Cameroon round wood export ban expands

Transporting logs in the Mambele East Region of Cameroon. Picture by Mongabay

Cameroon’s Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife (MINFOF) has expanded the list of tree species that can no longer be exported from the Central African country as raw logs. Along with other Congo Basin countries, Cameroon is moving toward a complete ban on exports of unprocessed timber, which is now expected to come into force in January 2026.

In 2018, the ministry banned raw log exports of 31 species. A June directive from MINFOF lists 45 additional species, including commercially-prized moabi (Bailonella toxisperma) and okoume (Aucoumea klaineana), which must be processed inside Cameroon before export to markets in the EU or Asia. The ministry says the list will expand again in 2025, closing the door to raw log exports on all but seven timber types.

A complete ban on round log exports, intended to stimulate domestic timber processing and retain a more significant share of the value of timber exports, was initially scheduled for January 2022. Cameroon and its neighbours have postponed adopting the ban several times, saying their domestic timber sectors are not yet ready to process wood on the scale needed.

The main species currently exploited include padouk (Pterocarpus soyauxii), used extensively for construction, and sapelli (Entandrophragma cylindricum), valued for its quality timber, and an edible caterpillar that feeds on it.

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On 1 August 2023, Leocadia Bongben reported in Mongabay that Cameroon’s government is again planning to open a portion of Ebo Forest to logging, threatening 200,000 hectares of largely intact forest that is home to several rare and endangered species. The forest, in southern Cameroon, is also subject to a land claim by the Banen people.

In April, the prime minister’s office reclassified 68,385 hectares of Forest Management Unit 07- 006. The government previously opened this block of forest to logging in 2020, before swiftly suspending the decision. At the time, environmentalists and most local leaders welcomed the suspension as an opportunity for consultation with nearby communities and participatory mapping to guide decisions over future access to the forest.

The latest decree permits firewood collection and non-timber forest products like fruit, mushrooms and medicinal plants. It also says the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife must develop a management plan for logging and other activities.

In 2022, a private group built 40km road into the forest without a permit, claiming it was needed to boost the local economy and connect communities displaced from the forest itself decades ago. The forestry ministry claimed it was not aware of the road project.

Conservationists said that in addition to being built without a permit, the road would expose the forest to illegal logging. Ebo’s lowland and montane forest is home to endangered forest elephants, gorillas and chimpanzees.

Greenpeace is asking the government to revoke the latest reclassification and meet with the Banen people to discuss the future of their ancestral territory and the rich biodiversity it contains.

Initial story based on a report by Mongabay on 18 July 2023

Source: WoodBiz Africa Magazine
(Page 22)