The Rainforests of Cameroon - PROFOR

In-Depth Analysis of Impacts 77describes small titles as being “at the core of governance problems withinthe ministry of Forests.” 3 According to REM, a subset of small titles calledautorisations de récupération de bois (timber salvage authorizations) producedabout 300,000 cubic meters of timber in 2006. Because the illegalprovenance of most of this timber is hidden through falsified documentsand routine administrative procedures, it cannot be detected throughaggregate statistics such as those in figure 5.1.Aside from being distorted by corrupt practices and vested interests, thedata themselves are problematic. Cameroon lacks quality controls that wouldensure consistency in the data collected. This deficiency simply compoundsnegative impressions of the integrity of information from the government.An encouraging sign mentioned in the REM annual report is that the headof MINFOF is aware of the issue and has undertaken several initiatives inrecent months to address it, including staff reorganization and sanctions.The informal sector. As noted, logging traditionally was undertaken byindustry based on a variety of permits, for small and large areas and shortand long periods. After the 1985 economic crisis, many urban dwellerscould not afford wood supplied by the formal sector. The situation worsenedafter the 1994 devaluation, which made timber exports twice asprofitable (in CFAF) and caused industry to divert almost all of its attentionaway from a domestic market in which impoverished consumerscould no longer afford legal industrial timber.Until this time, artisanal loggers were so few and operated on such a smallscale that their effect on markets was hardly perceptible, and little thoughtwas given to regulating their activities. As industry departed from local marketsand demand soared, artisanal loggers came into their own as a new actorin the forest sector. Their small size and local connections made control difficult.The fact that they were responding to a legitimate and irrepressibledemand favored tolerance, which allowed them to expand rapidly.Many forested areas outside concessions and community forests havebeen subject to illegal logging. Chain-saw operators are said to be numerous,although their number is unknown. Since the 1990s, Cameroon hasimported a significant number (as many as 150) of mobile Lucas Millsaws, capable of processing 18,000 cubic meters per year.Operating largely in the nonpermanent domain, the informal sectorDelivered by The World Bank e-library to:remains mostly illegal, and no The coherent World Bank policy has been adopted to helpIP : 192.86.100.34small-scale loggers obtain Mon, timber 09 Nov from 2009 legal 17:06:18 sources. Even though smalltitles are being issued again, many small-scale enterprises simply chooseto avoid the bureaucratic delays and corruption involved in legalizingtheir operations.(c) The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank