Lack of Rigid Control Endangers Zebra Wood

For the fifth time this year, the survival of Zebra wood (Microberlinia bisulcata), a threatened tree species endemic to the Mt. Cameroon area in the Southwest Region, has come under discussion by ERuDeF forestry technicians and officials of the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife. Not protected by rigid law, Zebra wood is the subject of unsustainable exploitation and faces impending extinction.

By Mkong Immaculate

Man’s reckless exploitation of Zebra wood, locally known as Zingana, and the destruction of its natural habitat have caused it to be a threatened species. The use of forest land for farming and removal of the tree for timber, have damaged Zebra wood’s natural habitat. The fate of Zebra wood is further worsened by a frail legal framework that does not protect this species.

It is against this desperate backdrop that Chiefs of Forestry Posts (CPs) and Village Forest Management Committees (VFMCs) were on September 17, 2015 drilled on the 1994 forestry law governing forest exploitation. The workshop took place in Illoani village, Meme Division. The aim of the workshop was to instill the local groups with the forestry code and how they can use its provisions to conserve Zebra wood and other threatened biodiversity species in their localities.

“The forestry code was signed in 1994, and at that time, no research result showed that Zebra wood was threatened, that is why the law says nothing specific about the species. However, conservation principles regulate the exploitation of all biodiversity species; the level of regulation varies from one species to another, depending on their conservation status,” said Norbert Biakaiy, Chief of Forestry Brigade at the Southwest Delegation for Forestry and Wildlife.

VFMCs are the immediate forestry administrators and have a more direct and regular contact with the forest. While they could all identify Zebra wood in the forest, they are still so ignorant of the status of this tree and ways of conserving it that some of them have even been destroying it.

“I have been planning to cut down all the Zingana in my bush because they don’t go well with cocoa; but with this training I am not going to do that because I now understand the importance of this tree and I know it is my duty to protect it,” said the President of the Illoini VFMC.

The CPs and VFMC members did not have copies of the forestry code and expressed the need to possess them. This would be a legal backing for them in the course of executing their duties. While promising to make copies of the law available to the forest administrators, Biakaiy called for greater collaboration between them. He reiterated that it is not the job of VFMCs to arrest illegal exploiters; their job is to notify CPs in case of any suspicions.

After the training, the VFMCs pledged to carry out inventories and inform CPs of the stock of Zingana in their forests and to sensitize their respective communities on the importance of protecting the threatened species during village meetings.

The CP of Munyenge, Gwendoline Mosoe, urged the VFMCs not to be accomplices to illegal exploiters. She reminded them that any offence committed by a VFMC member results in double punishment.

Impressed with the work of ERuDeF’s Mt. Cameroon Threatened Trees Project, participants at the workshop applauded efforts of the NGO towards the protection of Zebra wood.

“I appreciate ERuDeF’s effort in conserving Zingana. ERuDeF is the only NGO that has stood its grounds in protecting this specie despite the challenges that come with it. We have been working with them and will keep doing so since we have a common vision; that of conserving our forest resources,” said Biakaiy

According to the chief Forestry brigade commander, one of the reasons for the ineffective implementation of laws governing the forestry sector is the lack or very bad knowledge by law enforcement actors of those laws and legal procedures to be followed in such matters notably during arrests, seizures of illegal products/materials, prosecutions, trials, condemnations according to the law and effective execution of court decisions against criminals.

To that end, Officers need an appropriate handbook that they can always consult whenever necessary and which describes and explains all the administrative and legal procedures to follow once an illegal exploiter is apprehended.