The Rainforests of Cameroon - PROFOR

CHAPTER 2The Advent of Forest ReformFollowing the economic crisis of 1985, Cameroon urgently required internationalsupport to restore its macroeconomic equilibrium, its productivesectors, and its economic growth. The forest sector was not initiallyidentified as a priority by the political elite. However, a 1988 assessmentof the sector by the Tropical Forest Action Plan (TFAP) attracted considerableattention by stating that the forest sector’s contribution to thenational economy was vastly below potential, representing less than 2percent of GDP, and that the forest industry was obsolete, wasteful, andecologically damaging. At the same time, as already noted, Cameroon’sforests were integral to its well-organized political patronage system,fueled by corruption and vested interests.Forest sector reforms originated in this context. In hindsight it is clearthat they were driven primarily by three forces: the 1994 Forest Law,economic leverage, and the synergies and partnerships that developedamong reformers in government and civil society. These forces are discussedin the sections that follow.The 1994 Forest LawEnacted in 1982, Cameroon’s forest code could no longer respond to theeconomic, social, and Delivered environmental by The World imperatives Bank e-library to: emerging in the forestsector in the early 1990s. IP The : 192.86.100.34 same rules applied indiscriminately toThe World Bankall forest areas, regardless Mon, of the 09 Nov forest’s 2009 17:06:18 specific importance to nearbycommunities, indigenous peoples, government, or industry. The rights oflocal people in particular were narrowly defined in terms of “user rights.”21(c) The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank