SAILD and GDA, two civil society organizations, jointly informed the public about the Forest and Wildlife Regime on June 28, 2024 in Yaounde.
The Support Service for Local Development Initiatives(SAILD) and Green Development Advocates (GDA) have joined forces. The two civil society organizations held a press conference in Yaounde. The aim of the conference was to provide a better understanding of the issues at stake in draft law N° 2058/PJL/AN on the forest and wildlife regime in Cameroon, as well as better communication of its content to national and international public opinion.
Ghislain Fomou and Alain Mfoulou, forestry experts from SAILD and GDA, gave presentations on the progress made and the major problems remaining in the draft law.
Reduce illegal logging
A ban on the export of logs, the inclusion of certain environmental and ecological aspects, and a desire to improve the protection of the industry are the main new features highlighted in the text submitted to parliament. “To boost the forestry economy, we need to move towards more extensive local wood processing. And this law already indicates this as one of the major points of the reform. There is a strong desire to decentralize forest management,” declares Ghislain Fomou.
The forestry expert points out that the current forestry law on the parliamentary table better integrates new processes linked to forest management: “There’s a desire to reduce illegal logging, for example, there are offences that will be dealt with directly before the competent courts, although some adjustments need to be made to the texts to make this truly effective”, he enthuses.
The two panelists did not fail to point out the grey areas observed in this bill. “There are some major principles set out in the explanatory memorandum, but they are not very well integrated into the law. Forest management is not adapted to the context, and participatory forest management and benefit sharing with communities are not well defined. There are limits to communities’ access and harvesting rights,” says Alain Mfoulou, a GDA specialist in land and forestry issues.
At the end of this conference, the stakes of this law, which has been before Parliament since the beginning of June 2024, are clear. The dice are cast for better protection of our forests and greater consideration of the rights of riparian and indigenous communities.
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