Comparative legal analysis of territorial and agricultural zoning in the Russian Federation and Cameroon

The economic problems associated with the resource-based specialization of the economy, characteristic of the Russian Federation, have a number of similar features to the Republic of Cameroon. Both countries depend on the export of natural resources and play the role of regional powers seeking to develop technological structures. The budget revenues of both countries largely depend on global commodity prices, with a shortage of investments and problems in the field of economic diversification. Being federal and decentralized states, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Cameroon are influenced by common foreign economic contradictions that hinder the development of resource sovereignty in agriculture and other basic sectors. A comparative legal analysis of territorial and agricultural zoning in the Russian Federation and the Republic of Cameroon makes it possible to separate objective geographical and natural factors of system degradation from subjective problems inherent in national development. The purpose of the study is to compare the legal models of territorial and agricultural zoning in the Russian Federation and the Republic of Cameroon, as well as to assess their economic importance for rural management. The methodological basis consists of comparative legal, formal legal, systemic and economic-institutional methods. The study was completed in 2026.; The objects of the analysis were the norms of Russian land, urban planning and land management legislation, documents on land use planning in Cameroon, as well as Russian scientific articles published in peer-reviewed publications of the Higher Attestation Commission list. It is established that the Russian model regulates urban planning zoning, types of permitted use and natural and agricultural zoning in detail, however, agricultural zoning as an independent economic and legal instrument remains insufficiently formalized. The Cameroonian model is more closely related to the problem of coordinating State planning, customary land rights, forest territories, and agricultural development. The economic part of the study shows that the quality of zoning affects investment decisions, cadastral and market value of land, infrastructure costs, the involvement of unused land in circulation and the reduction of land use conflicts. The conclusion is made about the expediency of developing an intersectoral model of agricultural zoning, which combines the legal regime, agroecological data and economic assessment of the territory.