzed under the prism of functionalism, which allows us to identify the importance of the protected area in the culture of this community. Then, ethno-method highlights the group method through ancestral cultural activities. Finally, the theory of conflict which highlights the conflicting human-wildlife relationship and that of interest between the public power and the local community. The results obtained show that all illegal activities around and in the protected area is an expression of the culture of the people of Kalfou.