INTERACTIVE FOREST ATLAS of CAMEROON Version 3.0 | Overview Report
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INTERACTIVE FOREST ATLAS OF CAMEROON Version 3.0 | Overview Report WRI.ORG Interactive Forest Atlas of Cameroon - Version 3.0 a Design and layout by: Nick Price [email protected] Edited by: Alex Martin TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 Foreword 4 About This Publication 5 Abbreviations and Acronyms 7 Major Findings 9 What’s New In Atlas Version 3.0? 11 The National Forest Estate in 2011 12 Land Use Allocation Evolution 20 Production Forests 22 Other Production Forests 32 Protected Areas 32 Land Use Allocation versus Land Cover 33 Road Network 35 Land Use Outside of the National Forest Estate 36 Mining Concessions 37 Industrial Agriculture Plantations 41 Perspectives 42 Emerging Themes 44 Appendixes 59 Endnotes 60 References 2 WRI.org F OREWORD The forests of Cameroon are a resource of local, Ten years after WRI, the Ministry of Forestry and regional, and global significance. Their productive Wildlife (MINFOF), and a network of civil society ecosystems provide services and sustenance either organizations began work on the Interactive Forest directly or indirectly to millions of people. Interac- Atlas of Cameroon, there has been measureable tions between these forests and the atmosphere change on the ground. One of the more prominent help stabilize climate patterns both within the developments is that previously inaccessible forest Congo Basin and worldwide. Extraction of both information can now be readily accessed. This has timber and non-timber forest products contributes facilitated greater coordination and accountability significantly to the national and local economy. among forest sector actors. In terms of land use Managed sustainably, Cameroon’s forests consti- allocation, there have been significant increases tute a renewable reservoir of wealth and resilience. in protected areas and lands under decentralized Sufficiently intact, they will perpetually provide management, such as council and community for- ecosystem service benefits at the local and global ests. Though illegal logging is trickier to measure, scale. The World Resources Institute is proud to analyses from WRI and Chatham House point to a have worked alongside civil society organizations significant reduction in such activities within the and the Government of Cameroon for more than a formal timber sector in Cameroon over the past ten decade to this end. years. While significant obstacles remain to achiev- ing sustainable and equitable management of Cam- Access to accurate, credible, and timely informa- eroon’s forest resources, it is important to recognize tion at a scale appropriate for the decisions or the impressive progress that has been made. actions being taken is a key enabler of improved forest governance. By ensuring that information Ensuring that Cameroon’s forests provide suste- on logging permits, protected areas, community nance for current and future generations is a shared forests, and other land use allocations is regularly challenge for all actors. Improved access to forest made available to the public through the Interac- information and capacity to act will better equip tive Forest Atlas of Cameroon, the Government concerned stakeholders to face these challenges. of Cameroon has enhanced forest sector reform. In order for information to lead to actions on the ground, stakeholders must be engaged and able to manage that information and apply it to decision- making processes. Together, the World Resources Institute and Cameroon’s Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife have invested significantly in the train- ing of government, civil society, and private sector actors to better use high quality information in order to improve management and monitoring of Manish Bapna Cameroon’s forests. Interim President World Resources Institute Interactive Forest Atlas of Cameroon - Version 3.0 3 ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION ACCOMPANYING MATERIAL The Interactive Forest Atlas of Cameroon is a living forest information This report is a companion document to the Atlas, which also system hosted in the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife (MINFOF) and includes the following. supported by a joint team including members from MINFOF and the World Resources Institute (WRI). Built on a geographic information The Interactive Forest Atlas of Cameroon (V3.0). The CD-ROM system (GIS) platform, the atlas provides unbiased and up-to-date includes a map-viewing application allowing users to display information on the Cameroonian forest sector. One of its main objec- maps in detail, pan and zoom to areas of interest, view data layers tives is to strengthen forest management and land use planning by individually or in combination, query datasets, and print maps of bringing all major land use categories onto the same standardized their choice. Free map-viewing software (ESRI ArcReader) is also platform. While the underlying Forest Atlas database is kept up-to- included. date by the MINFOF-WRI team as new information becomes avail- able, periodic publications of the data and database are made publicly A poster. This paper map presents the overall situation of forest available through the atlas report, poster, and mapping application. exploitation in Cameroon in 2011. This report and associated material is the third in a series of interac- Users may also access the Interactive Forest Atlas of Cameroon and tive forest atlases of Cameroon. Readers and users of version 3.0 associated products and data online at either http://www.wri.org/forests are encouraged to consult versions 1.0 (2005) and 2.0 (2007) for or www.minfof.cm. All the components of the Atlas are published in additional and more detailed information regarding Cameroon’s both English and French. forest estate. Particular issues covered more extensively in these previous versions include discussions of forest legislation, forest land use classification categories, and the recent history of the forest estate. Versions 1.0 and 2.0 also offer more extensive cartographic AUTHORS representation. Online versions of these reports, interactive maps, Text and atlas data are available at http://www.wri.org/forests. For more information on areas in which the Atlas has had an impact since Benoît Mertens, Gideon Neba Shu, Matthew Steil, version 1.0 was released, please refer to Appendix 7 at the end of and Bertrand Tessa. this document. Cartography This Interactive Forest Atlas of Cameroon (V3.0) overview report provides the reader with the land use allocation and land cover types Gideon Neba Shu, Jean-Daniel Mendomo Biang, Andrew Leach, in the national forest estate through June 2011, recent trends in Duclaire Mbouna, Pierre Mboua, and Adeline Feuzing. production forests, and an expanded discussion of recent develop- ments with community forests. Updated information on protected Coordination and Online Products areas and the public and private road network is also featured, along Pierre Methot, Matthew Steil, Susan Minnemeyer, Andrew Leach, with preliminary information about mining concessions likely to Pascal Douard, and Huguette Ngilambi. affect Cameroon’s forests. Additionally, this report highlights several practical examples of its use and outlines future directions and ap- plications of the Atlas. 4 WRI.org ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS AAC Annual Harvestable Area (Assiette annuelle de coupe) OLB Origin and Legality of Timber (Origine et légalité du ACFCam Association of Council Forests of Cameroon (Associa- bois) tion des communes forestières du Cameroun) OSFAC Central Africa Forest Satellite Observatory (Observa- AEB Timber Evacuation Permit (Autorisation d’enlèvement toire satellitaire des forêts d’Afrique centrale) des bois) PA Protected area ALOS Advanced Land Observation Satellite PAF2C Program in Support of Council Forests in Cameroon APC Personal Logging Permit (Autorisation personnelle de (Programme d’appui aux forêts communales du Cam- coupe d’arbre) eroun) ARB Timber Recovery Permit (Autorisation de récupération PFE Permanent Forest Estate de bois) PMA Provisional management agreement ASTER Advanced Space-Borne Thermal Emission and ProPSFE Project Monitoring the Impact of the Forest and Envi- Reflection Radiometer ronment Sector Program BV Bureau Veritas PSFE Forest and Environment Sector Program (Programme CARPE Central Africa Regional Program for the sectoriel forêts-environnement) Environment (USAID) REDD+ Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degrada- CETELCAF Forest Mapping and Remote Sensing Center tion and Enhancing Carbon Stock (Centre de télédétection et de cartographie RIGC Strengthening Initiatives in Support to Community- forestière—MINFOF) Based Management of Forests and Wildlife Resources CIFOR Center for International Forestry Research (Renforcement des initiatives pour la gestion com- CoC Chain-of-custody (ref: FSC) munautaire des ressources forestières et fauniques— CRS Catholic Relief Services under MINFOF) CTFC Technical Center for Council Forests (Centre technique SDIAF Subdepartment of Forest Inventories and Management de la forêt communale) (Sous-direction des inventaires et aménagements DFID UK Department for International Development forestiers—MINFOF) DMC Disaster Monitoring Constellation SDSU South Dakota State University ESRI Environmental Systems Research Institute SGS Société Générale de Surveillance FESP Forest and Environment Sector Program SIGIF Automated Forestry Information Management System FLEGT Forest Law Enforcement, Governance, and Trade (Système informatisé de gestion des informations FM Forest management (ref: FSC) forestières) FMA Final management agreement SMP Simple management plan FMU Forest