Governance of Forests Initiative (GFI) Cameroon

WRI Partner MeetingWashington DC, May 2012

GFI Cameroon: Findings, research and activities

• WHO ARE WE ?GFI CAMEROON Coalition is made of two organisations,

namely Bioresources Development and Conservation Programme Cameroon (BDCPC) and Cameroon Ecology (Cam-Eco)

BDCPC’s mission is linking conservation with economic and health needs of the local population – has been doing this for 18 years

Cam-Eco’s mission is capacity building for rural communities – has 12 years of field experience

Locations of the research areas

Location of Research Areas (Continued)

GFI Cameroon: main objective

• Strengthen forest governance in order to promote sustainable management of forests and strengthen rights of forest communities

• Specifically:– Ensure that good governance principles

(transparency, accountability, coordination and participation) are integrated into the development and implementation of policies that impact forests

Activities

• Detailed assessment of 37 indicators of Forest Management and Forest Revenue and 19 Land Use Planning

• Identification of key respondents/ informants : administration, private, civil society, local populations, elected people (Mayors and Councilors) ….

• Literature reviews, legal analyses and stakeholder interviews

Main findings

Researchers identified 4 main findings that are also priority challenges:

1) Land allocation rules and procedures• Many laws and policies governing land allocation in

Cameroon have not been subject to a public legislative debate but take the form of presidential ordinances or decrees.

• The legal and institutional framework identifies several ministries with authority and interests in land.

• Land use planning processes conducted in the 1990s are out of date and do not reflect current threats• Large scale agriculture• Hydropower• Mining

Main findings (2)2) Participation and access to information • Forest sector stakeholders—including local

communities, local government , Mayors and parliamentarians—are left out of land use decisions that impact forests.

• Information on proposed land use changes is often not available until after the decision has been made.

• There are no clear rules for national or strategic level participation

• Local consultation requirements exist for classifying forests but are not well implemented• Lack of clear procedures and monitoring requirements• No accountability for community input

Main findings (3)

3) Very poor capacities among forest stakeholders• MINFOF local services as well as local communities

and Mayors lack capacities to implement laws and policies that govern forest management and forest revenues in Cameroon

• This gives way to poor governance practices such as corruption and mismanagement of forest revenues

Main findings (4)

4) Monitoring and oversight mechanisms• Monitoring is primarily focused on timber extraction in

concessions and at checkpoints, but forest officers must cover large territories

• Monitoring and oversight of how communities are consulted or whether they receive funds is lacking

• Communities lack the right to seek redress if they do not receive their 10% of revenues from forest area logging fees

Some perspectiveThese Four main areas need to be strengthened in order to protect forests and recognize the rights of forest communities: 1- Transparency of forest land allocation (e.g. for forest management, agriculture, mining) rules and procedures

2- Participation of local communities in forest land allocation decisions, as well as in the management of forests and forest revenues

3- Capacity building of MINFOF services, local communities (men and women) as well as elected people especially Mayors and councilors)

4- Monitoring , enforcement and oversight of forest use

Main Activities 2012-2013

• GFI Working Group– Convene actors to build consensus on priority

challenges– Develop an action plan

• REDD+– Cameroon developing its Readiness Preparation

Proposal– Engagement with REDD+-Climate Change Civil

Society Platform