Cameroon: Lessons Learnt 2012

Over the four years of the project from 2009 and 2012, the following lessons have been learnt from the annual reports on transparency in the forest sector in Cameroon:

• The key element in transparency is effective access to information by all stakeholders, including communities in remote and isolated areas; fluid and real-time information is fundamental to good governance.
• The State remains the exclusive owner of the forests, which leads to a constant conflict around forest titles arising from customary rights.
• Illegal logging operations persist, especially linked to the category of 'small titles' in Cameroon. The government's efforts at cleaning up the sector remain insufficient and should be strengthened and sustained;
• The usage rights of communities and their right to receive a part of the tax revenue from logging operations, both legal and even illegal (for example, from auctions of confiscated products) are still insufficiently promoted by laws and regulations for the forest sector, and even the current provisions are not effective enforced.
• Providing a fair share for local and indigenous communities, particularly of the profits from forestry operations, remains a challenge.