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Cameroon is endowed with a rich set of legal texts governing forests and wildlife. Besides the two main core texts (forest policy document and forest law), there exist a vast array of decrees, ordinances and (joint) orders seldom updated or amended on an irregular basis of time space. Though some of these texts are published in both languages in the official gazette (Forestry Law) and government national newspapers (decrees), most of them are often written only in French and do not reach grassroots and local communities. Read the report...

Ghana’s forest sector has an elaborate superstructure of constitutional rights, seemingly progressive policies, comprehensive laws, well-developed institutions, and a cadre of well trained professional foresters. The workings of the sector are, however, determined largely by the underlying structure of exploitative and repressive relations between the corporate timber industry and the state on the one hand and forest-dependant communities and the public on the other. These relations, established under colonial rule, remain intact throughout the natural resource sector 50 years after Independence. Consultations on the reform of the policy and legal instruments in the forest sector have been on-going since 2008 following the ratification of the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA), Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) and other related instruments in Ghana. However, the process has been very slow and to date drafts of consolidated forest and wildlife laws are in circulation but unlikely to be in any form that can be presented to Parliament in the first half of 2011. Read the report...

All the laws and regulations related to forestry are publicly available. Hardcopies can be acquired from the FDA and electronic copies can be downloaded from the FDA website. Other laws with implications for forest including the LEITI Act and PPCC Act are also online. The FDA is yet to establish an information centre or a system for facilitating public access to hard copies of these documents. Read the report...

The Forest Law portal of the General Forest and Wildlife Directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture holds the legal standards organized by theme, chronological order and region , as well as a link to the main repealed laws and regulations. While the standards are available, there is no search mechanism to access the rules organized in chronological order. Source: http://www.legislacionforestal.org/legislacion/por-temas/legislacion-forestal/ Read the report...

Yes. The legal framework for forestry sector management is available to the public through the Ministry of the Environment website. It is also available by means of specialized legal search engines. Nevertheless, this legal framework is in the process of being reformed, since it has not been adjusted to the rules and conditions of the new Constitution. The drafts of the new forestry sector framework (that is, the Forestry Bill of Law and the update of the National Forest Strategy) were not available to the public, and up to now the official document versions are unknown. It is worth emphasizing that the country is currently undergoing a profound regulatory and institutional reform process in response to changes required by the Constitution of 2008. It is foreseeable that reform and updating of other bodies of laws will be given priority over those relating to the forestry sector. Read the report...

All Cameroon’s forests are under clear ownership. The forest zoning plan of Southern Cameroon has divided forest into different types and the forest law has distributed forest amongst State, communities, municipalities and privates persons. This is contradictory to customary laws which deserve all forest land to local communities. Read the report...

For all forest reserves, the ownership of the land is clarified in the reservation gazette. However, the ownership status is usually not covered with title (and documentation) but under customary and traditional norms. Most lands, on which there are forests, are stool lands under the custodianship of stool chiefs. The hierarchy of land ownership in Ghana complicates forest tenure and ownership and even though the question of forest tenure and ownership is not under intense debate currently, it is a subject recognized by government and all stakeholders as important to deal with as quickly as possible. There is therefore no clear title ownership to forest land even though there is sufficient acceptance of customary ownership to reach agreement on which chiefs should receive royalties for forest operations for most forest areas. Read the report...

There remains considerable confusion over ownership of forest land; a private versus public forest land debate continues. A significant percentage of forest land in Liberia is under titles and could be clearly identified. But the situation with forest land held under customary arrangement remains unclear. Read the report...

No. The land that could be titled is still in the process of physical and legal reorganisation (Art. 70 and 88 of the Political Constitution of Peru). This includes the lands of Native and Peasant Communities, as well as rural properties occupied by settlers. Forest land ownership is not delivered in accordance with Article 66 of the Constitution of Peru and the Organic Law on the Use of Natural Resources. The Body for the Formalization of Informal Property (COFOPRI), a decentralized public body part of the Housing Sector, is the main body in charge of designing and implement the programme of formalization of the property at national level. COFOPRI implements the raising, modernization, consolidation, conservation and updating of the property registry derived from the formalization. Currently the functions of COFOPRI are being transferred to Regional Governments. Read the report...

A substantial part of state forestry resources outside the SNAP is de facto private, with most of these forests under the control of the various indigenous nationalities. It is difficult to determine the precise ownership of woodlands in the country, because there are no up-to-date official forest records other than those made by the Socio Bosque program. The body of law that most rigorously governed land tenure and use – above all for rural areas and land of high natural value – was the former Agrarian Reform and Colonization Act, which required that there be proof of the use of the land area owned in order to become a beneficiary of barren land adjudications. This created colonization and deforestation processes in the country’s woodland areas. Current forest resources are in the hands of a large number of different types of owners. In short, there are still serious problems to face with land tenure in the country. This issue has brought about the creation and disappearance of a number of government agencies with the mandate to deal with land adjudication and titling conflicts, not only involving lands suitable for forestry, but in general. Read the report...

When permits are issued, operators are supposed to inform local populations through information meetings during which they present their future activities and all governmental documents and maps of allocated areas. Citizens are also informed about subsequent logging operations in the EIA consultation process when the operator presents his project and possible impacts on the environment. Some other important activities like the delimitation of the forest area and the elaboration of forest management plans are done with help of local communities. Read the report...

Even though the FC has indicated in the Charter that they will be transparent in their management practices, they do not normally put information on logging operations in the public domain. Read the report...

All logging contracts and information on logging volumes are available to the public. While logging volumes are available to the public it is upon request that one can acquire such information. The FDA website does not have this information. The SGS, however, emails weekly updates to those that are on its email list. If FDA would compile a stakeholders’ list according to the NFRL, then the SGS could be required to ensure all stakeholders receive these weekly updates of taxes and fees payment including logging volume. Read the report...

No. The decisions that have been approved for permits and concessions, as well as their corresponding Forest Management Plans, are not published. Citizens are not informed about the activities of logging operations. Read the report...

No, but there is no specific requirement that compels the forestry authority to provide that information. Read the report...

Environmental services include payments for biodiversity conservation, carbon sequestration, water and watershed protection and landscape beauty. None of these permits exists in the forest or environmental law. But, with current debates on Payments for Environmental Services (PES), forthcoming forest law should include such services. However, there are private initiatives of carbon storage within the frame of Clean Development Mechanisms (CDM) and REDD. The company HYSACAM has a project of capturing methane emitted in its garbage dumping site of Nkolfoulou, CED is piloting a project of Carbone sequestration in community forests around Lomie (Nomedjoh, Koleyeng...), The local NGO CWCS has a project on improved dry fish stoves in Mouanko area... Read the report...

In general there is very little consideration for environmental services provided by the forests in Ghana. Several arguments have been made for the environmental services provided by forest resources to be valued, but these have hardly moved beyond the level of discussion. Different institutions other than the forest authorities are responsible for different services provided, but there is no coordination of efforts. For instance, the Water Resources Commission has responsibility for water resource allocation and charges fees for water abstraction but there is no collaboration with the Forestry Commission (FC) on the management and protection of the water sources. Even though it is not yet carried out, the EPA would be the responsible institution for carbon assessment, but on the current evidence there are few signs of collaboration with the FC. Read the report...

The forestry and environmental laws do not specifically address permits related to environmental services. In fact, the terminology ‘environmental services’ is not used anywhere in both laws. In addition to the absence of legislative framework on environmental services, the FDA has not issued any environmental service permits in forest exploitation in Liberia. Attempts at carbon storage deals with potential investors are therefore taking place in a policy vacuum. Read the report...

There is no regulation in this regard. Currently, there is a Bill on the subject, which is being debated at the level of Congress. Read the report...

No. Citizens are not informed in general as to environmental services permits. There is information on a number of portals, mostly of CSOs or local governments, but very little information on the subject on public institution portals. There are environmental service payment schemes in progress, mostly by local governments, but the populace has not been broadly informed of them. This is the case with FONAG – Quito Water Fund, where the environmental service payment is included in the cost of drinking water billed to each consumer in the Metropolitan District of Quito. However, almost no one – except those involved in environmental action – is aware of the existence of this scheme. It should be kept in mind that there is an ongoing discussion concerning Article 74 of the Constitution of Ecuador, which states that “Environmental services shall not be subject to appropriation; their production, delivery, use and development shall be regulated by the State.” In practice, the legal framework is being developed with an eye to the State’s not only regulating their use, but also managing them directly as an owner, and thus gaining access to funds and markets for forest-based emission reduction and carbon capture. As mentioned, there are experiences in environmental services in several areas of the country implemented by local governments and communities. These experiences will be important in the final determination made by the State as to environmental service management. Among the current experiences being carried out in environmental services:  ETAPA (Municipal Telecommunications, Drinking Water, Sewerage and Sanitation Company) and water supply to Cuenca from the Cajas National Park  Experiences in compensation for conservation of the Pimampiro micro-watershed  El Chaco  FONAG-Quito (Water Protection Fund)  Gran Reserva Chachi  PROFAFOR – private experiences in reforestation, afforestation and carbon capture  Bosques para la Conservation [Forests for Conservation]  Bilsa  Prima Klima /SFA  Vida Para Quito [Life for Quito] The incompleteness of the answers is justified precisely by this list of environmental service provision experiences which, despite not being nationwide initiatives, do afford interesting precedents for future application of mechanisms that will enable capitalizing on environmental services. Read the report...

Nowadays, forest management activities are overlapping with big development projects (roads construction, Lom Pangar and Menve’le hydroelectric power plants, plans of a deep seaport in Kribi...), agricultural extension and other natural resources exploitations (iron, oil, gold, diamond...). Usually, decisions about these activities are not transparent. For instance, allocation processes of land for mining or agricultural extension are not transparent. Local populations are most of the time informed when the deal is already concluded between the State and the beneficiary. This is the case of the extension of HEVECAM in the Kribi region and the creation of 80,000 ha palm oil plantation in Ndian division where populations are not officially informed. But for roads constructions, local communities are most of the time consulted and compensations are given to those affected by the project (Yaounde-Nsoa national road). Concerning large infrastructure projects the information about their planning is often publicly known, but not the detailed plans. All those projects are normally subjected to the preparation of an environmental impact assessment, prior to the beginning of their activities, except for mining operations, where the EIA is due after the exploration phase, before the beginning of exploitation. Read the report...

The process for decision making on mining activities is completely non-transparent to the extent that even though the same parent ministry is responsible for both forestry and mining, permits are sometimes given for mining prospecting in forest reserves against the better judgment of the Forestry Commission. Read the report...

The Government of Liberia has issued several large-scale mining and monoculture agricultural concessions. Some of these concessions are situated in or close proximity to areas considered significant for biodiversity conservation. The large-scale agricultural concessions will in particular intensify conversion of natural forests and increase the rate of deforestation. Unless otherwise granted permission for sole-source contracting, all major public contracts are allocated through opened and competitive processes in line with the PPC Act. These apply to mining and agricultural concessions as well. Read the report...

The decisions on other activities are not transparent. Although there are other activities that threaten forests, the legal system prioritizes the development of the extractive activities to the detriment of proper management of forest resources. Read the report...

The agency in charge of coordinating extra-sectoral activities is the National Office of Planning and Development (SENPLADES), which was not included in the first methodological phase of data collection. This is why the questions in this section are temporarily answered “In part”. It is, however, worth noting that SENPLADES is in charge of National Planning, which is normative for the entire country and embodied in the National Plan for Good Living (PNBV) 2009-2013. Along with the Plan, SENPLADES draws up a Five-year Investment Plan that is presented yearly in the State General Budget. The Investment Plan includes all the projects the government carries out in the spheres of infrastructure, production, trade, etc., all of which will have direct or indirect impact on the country’s forest ecosystems. The National Investment Plan is public, but not readily available, since it is difficult to find on the SENPLADES website. Another important element to note, although it is not part of the results of this monitoring exercise, is that Grupo FARO, in an analysis (Aguirre and Carante. 2010. Presupuesto y Participación Ciudadana: lecciones aprendidas, avances y nuevos retos [Budget and Civic Participation: Lessons Learned, Progress and New Challenges]), reported the scant participation and transparency of the 2010 State General Budget process, which highlights the lack of transparency in state decision-making regarding public investment. Moreover, upon comparing the goals described in the PNBV with the 2010 Budget, a total lack of synergy was evident, since support was given to investments that were incompatible with the goals of conservation and sustainable forest management. Although the analysis was not in depth, it does reveal the incompatibility between the State’s investment decision-making and that same State’s declared environmental goals. Read the report...

Most of the time, citizens act as observers or watch dogs secretly denouncing illegal forest activities especially in the case of poaching where offenders are caught and sentenced. In the case of activities in the forest sector, information are provided to officials in MINFOF and sometimes to the Independent Observer or local NGOs such as CED who may bring a case to court and sue for compensations. There is no formal procedure for denunciation, and communities refer to cases where denunciation did not lead to any formal investigation or sanction. It has also happened that information on illegal activities is provided to the Independent Observer by MINFOF. Also, local communities are involved in law enforcement (control of illegal activities) through forest-farmers committees created by decision No 135/D/MINEF/CAB of 26th November 1999. Read the report...

There is a general perception on connivance of officials in the perpetration of illegal forest activities and this coupled with the lack of transparency and accountability by local authorities (traditional authorities and district assemblies) de-motivates citizens in assisting with law enforcement. Read the report...

The Authority may, by Regulation, establish procedures to compensate or reward third parties that provide information leading directly to the apprehension or conviction of Persons violating this Law or the accompanying Regulations. Read the report...

The State has issued regulations that contribute to compliance of the Forest and Wildlife Law, including the creation of the National Forest Council (CONAFOR), the Citizens’ Rights of Participation and Control Law, the Regulation on Transparency, Access to Environmental Public Information and Citizens’ Participation and Consultation in Environmental Matters. However, CONAFOR has not been implemented, and the public is therefore prevented from exercising their civic responsibility, i.e. the right to petition and state accountability. There is also a constitutional recognition of rights to public participation and transparency and access to public information. The Forest Management Committees are also a mechanism for civil society participation as an area of monitoring, control and surveillance. Read the report...

The mechanism used by the forestry authority to include citizens in the application of the regulatory framework for the forest sector is Vigilancia Verde, a public/private entity made up of the Ministry of the Environment, the police force, the army and five local environmental NGOs. There has been a willingness to let citizens take part in drafting regulations concerning the National REDD Strategy. Previously (2000-2004), there were national forestry dialogue processes that, although they did not achieve any firm agreement, did result in regulatory changes: TULAS. The Forestry Administration System (SAF) arose out of the concept of improving forest control through independent stakeholders (regents) and a system of verification. Nevertheless, given the institutional changes and the authority’s ineffectiveness, these processes have not proven capable of producing improvements in forestry governance in the country. Read the report...

Forest authority is making great efforts of publication though there is still a long way to go. The Ministry produces a gazette “feuille verte” which reports on all important events or activities carried out. Some statistics are also provided in this magazine. The Ministry has a website www.minfof-cm.gov which is regularly updated and contains key decisions and documents. However, it has no system in place for disseminating information in local areas or responding to requests about access to information. Read the report...

In districts where there is a Customer Services Officer copies of publications are kept in the offices but these are not publicly displayed and not many people know about the availability of publications. Read the report...

The FDA has secured funding from the World Bank to increase public access to forest sector information. The FDA management has assured to the public that the project will build up FDA staff capacity to increase public access to forest sector information. Read the report...

The Forest Authority is not fully complying with the Law on Transparency and Access to Public Information, which obligates it to publish the information related to the Forest sector. Read the report...

The forestry authority has recently published information on forest exploitation that is based on statistics generated by an ITTO/MAE-financed project called “Estadísticas forestales y comercialización de la madera” [Forest Statistics and Timber Marketing]. Also available is information produced by the Forestry Administration System (SAF). Nevertheless, the authority has only recently become proactive in providing such information, since its lack of up-to-date forest statistics is notorious and it is not known for answering questions as specific as those contained in its recent publications. Read the report...