Trans-Boundary Conservation Governance of the Cameroon-Nigeria Forest Corridor: A Multilevel Governance Analysis

The Cameroon-Nigeria trans-boundary forest corridor, spanning Cross River State and Taraba State in Nigeria's South South and North East zones and adjacent Cameroonian departments, represents one of the most biologically significant trans-boundary conservation landscapes in Africa, harboring the Cross River gorilla, forest elephant, and hundreds of endemic plant species. Despite its conservation importance, the multilevel governance architecture for managing this shared landscape is fragmented, under-theorized, and poorly aligned across national jurisdictions. This dissertation applies multilevel governance theory and the polycentric governance framework to analyze the structure, coordination mechanisms, and performance of trans-boundary conservation governance across the Cameroon-Nigeria corridor. Data were collected over 22 months of fieldwork in Nigeria and Cameroon through institutional analysis, stakeholder interviews with 90 governance actors across eight governance levels, policy document analysis, and conservation outcome assessment at matched sites across the governance quality gradient. Results reveal a highly polycentric but under-coordinated governance architecture in which jurisdictional fragmentation generates redundancy and inconsistency in conservation rules and enforcement. Cross-boundary information sharing mechanisms are absent or informal, limiting adaptive management capacity. International conservation NGOs function as critical but unaccountable bridging actors between national governance systems. Original contributions include a trans-boundary governance performance index applicable to other African forest corridors and a governance coordination model targeting practical improvements achievable within existing institutional constraints. Keywords: trans-boundary conservation, multilevel governance, Cameroon-Nigeria corridor, South South Nigeria, forest governance