Cameroon : Indicators

Freedom of Information Legislation

Cameroon still does not have a specific law on freedom of information, and the provisions on the right to information in the Constitution and sector specific laws are not effectively applied. Read more...

National Forest Policy

The current forest policy was issued in 1993 and reviewed in 1995 following the adoption of the Forest Law in 1994, but it has not been updated since then. Developments such as the REDD+ initiative and the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA), and issues such as cases of overlapping titles for forest and mining exploitation, mean that it is essential to review and adapt the policy. It is currently being reviewed within the framework of the forestry reform process. Read more...

Codified Forest Law and Supporting Norms

The Forest Law was under review in 2012 through a participative process with the support of thematic leaders appointed by the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife (MINFOF), as well as with the input of individuals or associations submitting their proposals for improvement of the law. While this reform of the overall law was still pending, a series of decrees were also being discussed to resolve some of the gaps in implementation of the current law in force since 1994. Read more...

Signed VPAs and Other Agreements on Forest Products

The VPA between Cameroon and the European Union has been ratified by the two parties. The first session of the joint implementation committee took place on 6 March 2012 and the second session was held on 17 and 19 July 2012. The VPA is a real opportunity to improve forestry governance in Cameroon and to ensure the legality of the timber trade and its by-products. Read more...

Provisions for Transparency in Forest Laws and Norms

Appendix VII of the VPA with the European Union commits the parties to publish a specific set of documents and data on the forest sector, and to make information available in the event of a specific request by another stakeholder. It also establishes the methods and channels for the publishing information, including official reports, multi-stakeholder platforms, websites, meetings, forums and media. This appendix therefore establishes a framework for greater transparency on the forest sector. Read more...

Recognition of Customary Rights in Forest Laws and Norms

Customary and traditional rights are partly recognised in the 1994 Forest Law but they are restricted to rights to personal consumption of resources and do not include land rights. Furthermore, a decree establishing the terms for exercising customary rights has never been published. Proposals have been made by civil society stakeholders to improve these rights within the framework of the review of the forest law. Read more...

Formal Procedures for Consultation on New Forest Norms

There is no legally recognised procedure that specifies the methods of consultation for the development of new norms. Consultation is identified as part of the classification of forests, but the terms and procedures of consultation have not been defined. The forest reform process over recent years has favoured greater participation by stakeholders, and within the framework of the implementation of the VPA a National Monitoring Committee was established in a decree in September 2012. Read more...

Legal Right to Free Prior and Informed Consent

The right to free, prior and informed consent of indigenous populations and communities that depend on the forests for their living is not recognised in the forest law and its associated regulations. Read more...

National Land Tenure Policy

There is no national policy on land tenure, just a series of texts for organising land tenure and use. With regard to forests, a zoning or land use plan from 1995 sets out the permanent and non-permanent forest domain in southern Cameroon, but it is inaccurate and out of date. Read more...

Consultation before Commercial Logging Allocation

The law does not oblige the authorities to carry out consultation with stakeholders before the allocation of commercial forest operations, although there is an Independent Observer with a seat on the commission that allocates titles. Read more...

Regulation of Environmental Services

There is no national law or regulations that govern the use of environmental services. Civil society organisations have developed proposals to take new initiatives such as REDD+ and payments for environmental services into account in the forest reform process. Read more...

Strategic Environmental Assessment

There is no formal process for strategic environmental evaluation and planning aimed at identifying the priorities for land use between different options such as forestry and mining operations, large-scale agriculture, and infrastructure development. Read more...

Forest Ownership and Resource Use Maps

Official maps indicating current types of forest property and the use of forest resources exist, but only cover certain types of property. They are available on the website, although not for all the titles. There has been an improvement in the production of the maps covering logging operations and associated activities. Read more...

Legal Documents for Commercial Logging Operations

Some legal documents on commercial forest operations are made available to the public. Nevertheless, other key documents such as five-year plans and annual operating plans, terms of social agreements, and environmental impact studies are not published on a regular basis. Read more...

Reports on the Verification Process of Eligibility of Commercial Operators

Reports are drawn up by the Independent Observer after checks on the eligibility, suitability and capacity of applicants for forest titles, but these reports are not systematically made public. However, the MINFOF regularly publishes results through official boards in its central services and on its website. The recruitment process for a new observer was launched in May 2012. Read more...

Forest Management Plans

Most of the forestry management plans and some five-year plans have been published, and some others are available on request. Read more...

Reports from Independent Forest Monitoring

There is an Independent Observer (IO) to inspect forest activities and infractions, whose reports are made public only after they are cleared by the Ministry of Forests and Wildlife. Despite this monitoring in Cameroon for more than 10 years, illegal logging and general problems of governance still persist. Read more...

Data on the Distribution of Forestry Royalties and Incentives

Data on the distribution of revenues from forest operations are published on a regular basis by the Forestry Revenue Securement Programme and the national daily newspaper (Cameroon Tribune). However, information on the sums collected and distributed is not systematically made available to the communities. A new Order regulating the management and redistribution of revenues from forestry operations was signed in June 2012. Read more...

Information on Forest Law Infractions

Data on infractions of forest law are regularly published. Three summaries have been published in the national daily newspaper (Cameroon Tribune) and on the MINFOF website since the start of 2012 (January, May and July). This is a step forwards in the regular publication of information on infractions in the forestry sector in Cameroon. Read more...

Annual Forest Authority Report

The forestry authorities do not publish annual reports on forest activities but the terms of the Voluntary Partnership Agreement will oblige them to do so in the future. Read more...

2012 > 20 Key Indicators 2012