Sold down the river - Salva le Foreste

16SOLD DOWN THE RIVERIt seems to becommon practicethat, for every titrede récupération orvente de coupe,logging companiesexploit more thanfive or six timesthe area legallyallocated andenter otherconcessions(UFAs) in theprocess.has advantages for those wishing to exploit the forest as much as possible. First, they do notrequire a management plan, as concessions (UFAs) do. Second, they are not reserved forCameroonian nationals, as exploitation permits are. Third, they can be sub-contracted which,like the practice of fermage in Gabon (see page 46), diminishes responsibility andaccountability for forest exploitation. It seems to be common practice that, for every titre derécupération or vente de coupe, logging companies exploit more than five or six times the arealegally allocated and enter other concessions (UFAs) in the process. Companies are well awareof monitoring deficiencies. MINEF, the Cameroonian state agency in charge of monitoringcompliance with the forestry legislation, says that it does not have the means to monitor theactivities of the logging companies. Critics, however, say that it does not have the motivation.Provision for a Community Forest Unit was made in the 1994 Forest Law, with theobjective of giving greater self determination over the “development” process to communitiesthan the industrial model of forest exploitation allows. The operations of the Unit withinMINEF have been stifled, however, and for a long time the processing of applications forCommunity Forest Permits has been slow. In theory, the state should provide free technicaladvice for the establishment of community forests. 8 In the meantime, areas of forest for whichcommunity applications were pending have been logged by large-scale operators, dashing anyhopes of establishing small-scale operations. Even when established, Community Forests havebeen illegally logged by others.Monitoring and enforcement of legislation is weak, with critics arguing that there is littlepolitical will at the top to tackle the high levels of illegal logging and trade that characterisethe Cameroonian forestry sector; corruption within the sector greatly hinders implementationof the law. Whether through lack of funding or lack of will, resources are scarce. In the EastProvince, where logging companies based in Europe are dominant, there is on average onepoorly-resourced government monitor for each 20,000 hectares of concession.The job of the Chef de Poste is to monitor what is happening in the forest and report onany infractions of the law on a regular basis. These officials are given few resources to do theirjob, a motorbike perhaps but no fuel or support. Even if a Chef de Poste does provide reportson infractions, they are likely to hear nothing more of the outcome, even though the Chef dePoste is supposed to receive a proportion of the fines levied as a result of the infractionreports. There is therefore no motivation for the monitoring system to work at even groundlevel. Many of these infraction reports “disappear” within MINEF either in exchange forbribes paid to officials in the Ministry or higher, or the reports are held in a file by officials toextort money from companies that would otherwise be fined. The Chef de Poste, however, seesno return for doing his job and receives no signal of support from his colleagues. This leavesthose who are keen to see improvement in forestry practices exposed in towns where thelogging company may be the major employer, vulnerable to threats of violence or open tobribes given the absence of other sources of income.MINEF has indicated that it is willing to take action against companies that operateillegally by, for instance, issuing fines and disqualifying them from participating in concession(UFA) licence auctions. These measures are, however, often ineffective or no more than tokengestures: fines are relatively small and often the companies disqualified are not interested inbidding for any of the UFAs in that particular round of the auction process.Illegality is one part of the lack of sustainability of the forestry sector. The 1994 law hasresulted in the phasing out of log exports from 1999, in order to promote downstreamprocessing within Cameroon and thus increase revenues to the country. This potentiallypositive move is undermined by two factors. Firstly, the most heavily exported species, Ayous,can still be exported in log form, albeit subject to higher rates of duty. 9 Secondly, as a result ofthe legislation, companies have invested in downstream processing facilities but there arestrong indications of over-capacity which is fuelling the demand for logs. Production levels areconsiderably higher than official estimates of sustainable harvest levels (see production and EUtrade, below). 10 This is increasing the pressure on the forest and there are clear indications thatadditional production is being derived in part from companies logging outside their legalconcession areas. It has been predicted that logging at this rate means that the forests inCameroon will run out of commercial timber within 15 years.Building sustainable forest management capacity is not helped by the fact that the lawforbids companies to conduct forest inventories themselves. Instead, they have to go throughaccredited companies (societé agréées), such as National Office for the Development of Forests– Office National de Développment des Forêts (ONADEF), which is linked to MINEF civilservants. ONADEF has conducted socio-economic studies covering 30 villages in the Lomiéarea in just three days, including two days’ travelling time from Yaoundé and back. ONADEFhas provided the official paperwork for 10 to 15 concessions (UFAs). The law and theoperations of some accredited companies may be one of the main reasons why competentinventory/management planning in the private sector has not emerged. Logging companies arecomplicit in this: they accept the inventories and get their licences without apparently askingmany questions or protesting about the system.