Authorized And Illicit Timber Exploiters Sensitised On Legality
More than half a dozen legal and illicit timber exploiters in the South West Region have been identified and sensitised on the advantages of operating legally.
By Wumah Achai
An NGO, AJEMALEBU SELF HELP (AJESH), in partnership with Nature Cameroon, identified the timber exploiters operating in Manyu, Meme and Kupe Muanenguba Divisions precisely in Konye, Nguti, Upper Bayang and Eyumojock Sub-divisions.
The NGOs are carrying out the identification and sensitisation project with financial support from the European Union Civil Society Support Programme in Cameroon (PASC) dubbed: Pilot: Strengthening Forest Governance in the South West Region in Cameroon.
The scheme runs from December 2013 to November 2014 and is expected to reduce the rate of corruption, improve management and transparency in the forestry sector in the South West.
The project executors have so far identified and located several timber exploiters and are currently gathering information about their activities with the aim of documenting and eventual publication.
The following legal companies: CAFECO and BOATEX, SEFFECAM are presently exploiting timber in the Forest Management Units (UFA): 11 003, 11 004, 11 005, 11 006.
Uni Province is collecting timber in an oil palm plantation in Talanghayi, and Société NAMBOIS Sarl in Ntali.
Some individuals, mostly chainsaw operators, exploiting timber in Nguti and Konye Sub-divisions were equally identified.
In Konye Sub-division, a host of individuals were found to be illegally exploiting timber under the banner of a Chainsaw Operators’ Association without exploitation licence.
So far, however, some communities especially in Eyumojock are very much aware of the exploitation companies’ activities, their roles and the responsibilities of the council and other stakeholders.
Sensitisation meetings have been held with some Forest Management Community members in some key communities in Konye, Nguti, Eyumojock, Upper Bayang Sub-divisions on the activities of legal and illegal timber exploiters and the implications of illegality in the process of timber exploitation.
“We guided some community members and mayors on the approaches to use in claiming their benefits from companies and tracking and denouncing illegal timber exploitation,” said Nnoko Ngaajeh, AJESH CEO.
AJESH and Nature Cameroon are, however, meeting some setbacks as they study the activities of the loggers.
According to Nnoko, they are supposed to make the communities understand the level of implementation of the activities embedded in the Common Commitment Documents (CCD) “but we are finding it difficult. No company is ready to make public to the communities their CCDs (chaier de charge) as well as the Management Plan. These documents are seldom presented to the communities; they are not easily found at the councils nor at the local Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife (MINFOF) offices.”
Nnoko further said that as long as timber exploiters operate in illegality and obscurity, government will continue losing much revenue, development at council levels would remain stagnant, deforestation would increase, locals would be deprived of their rights to natural resources and the ecosystem will be destabilized.
The way forward, Nnoko says, is to train councillors and communities on how to claim their benefits; how to observe and denounce illegal timber exploitation; organise or reorganise and animate community forest management committees in the areas where exploitation is taking place.
