MINFOF Signs Funding Agreement With Forest Communities

The Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife (MINFOF) has signed 43 funding agreements to the tune 622 million francs CFA with forestry communities and some stakeholders in the forestry sector. The agreement signed on October 7, 2015 at the Yaounde Hilton Hotel is geared towards the management and monitoring of Cameroon’s forests.
By Anu Nkeze Paul
The agreement signed by the Minister of Forestry and Wildlife, Ngole Philip Ngwese, and stakeholders in the forestry sector falls under the framework of the National Forestry and Environment Programme (PSEF) financed by French Development Agency (AFD) under the French Debt Reduction Development Contract (C2D)
The Forestry Minister thanked the French government for providing the funds and urged the operators in the forestry sector to work harder to preserve the forests and to effectively manage all resources put at their disposal.
The funds are destined to stakeholders who are involved in forest management with the aim of building capacities in the domain to help realize the objectives set within the forest and environment sectoral programme.
The Ministry has also given specific instructions to all the beneficiaries on how to ensure that the targets are met. There are also control mechanisms and monitoring put in place to ensure that the funds reach the beneficiaries in due time.
According to some experts, the funding agreement is part of government’s strategy to ensure sustainable management of Cameroon’s forests to avoid their depletion.