Wit its geographical position known to be characterized by
latitudes 2 and 13 degrees North of the Equator and longitudes 8 and 16 degrees
East of Greenwich meridian, Cameroon has the greater portion of its territory
in the Equatorial rainforest which is home to a large variety of plants and
animal species.
As one would imagine, forests and trees provide a source of
living for many persons. But unfortunately, much of these forests and trees
illegally harvested provides a major source of income to corrupt
officials ; and very little to the state. The country’s timber market
employs some 45.000 people, three times more than the number employed by
export-oriented companies. Approximately 75% of the timber harvested for
domestic use is produced by chainsaw millers operating without title – in other
words, illegally.
In an attempt to avoid large scale environmental disaster,
many in-depth research studies were conducted and their findings brought before
the government so that concrete actions should be taken. This is how, CIFOR [Center For International Forestry
Research] who’s work mainly serves to advance human wellbeing,
environmental conservation and equity by conducting research and so inform
policies and practices that affect forests in developing countries, one of the
15 centres within the Consultative Group
On International Agricultural Research [CGIAR]. www.cifor.org www.climatechange.org
Cameroon’s forest law divides the forest estate into « Permanent » and « Non permanent » domains.
The permanent forest domain includes land which is allocated for permanent
forest use,industry, sustainable timber harvesting and biodiversity
conservation. The non-permanent forest domain includes forests which can be
used for other land use purposes and this is where most of the small scale
[illegal] chainsaw milling now takes place. However, because of the ever
increasing search for money, the growing scarcity of timber makes it increasingly
likely that chainsaw millers will seek to source timber in the permanent forest
domain. Indeed, this situation is already happening in certain areas.
Nevertheless, the government being aware of the intentions
of these illegal businesses, it has set up control points and services in and
around concession limits with respect to nearby villages in order to detect the
overall movement of timber from these places [check out illegal logging]
Timber extraction is the most widespread industry in the Congo
basin where timber concessions occupy between 30 and 45 percent of all
remaining tropical forests and more than 70 percent in some countries.
Talking about another
very negative practice that affects our country just like the others, experts
say commercial logging in countries of the Congo Basin, one of the world’s few
remaining tropical rainforest regions, has come under heavy criticism for its
role in fueling the illegal trade in bushmeat and elephant ivory.
Doug Cress of the Great
Ape Survival Partnership (GRASP) of the U.N. Environment Program insists there
is no room to make exceptions for hunting in the case of the great apes and
other primates and blamed logging for much of the onslaught. www.un-grasp.org
“If all bushmeat
hunting took place in a traditional setting, that would be different. But now
there are gangs with AK-47s and logging and mining companies that are coming in
bringing entire cities with them that need to be fed. Some people are given guns
and bullets to go out and shoot meat to feed the crews, and they shoot the
easiest animals to find—the apes and chimpanzees. When one of them goes down,
the others come running to help, and they are easy to shoot,”
Dr. Heather Eves, a
wildlife biologist and member of the Bushmeat Crisis Task Force, points to the
irony that while logging companies have created much-needed
infrastructure—particularly roads—at the same time they have been “the main
drivers of the extremely rapid increase in bushmeat trade and consumption over
the past 15 to 20 years.” www.bushmeat.org
With this critical
situations, we need law enforcement, but the law is not enforced. What we see
is a parody of law enforcement, every now and then.
In a
bid to recover the finances lost since 2 decades now, the cameroonian
government has stopped the Ministry Of Forests And Fauna [MINFOF] with respect
to the collecting of taxes in the sector of timber exploitation and has handed
the powers to the Ministry Of Finance which now collects 15 to 20 billion CFA
Francs [23-30 million Euros] a year in forestry taxes, mainly from industrial
timber concessions. This figure would be considerably higher if reforms were
introduced for the domestic timber sector. All this in a bid to permit the
forest guards do their job with assurance and no second thoughts.
