The Rainforests of Cameroon: Experience and Evidence from a Decade of Reform

by Topa, Giuseppe; Karsenty, Alain; Megevand, Carole; Debroux, Laurent

• ISBN13: 9780821378786
• ISBN10: 0821378783
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-07-22
• Publisher: World Bank

Summary

Starting in 1994, Cameroon introduced regulatory and market-based reforms to regulate access to its rainforests, balance public and private interests in those forests, and integrate wider economic, cultural, and environmental perspectives of the value of forests. Based on historical data and extensive interviews, this report concludes that the reforms brought order over the most aggressively competing interests and started to address deeper social and environmental issues, but a significant unfinished agenda remains.On the positive side, information on the boundaries, ownership, use rights, and management of Cameroon's rainforests has become available for public scrutiny, along with information on detection and prosecution of illegal activities. Better and better known rules of the game have improved forest governance and collaboration between forest institutions and civil society. More than 60 percent of Cameroon's rainforests are under management systems that emphasize sustainability. Illegal logging has declined sharply managed parks and production forests, although it persists in rural areas. The restructured forest industry has adopted internationally recognized management practices that have started to align logging with the forest's capacity to regenerate. Cameroon has established rules to preserve customary rights to forests, and community forests have progressed despite unanticipated challenges.Yet further reform is needed. Deeper recognition of the customary rights of all people who depend on Cameroon's forests, regardless of ethnicity, is vital. Timber and nontimber forest products like medicinal plants and bush meat remain subject to illegal exploitation outside state forests. Cameroon needs qualified eco-investors to sustain conservation and diminish reliance on timber production. Community involvement in the management of all types of forests should expand further. Great attention to local markets and small firms will strengthen forest governance and the forest industry in important ways. Rewarding responsible corporate behavior with more lenient bank guarantees and tax incentives may prove as important for conserving forests as punishing corporate misbehavior.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. ix
Preface and Acknowledgments	p. xi
Abbreviations	p. xv
Overview	p. 1
Note	p. 10
The Historic and Environmental Context	p. 13
The Natural and Cultural Setting	p. 14
Economic Depression and Recovery	p. 16
Environmental Stewardship and Protected Areas	p. 17
Forests and Cameroon's Political Economy	p. 17
Institutions Involved in Forest Management	p. 19
Notes	p. 20
The Advent of Forest Reform	p. 21
The 1994 Forest Law	p. 21
Economic Leverage	p. 23
Synergies and Partnerships	p. 23
Notes	p. 26
Objectives and Content of the Reforms	p. 27
Organizing the Forest Landscape	p. 29
Efforts to Foster Community-based Forest Management	p. 34
A New Strategy and System to Allocate Forest Harvesting Rights	p. 38
Reforms to Support Sustainable Forest Management	p. 43
Reforms in Forest Taxation	p. 50
Institutional Reforms	p. 53
Notes	p. 60
A Summary of Impacts	p. 65
General Trends	p. 65
Specific Observations	p. 66
Notes	p. 71
In-Depth Analysis of Impacts	p. 73
Impacts on Sector Transparency and Public Participation	p. 73
Impacts on Illegal Logging	p. 75
Impacts on Deforestation and Forest Conservation	p. 79
Impacts on Integration of Global Environmental Services	p. 80
Impacts on Forest Management, Industry Structure, and Revenue	p. 83
Impacts on Poverty and Livelihoods	p. 99
Notes	p. 109
Ten Years of Forest Sector Reform	p. 115
Lessons for Developing and Implementing Reforms	p. 115
The Unfinished Agenda	p. 119
Final Thoughts: Can the Reforms Achieve Lasting Results?	p. 126
Note	p. 128
Appendix 1	p. 131
Appendix 2	p. 135
Appendix 3	p. 143
Appendix 4	p. 145
Appendix 5	p. 147
Appendix 6	p. 151
Appendix 7	p. 165
Appendix 8	p. 169
Appendix 9	p. 175
Appendix 10	p. 181
References	p. 183
Index	p. 189
Boxes
Did forest zoning remove land from local populations?	p. 31
Impact of consultations on size and boundaries of forest concessions	p. 33
Protecting forest biodiversity at the urban margin: Bimbia Bonadikombo Community Forest	p. 35
Does the area fee influence loggers' behavior?	p. 41
Regulated selective harvesting: Diversity and other considerations	p. 45
Ground rules for harvesting timber from Cameroon's forest management units	p. 48
Cameroon's Forest and Environment Sector Program	p. 55
Partnerships with international nongovernmental organizations	p. 59
Cameroon, corruption, and the forest sector	p. 67
Conservation concessions	p. 81
What makes a forest management plan "sustainable"?	p. 84
No more primary forests available for logging	p. 89
What happened to Cameroon's log exports following the ban?	p. 94
Rights and achievements of local populations following forest reform	p. 100
Community forest reforms: Too little, too late?	p. 105
Widening the involvement of Pygmy people in forest management	p. 120
Summary of Third Structural Adjustment Credit forest measures	p. 133
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