Cameroon: Gov't Dismisses Allegations of Poor Forest ManagementTags: canada enforcement illegal operations government loggers
The Minister of Forestry and Wildlife, Elvis Ngolle Ngolle has dismissed as false reports by a French Non Governmental Organisation, Les Amis de la Terre , that Cameroon's forest is logged with little or no respect of the law. He was talking within the framework of government communication. The forestry and wildlife boss hinged his presentation on four main axes: report of the French NGO, fight against illegal logging, issuing of licences, and complexity of forest operation.
Les Amis de la Terre
On the report by the French NGO, published on 13 May, 2008, Minister Ngolle Ngolle hailed the organisation for the interest it has on Cameroonian forestry sector, but expressed his surprise at the tone and methodology applied by the organisation in its report. " Les Amis de la Terre, has axed its criticism basically on smaller forest licences", Ngolle Ngolle said. "I do share the idea that smaller licenses are problematic, but we cannot do without them because they emanate from the Cameroon law", he said. He said the preoccupation of government is to make sure holders of smaller licenses, the majority of whom are Cameroonians, respect the law. "We have taken draconian measures to this effect", he said.
Holders of smaller licenses, he said represent 85 per cent of forest exploiters but has a less than 10 per cent influence in the sector. "I agree that part of the problem comes from this group but refuse to accept that all of the problems come from there", he said, stating inter alia that only a serious study on the Cameroonian forest can say how much illegal activity it is and the consequences on the Cameroonian economy.
Illegal Logging
On illegal logging, the Minister of Forestry and Wildlife said there is a problem of poor understanding of the law which is responsible for its poor appreciation of what is legal and what is illegal. "I am not out to say that all is perfect in Cameroon but that illegality in the Cameroonian forestry sector is not as preponderant as people think", he said. Cameroon, he said is presently a model in forest management in the Central African cub region. About 18 per cent of Cameroon's territory is placed under conservation which largely above the 10 per cent of the United Nations 2010 objective. In effect, nine forestry units representing 900,000 hectares of forest is reserved.
The Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, he said, has instituted control missions on the field with the objective of achieving zero tolerance. Many companies caught in the act of illegal logging have been sanctioned. Workers in the Ministry will equally be sanctioned. "Every quarter, we publish the list of those who have been sanction", he said.
Present State of Logging
It was in the 1990s that forest exploitation in Cameroon respected a well defined legal framework, Ngolle Ngolle told pressmen. "Your guess is as mine, that before this period, a lot of forest disappeared from some regions of the country like the Centre province", he said. This state of affairs had to come to an end with the passing of the law on forestry, wildlife and fishery, he said. The said law defines the criteria for the issuance of licenses for forest exploitation. In fact, the law defines many things related to the forest which it splits into permanent and non permanent.
The various types of small licenses issues to exploiters include: special product license, recuperation authorisation, communal forest and community forest.
© AllAfrica.com -- 2008-06-16
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