Managers

Most forest land belongs to the state. The forest zoning plan for the southern part of the country subdivided some 14 million hectares into permanent forest domain (nearly 9 million ha of classified forests or forests slated for classification) and non-permanent forest domain (referred to as the ¿agro-forestry strip¿) comprising some 5 million hectares. The permanent forest is mainly state-owned (private state forests, production forests, protection forests, etc.) and communal forests (privately owned by the community, some 250 000 ha). The non-permanent forest comprises a multi-use area of forest lands which may be used for purposes other than forestry, and includes community and other forests, such as privately owned forests, agroforestry areas, and so forth.

There are six management categories: the governmental sector, the national forestry development service (ONADEF), the private sector, the communal sector, the village communities and private individuals.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MINEF) is primarily responsible for policy formulation and implementation. A parastatal agency under MINEF, ONADEF, is responsible for forest inventories, forest management, reforestation, wood promotion and desertification control. ONADEF also has a remote sensing and forest-mapping centre. Industrial harvesting is managed by MINEF¿s Directorate of Forests, with a sub-directorate (SDIAF) responsible for forest management and inventories, and a community forest unit with comparable terms of reference for community forests: MINEF also has a Directorate of Wildlife and Protected Areas for protected area management.

Other ministries whose work has links with forest management include the Ministry of Trade and Industrial Development (MINDIC) in charge of forest industries. The Ministry of Scientific and Technical Research (MINREST) works with MINEF on the orientations and agenda of forest research through the Institute of Agricultural Research for Development (IRAD), which also does forestry research. About 100 NGOs are now working in Cameroon. There are several training centres, primarily the University of Dschang and the Garoua Wildlife School. The private sector is equally active, with the main European groups present on the ground being Rougier, FITCAM, SIBAF, KIEFFER and others.

Public participation in forest management

The new participatory forestry law of 1994 calls for public participation in the design and implementation of forest management policy, enlisting the participation of all social partners from the governmental to the private sector and people living in and around the forest. This innovative new forest policy involves rural people in policy implementation through the promotion of communal and community forestry, ensuring that state-owned production forest management consider the interests of the rural public, according them substantial incentive benefits to enhance the protection of forest ecosystems. Concessionaires are in fact required to manage their forest concessions at their own expense under state supervision and in constant cooperation with people living in and around the concession. Under forest management law, they are also obliged to link the FMU with forest industries, thus providing opportunities for stable employment. The national directives for sustainable management of the natural forest stipulate that local populations are to be the first considered for these jobs. Local people are to receive 10 percent of the forest fees and taxes, and 40 percent of these fees are to go back to the local village or district. The funds are used for community projects identified in cooperation with local people and authorities. The budget also stipulates that an amount of 1 000 F/m³ of timber sold go back to the local population.

Funds from the community forests are to be spent in line with the general interests of the local villages. Each community may manage up to 5 000 hectares of forest, in accordance with a fifteen-year contract signed with MINEF. This management agreement does not confer ownership rights over the forest to the local community. The community has user rights which it exercises under state control, to sell timber, or to harvest with a permit or under personal authorization. As of 2001, seven forest communities held such contracts, and 14 simple management plans had been approved for an area of 16 000 hectares, mostly for production purposes.

last updated: Tuesday, November 24, 2009