(Business in Cameroon) - In Cameroon, the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife (Minfof) is currently planning to revive the Special Forestry Development And Wildlife Fund. Indeed, during the cabinet meeting of February 25, 2021, in Yaoundé, Jules Doret Ndongo (Minister of Forestry and Wildlife) "insisted on the need to rehabilitate the Special Forestry Development And Wildlife Fund as instituted by the Decree of April 10, 1996, setting out the operating procedures of Special Funds," according to the minute published at the end of the meeting by Magloire Séraphin Fouda, Secretary-General of the Prime Minister's Office.

 "The aim is to optimize the financing of the National Programme for the Development of Forest Plantations, implement the protected areas management plan as well as fight poaching and wildlife crime," the minute explains.  

Indeed, according to the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, there are currently 14 million hectares of exploitable forest area, of which nearly 80% are already used for selective logging. On those 80% areas, only forty out of the 600 tree species identified are planted. Also, just fifteen out of the forty planted cover over 90% of the exploitable areas in use and three (Ayous, Azobé, and Sapelli) of those fifteen species provide 60% of the harvest.

Apart from the species skimming it causes, logging destroys an average of 5 to 10% of the vegetation cover. Also, shifting cultivation is one of the main factors that aggravate forest degradation, causing losses estimated by the FAO at 200,000 ha yearly.  

The Minfof reports that in savannah areas, over 80% of the wood chopped is used as firewood. Therefore, energy security (biomass notably) is a real challenge, especially in populated areas like the West and the northern parts of the country.

Overall, the Ministry estimates, under the combined effects of exploitation and agricultural clearing, pasture, and drought, the wood potential is declining, which will eventually be detrimental to the balance between the needs and the resources available. Also, the plant cover decline caused is unfavorable to the climate, water regime, and soil.

So, the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife believes that the revival of the Special Forestry Development And Wildlife Fund will help address all those problems.

Let’s note that in 2011 (the last time the special fund was included in the finance act), XAF2 billion was budgeted for the special fund.

S.A.