Cameroon:
Community forests in a sea of industrial logging
I visited Cameroon
in December 2006 and again in September 2007. In both trips I
was shocked by the sheer number of trucks loaded with huge logs
of tropical trees that could be seen on almost any road. Most
of them were on their way to the ports from where they would be
exported –unprocessed- to mostly northern countries.
Seeing those “ancient
forests on wheels” traveling along the roads reminded me of Eduardo
Galeano’s book “The open veins of Latin America”. In this case,
these are Central Africa’s open veins (Cameroon, Congo, DR, Congo,
R., Gabon) and the logs represent the life of Africa’s forests
and peoples being mined for northern consumption.
In Cameroon, logging
is carried out in an industrial scale by large corporations –national
and foreign- linked to foreign capital and export-oriented. Paradoxically,
the country appears to be -on paper- quite progressive regarding
the promotion of community forest management. In this respect,
a community forestry law was passed in 1994 which enables communities
to manage their own forests –although with a maximum of 5,000
hectares- under a contract agreed upon with the Ministry of Environment
and Forests and valid for 25 years.
However, the government
continues to support destructive and lucrative industrial logging,
and has apparently no intention of substituting it by community
forest management. A visit made to a community forest proved the
point.
On 12 September we
visited the COVIMOF (Communauté Villageoise de Melombo, Okekak,
Fakele 1&2, Ayos et Akak.) community forest, where the first
thing we learnt was that the process for approval of community
forest management is very slow. In this case, the five communities
involved started the process in 1996 and only in 2004 they managed
to comply with all the requirements for the approval and signing
of the necessary legal agreement. They complain that even now,
when they present the annual management plan, the Forestry Department
takes months to approve it, which means that the community is
left with a very short period of time (1-2 months) to implement
it.
A second lesson is
that communities are on their own regarding protection against
illegal logging in their forest. While the community was still
waiting to receive authorization to begin forestry operations,
a group of illegal loggers started cutting trees in the community
forest. The relevant authorities were informed but no action was
taken. Later on the loggers came back with heavy machinery and
piled up the illegal logs beside a road. Pictures and videos of
the operation were made available to local authorities, but nothing
happened. Finally, the logs were loaded on trucks and taken away
–passing through a government forestry control post- without any
problems.
Forest restoration is another activity where communities cannot
count on government support. This community forest had been already
“creamed” of the best trees by previous logging activities. The
local people are now replanting native trees, but with no government
support. They have established a small tree nursery where they
are producing some 5,000 saplings
of 12 tree species. Last year they planted
more than
1000 trees, with support from CED (Centre pout l’environnement
et le développement) and Greenpeace.
A third lesson is
that they are also on their own in harvesting, transport, industrialization
and commercialization of wood. Technical support and training
is not provided by government but by civil society organizations
such as CED. The machinery for transforming logs into lumber has
also been acquired with NGO support, but much more would be needed
for improving the current industrialization process. Commercialization
is difficult and subject to frequent abuses from buyers. In all
this the government is totally absent.
This example seems
to show that in Cameroon community forests need some type of outside
support, in this case provided by NGOs. However, NGOs lack the
capacity to support many such cases and this role should be played
by government agencies. For this to happen there is one basic
necessary condition: the government’s political will to shift
from industrial logging to community forestry. This is the main
issue, which implies seeking answers to the crucial question of
how to begin a process for achieving changes in that direction.
Success stories –and even failures- from existing community forests
can be extremely useful as part of that process.
In the case of the
COVIMOF community forest, it is important to stress that, in spite
of all the problems, the local people are proud and happy about
their achievements. Most of them can already show a technical
skill in some forestry-related activity which they lacked before.
They are committed to using the forest in a sustainable way and
to equitably share the benefits. In their hands, the forest has
a real chance of being protected.
By Ricardo Carrere,
based on observations and interviews
made during a field trip in Cameroon, September 2007
