An Overview of Logging in Cameroon
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Linking forests & people www.globalforestwatch.org AN OVERVIEW OF LOGGING IN CAMEROON An Initiative of WORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE A Global Forest Watch Cameroon Report What Is Global Forest Watch? GFW’s principal role is to provide access to better What is GFW Cameroon? information about development activities in forests Approximately half of the forests that initially cov- and their environmental impact. By reporting on Global Forest Watch Cameroon (GFW Cameroon) ered our planet have been cleared, and another 30 development activities and their impact, GFW fills is an affiliate of the international Global Forest percent have been fragmented, or degraded, or a vital information gap. By making this information Watch program. It is currently composed of three replaced by secondary forest. Urgent steps must be accessible to everyone (including governments, Cameroonian nongovernmental environmental taken to safeguard the remaining fifth, located industry, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), organizations (NGOs): Cameroon Environmental mostly in the Amazon Basin, Central Africa, forest consumers, and wood consumers), GFW Watch (CEW), the Centre pour l’Environnement et le Canada, Southeast Asia, and Russia. As part of promotes both transparency and accountability. We Développement (CED), and the Centre International this effort, the World Resources Institute in 1997 are convinced that better information about forests d’Etudes Forestières et Environnementales (CIEFE). started Global Forest Watch (GFW). will lead to better decisionmaking about forest A national advisory committee (Groupe de Suivi)— management and use, which ultimately will result including representatives from national and inter- Global Forest Watch is identifying the threats in forest management regimes that provide a full range national NGOs, government management agencies, weighing on the last frontier forests—the world’s of benefits for both present and future generations. and research institutions—offers periodic review remaining large, relatively undisturbed forest input on GFW Cameroon’s activities and products. ecosystems. By 2005, our goal is to have Global To this end, GFW (i) tracks existing and planned The GFW international network, with help from Forest Watch chapters up and running in 21 countries. development activities, (ii) identifies the actors— other partners, provides technical and financial These nations account for about 80 percent of the including companies, individuals, government support for GFW Cameroon, with the goal of world’s remaining forests. In the longer term, GFW agencies, and others—engaged in this development, building capacity for independent, locally driven monitoring will extend to nonfrontier forest regions, (iii) monitors the implementation of laws and regu- monitoring and reporting within the country. where ongoing development threatens smaller tracts lations established in the interest of forest stewardship, of unique, and often highly diverse, natural forests. and (iv) provides data on forest ecosystems to All data presented in this report are available at highlight the environmental and economic tradeoffs www.globalforestwatch.org or by contacting us at GFW is an independent network of national and/or that development options entail. the address provided on the inside back cover. local organizations that monitor and map logging, mining, road-building, and other forest development GFW is an information service. Our mandate is within major forested regions of the world. Each strictly limited to providing objective, credible, organization gathers and reports similar information, peer-reviewed data, and making that information with an emphasis on comparable, preferably mapped widely available. information that covers entire forest ecosystems. All Global Forest Watch publications are available We also recognize that forests straddle political from the World Resources Institute as well as on boundaries. At the global level, we hope that the our website at www.globalforestwatch.org. publication of national reports using comparable data and mapping techniques will provide, in the aggregate, a valuable picture of global trends in development activities and environmental condi- tions in the world’s forests. AN OVERVIEW OF LOGGING IN CAMEROON Linking forests & people www.globalforestwatch.org A Global Forest Watch Cameroon Report A Global Forest Watch Report prepared by: Henriette Bikié, Jean-Gaël Collomb, Louis Djomo, Susan Minnemeyer, Roger Ngoufo, and Samuel Nguiffo Contributions by: Théophile Ndjodo, Ousseynou Ndoye, Laurie Clark, Elizabeth Selig, and Dirk Bryant Global Forest Watch is an Initiative of the World Resources Institute 2000 World Resources Institute Washington, DC www.wri.org/wri/ Carollyne Hutter Editor Hyacinth Billings Production Manager Designed by: Papyrus Design Group, Washington, DC Cover photographs © 1998 JG Collomb © 1997 John Siddle © 1997 David Wilkie Each World Resources Institute report represents a timely, scholarly treatment of a subject of public concern. WRI takes responsibility for choosing the study topics and guaranteeing its authors and researchers freedom of inquiry. It also solicits and responds to the guidance of advisory panels and expert reviewers. Unless otherwise stated, however, all the interpretation and findings set forth in WRI publications are those of the authors. Copyright © 2000 World Resources Institute. All rights reserved. ISBN 1-56973-437-2 ENGLISH ISBN 1-56973-438-0 FRENCH Printed in the United States of America on chlorine-free paper with recycled content of 50%, 20% of which is post-consumer. CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 3 FOREWORD .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 4 TERMINOLOGY ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6 KEY FINDINGS ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 7 SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 8 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 9 ASSESSING LOGGING DEVELOPMENT IN CAMEROON ................................................................................................................................................. 10 How Much Forest Remains? .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 10 How Are the Forests Valued? ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 12 Wood Products ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 12 Biodiversity ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 15 Ecosystem Services ................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 15 How is Forest Development Evolving? ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 18 Who is Logging Cameroon’s Forests? ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 23 How is Forest Development Legislated and Regulated? ............................................................................................................................................................ 25 How Does Compliance Align with Existing Legislation? ......................................................................................................................................................... 28 Results of the Coarse-scale Assessment ............................................................................................................................................................................... 28 Results of the Fine-scale Assessment ..................................................................................................................................................................................