This article attempts to explain how changes in population dynamics and smallholder agriculture have led to increased deforestation in the period of the crisis in Cameroon. These foci are justified by the fact that population growth and shifting cultivation are generally viewed, respectively, as the main cause and agent of deforestation in Central Africa in general and in Cameroon in particular. Other factors contributing to deforestation and forest degradation in Cameroon are logging and the construction of transportation infrastructure.