The effects of environmental degradation have stimulated steady growth in policies and measures to protect the environment by national governments worldwide. In Africa, studies have shown that most governments institute measures to protect the environment with little or no consideration of the socioecological impacts on the population. In this study, the author has conducted semi structured interviews with 55 subsistence consumers in rural Cameroon exploring the impacts of the ban on plastic shopping bags on the population as well resilience strategies adopted by rural Cameroonians to mitigate the challenges imposed by the ban. The findings provide new insights into how subsistence marketplaces device strategies to overcome stressful situations.