Professional Documents
Culture Documents
ISSN No:-2456-2165
Abstract:- The effects of environmental degradation have perturbations caused by the ban has compelled subsistence
stimulated steady growth in policies and measures to marketplaces in Cameroon to create coping mechanisms. So
protect the environment by national governments far, policies in place have failed to match the urgency of the
worldwide. In Africa, studies have shown that most challenges faced by the subsistence economy.
governments institute measures to protect the
environment with little or no consideration of the socio- It is important to highlight that environmental policies
ecological impacts on the population. In this study, the and their linkages with both social and economic policies are
author has conducted semi structured interviews with 55 generally less well understood by most African
subsistence consumers in rural Cameroon exploring the Governments, including Cameroon. These linkages need to
impacts of the ban on plastic shopping bags on the be strengthened to support sustainable development. Studies
population as well resilience strategies adopted by rural have predominately focused on setting and not implementing
Cameroonians to mitigate the challenges imposed by the policies to protect the climate system against human induced
ban. The findings provide new insights into how change. In addition, the impact of sustainable development
subsistence marketplaces device strategies to overcome policies on the subsistence economy has largely been ignored
stressful situations. (Putri et al., 2013)
F. Copping strategies adopted by the respondents In Cameroon, the ban on plastic shopping bags stands
Life in subsistence conditions imposes numerous out as a shining example to the country’s larger efforts to
constrains (Viswanathan et al.2009). The ban on plastic align with international priorities. However, despite measures
shopping bags imposed not only material resource constraints put in place to enforce the ban such as arrests and fines, this
but also informational constrains to the respondents. In the study uncovered that some respondents did not respect the
data, the researcher observed numerous coping mechanisms ban. In other words, they still made use of non-biodegradable
(behavioural and psychological) created by the people to plastic shopping bags. When the researcher asked Okole
master, tolerate, reduce or minimize the constrains imposed whether he still used the banned plastic shopping bags for
by the ban. The coping strategies have been grouped into shopping, he admitted using it when he was fortunate to find
seven themes. These include: violation of the ban; the use of it. The study also found that retailers secretly made the bags
locally sourced material for parceling; the use of available to their customers to attract sales. Some community
biodegradable plastic shopping bags when it is convenient; members complained that the biodegradable shopping bags
patronizing retailers and dealers who clandestinely provide were very costly hence they can’t afford. In addition, the
plastic shopping bags and reusing plastic shopping bags. bags are largely unavailable in most retail outlets. These, in
Violation of the ban: combination with the lack of awareness of the purpose of the
ban compelled some community members to continue using