Chainsaw milling: supplier to local markets - European Tropical ...

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ETFRN NEws 52: DEcEmbER 2010
4.3 chainsaw milling
in community forests
in cameroon
WYNET SMITH
Community forests in Cameroon are intended to involve local people in forest
management and provide them with benefits (brown and schreckenberg 2001;
burnham 2000). studies have documented, however, that these forest managers have
often encountered problems and conflict (Djeumo 2001; nguiffo 1998).
The regulatory framework
Community forests are a category of forest created through the 1994 Cameroon Forestry
Law, which divided forests into permanent and non-permanent zones. The permanent
forest zone includes parks and nature reserves and
large, industrial concessions, which are allocated to
private logging companies.
wiThouT The capaciTy
To produce sawnwood
and To sell iT To The
The non-permanent zone allows the use of industrial
logging and road building. Community forests
up to 5,000 hectares (ha) in size are restricted to The foresTs — aT leasT from Timber
this zone. it consists of fragmented forest areas; as producTs — will remain limiTed.
a consequence, communities often gain access to
small areas of relatively degraded forests with low timber-production potential. however,
these forests are usually more easily accessible as they are often located close to existing
road networks. smaller, short-term industrial logging areas, based on a specific volume of
wood, are also allowed in the non-permanent forest zone.
markeT, The benefiTs of
regulations require communities to invest substantial amounts of time and money before
they are able to acquire rights to the forest, its products and any benefits. members of a
community must first form a community forest association (CFa) and apply to the
ministry of Forests for the right to manage and use a given forest area. 1 according to
some ministry officials, the process — which includes filing an application, development
of a simple management plan and signing of an agreement — can take up to two years.
under the agreement the government entrusts a part of the national forest estate to a
community to be “managed, conserved and used in the interests of the community.” 2
The process is expensive and time-consuming. ministry officials report that the process
could cost from us$4,000–10,000. 3
wynet smith is with the un panel of Experts on liberia.