The Rainforests of Cameroon - PROFOR

126 The Rainforests of CameroonFinal Thoughts: Can the Reforms Achieve Lasting Results?Ten years of forest sector reforms have not been easy or straightforward.Much has been learned, and much remains to be done, but it is clear thatsome real achievements have been made.A relatively well-conserved forest resource. With more than 60 percentof its forests under biodiversity conservation, production forest managementplans, and community or local council forests, Cameroon still hasan economically and environmentally significant forest estate. The mostserious threats against forest lands have virtually ended in permanent productionforests. Deforestation remains contained to 0.14 percent per yearaccording to most recent data (de Wasseige and others 2009) and occursmostly outside permanent forest areas, concentrated in areas where communitieshave the freedom to convert forest land to agriculture or otheruses. Increasingly, the greatest drivers of deforestation (agricultural expansionand domestic energy needs of urban centers) and solutions for theproblem (agricultural intensification, commodity prices, land tenure security,and land markets) reside outside the forest sector.Improved management practices. The proportion of Cameroon’s productionforests covered by forest management plans (66 percent) is oneof the highest among tropical countries. The quality of these managementplans is considered better than those in Southeast Asia and Brazil(where the 30-year horizon is not used). Certification is progressing rapidly.Cameroon is generally ahead of other African countries with respectto transparency in allocating harvesting rights, public information, socialredistribution of forest revenues, use of forests as local development assets,and devolution of responsibility to village communities.Customary rights and social welfare. Cameroon has advanced rulesto preserve customary rights in all forests and is developing provisionsto recognize and protect the rights of all people who depend on forests,Bantu as well as indigenous people. Despite its mixed record, communityforestry appears to be capable of learning from its own mistakes andadvancing further.Delivered by The World Bank e-library to:A restructured forest industry. The World A significant Bank part of industry has restructured,adapting its business Mon, 09 Nov model 2009 17:06:18 to cost structures that includeIP : 192.86.100.34higher fixed costs, new investments for management plans, and increasedsocial and environmental responsibility. Overcapacity is less acute.(c) The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank