The Rainforests of Cameroon - PROFOR

46 The Rainforests of CameroonBox 3.5—continuedWill industry start to harvest more “secondary” species? Yes, but thetiming cannot be predicted easily. Timber markets have so far shown themselvesto be conservative and slow in accepting unfamiliar but technologicallyfine secondary species. The problem is compounded when harvesting costsare high, because timber companies tend to become even more selective, concentratingon the most economically rewarding species. To facilitate the industry’stransition to more secondary species in Cameroon, the tax burden shouldbe alleviated for species that are particularly resilient and abundant. Adoptingreduced impact logging (RIL) techniques would help mitigate the damagecaused by increasing the harvest intensity. Note that many companies implementRIL as a prerequisite for third-party certification.Can long-term forest management substitute for preserving forestbiodiversity in national parks and other reserves? The forest managementstrategy adopted in Cameroon ideally will make production forests morestable, productive, and less subject to degradation. These forests will take someof the pressure off of protected areas and also provide essential environmentalservices, but they cannot replace national parks and other areas designed topreserve pristine rainforests.Implementing Forest Management Plans in CameroonIn Cameroon, production forests are part of the permanent forest estate.They cannot be converted into plantation forests and must be operatedunder long-term management plans. These plans are essential for sustainingproduction forests, given that under previous arrangements many ofthem were harvested at least once, especially in areas near rural settlementsor served by roads.The scope and content of management plans, as well as measures formonitoring their implementation, are clearly defined in a brief (18-page)decree (MINEF 222/2002). These legally binding guidelines summarizecomplex norms previously dispersed in hundreds if not thousands ofpages of technical documents, guidelines, and regulations. The guidelineshave considerably simplified Delivered by the The relationship World Bank e-library between to: the Forest Administrationand the private sector. IP : 192.86.100.34The World BankThis reform represents Mon, a breakthrough 09 Nov 2009 17:06:18 in resource management, bothbecause it introduces social and technical obligations and because the managementof a publicly owned resource is delegated to the private sector.(c) The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank