The Rainforests of Cameroon - PROFOR

The Historic and Environmental Context 19it from modern and customary laws. Unlike prices of other agriculturalexports, such as coffee and cocoa, timber prices have never collapsed buthave, with occasional lows, risen steadily for 100 years.European companies, principally French and Italian, traditionally havedominated Cameroon’s forest industry. In remote rural areas, large foreigntimber companies have acted as a surrogate state in providing servicesand infrastructure as well as in their informal political and economicdominance. They have interacted with domestic companies primarily bysubcontracting logging rights and renting equipment. Over time thesecommercial relationships have deepened, in some instances to the pointof shareholder participation. Starting in the 1980s, several Greek, Lebanese,and domestic companies entered the market. Although they werenew to the industry and lacked processing capacity, these companieswere attracted by the simplicity and profitability of operations and bytheir established links with political elites.Institutions Involved in Forest ManagementCameroon’s forest institutions were favorably positioned with respect toa valuable political and economic commodity, but they were not exemptfrom the economic trauma that spread throughout the country in themid-1980s. Budgets declined precipitously in the Department of Forests,which became the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MINEF) in 1992(and in 2004 split into the Ministry of Forests and Wildlife, MINFOF, andthe Ministry of the Environment and the Protection of Nature, MINEP).In 1992, 95 percent of MINEF’s budget went to pay staff salaries, andonly 5 percent was available for any other type of expenditure (WRI2000). By 1994, the devaluation had reduced salaries of MINEF staffby 40 percent and further eviscerated their earning power. Employeeswere often paid months late and no longer received such attractive perquisitesas vehicles and housing allowances. Ministry operating budgetshad nearly vanished. The World Resources Institute (WRI 2000:64–5)summed up the bleak effects of these trends:Declining salaries, poor working conditions, and the offer of verylarge sums of money Delivered provided by The World a strong Bank e-library incentive to: for corruption.The World BankThe average MINEF official IP : 192.86.100.34 earned CFAF 60,000 [$100] permonth and had no means Mon, of 09 transport Nov 2009 17:06:18 or communication, but couldgain millions of CFAF by not reporting logging in areas for which acompany had no right.(c) The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank