The Rainforests of Cameroon - PROFOR

CHAPTER 5In-Depth Analysis of ImpactsImpacts on Sector Transparency and Public ParticipationDisclosure and Dissemination of Public InformationThe disclosure and dissemination of public information heightened thepolitical and financial risk associated with the old influence and clientelesystem and introduced much-needed elements of democracy and equityinto the forest sector. Civil society and the private sector began to demandbetter governance in the forest sector. These changes are related to reformmeasures that increased the disclosure and flow of public information, suchas the involvement of third-party observers and better law enforcement.The availability of forest information in the print, broadcast, andonline media increased exponentially after 1998. Unpublished surveysby German Technical Cooperation (Deutsche Gesellschaft für TechnischeZusammenarbeit, GTZ) between 2000 and 2004 found that morethan 2,500 articles on forest and forest-related issues were published inthe Cameroonian press. In 2003, MINFOF created a Web site (http://minfof.org/) providing public information on laws and regulations aswell as on sensitive issues such as illegal logging cases, fines paid, casesin court, amounts of area tax redistributed to local councils, and listsof valid titles. The quarterly disclosure of valid titles and illegal loggingcases was required under Delivered SAC by The III, World and Bank the e-library government to: not only satisfiedbut exceeded this requirement. The World MINFOF Bank placed on its own WebIP : 192.86.100.34site and widely disseminated Mon, the 09 Nov first 2009 and 17:06:18 second version of the InteractiveForest Atlas produced by GFW/WRI, with detailed information onthe management and status of production forests, biodiversity reserves,73(c) The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank