The Rainforests of Cameroon - PROFOR

The Historic and Environmental Context 15ened forests” (GFW 2000:8). They harbor a remarkable range of floraand fauna and provide about 8 million rural and poor Cameroonianswith important nutritional complements, traditional medicines, domesticenergy, and construction material. Their preservation is key to maintaininglocal cultures and global ecological stability.The total value of forest products for which trade statistics or estimatesexist—timber, charcoal, okok leaves (Gnetum spp.), gum arabic,and Prunus africana bark—is about $580 million, of which $120 millionis derived from products other than timber (table 1.1). Many nontimberforest products are not formally traded, and their overall value hasnot been quantified. The value of domestic energy alone is estimated at$130 million, however, and if bush meat, fruits, thatching material, andmedicinal plants are considered as well, the total value of nontimber forestproducts may well exceed that of traditional products.Yet timber has dominated perceptions of the forest’s value. Providingup to 13,000 formal and perhaps 150,000 informal jobs, the forest sectoris Cameroon’s largest employer outside the public sector and its secondlargestsource of export revenue after petroleum, accounting for 29 percentof nonpetroleum exports in 2001 and for 26 percent in 2004. Forestryand related activities (including activities in the informal sector) accountedfor 4.8 percent of nonpetroleum gross domestic product in 2004.Supplying building material to the domestic market is a largely informaland undocumented activity that removes an estimated 580,000–1,000,000 cubic meters of wood from Cameroon’s forests each year.Table 1.1. Value of some nontimber forest productsProduct Production Value ($)Gum arabic (Acacia Senegal/seyal)OfficialInformal (mainly to Nigeria)300 t2,000 t600,0004,000,000Okok (Gnetum spp.) 1,817 t (in 2005) 3,997,400Prunus africana (African cherry) (bark) 1,750 t 1,750,000Fuelwood 10 million t 70,000Timber (domestic) 540,000 m 3 37,800,000Timber (export) 2,300,000 m 3 460,000,000Delivered by The World Bank e-library to:Source: Official data on gum arabic from Mallet The and World others 2003; Bankinformal production estimate fromA. Karsenty, personal communication; estimate IP for : 192.86.100.34okok from GTZ and FAO (2007); estimate for PrunusMon, 09 Nov 2009 17:06:18africana from Chupezi and Ndoye 2006; estimate for fuelwood from A. Karsenty, personal communication(the total estimated value of fuelwood is $200 million, of which $130 million is collected and used withinthe household); and estimate for domestic timber from Cerutti and Tacconi 2006.(c) The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank