Allocation of logging rights to Camvert: MINFOF violates the law three times over

Yaounde, 26 October 2022/ Green Development Advocates, in partnership with Greenpeace Africa, has just published an Analysis Note which highlights the legal irregularities surrounding the attribution by the Cameroonian government of five timber sales in favour of the Camvert project.  

The document makes a legal analysis of the decrees n°0011, 0012, 0013, 0014, 0015 granting sales of timber within the framework of the implementation of the so-called development project in the national domain at Campo in the South region. The said document points out three cases of clear violation of the law by the Cameroonian Minister of Forestry and Wildlife, Jules Doret Ndongo, signatory of the said orders.

“the orders for the sale of timber were signed on 16th  February 2022, whereas the provisional concession decree was signed on 7 March 2022 by the Head of State, giving Camvert the right to operate in the field. Indeed, according to the regulations, the opposite should have happened; in order to give a legal basis justifying the sales of logs at this period. The Minister has put the cart before the horse‘, says Aristide Chacgom, GDA coordinator. 

Article 2 common to the various decrees states that the sales of cuttings result from the implementation of the CAMVERT SA palm grove extension project. “At this stage of the project, how and why can the extension be justified when, at the time of the signing of the decrees, the provisional concession had not even been awarded? The absurdity continued with the allocation of a single sale of salvage logging on the area (39,923 ha) that the President of the Republic would later allocate as a provisional concession. Verification by means of the GPS coordinates provided in the decrees shows that the other four sales of timber are outside the area allocated for exploitation by CAMVERT,” adds Aristide Chacgom. 

The third criticism relates to the violation of the legal provisions on the validity of timber sales. “In the forests of the national domain, sales of timber are attributed after the opinion of a competent commission for a period of three (3) years, which is not renewable.” Contrary to this provision of paragraph 2 of article 55 of law N°94/01 of 20 January 1994 on the regime of forests, fauna and fisheries, Minister Jules Doret NDONGO has provided in his decrees in articles 13 and 14 that sales of timber are attributed for a period of one year with a renewal procedure. “When analyzing the practice of this ministerial department, it is certain that such a modification opens the door to manipulation of both volumes and attributable areas,” concludes Aristide Chacgom. 

This cacophony is worrying, especially a few days before COP 27, in which Cameroon, as in previous years, intends to take part. 

“It is necessary to stop deceiving Cameroonians, local communities and indigenous peoples whose lives depend on the forest; a few days before the climate conferences, we once again call on the Government of Cameroon to stop destroying forests in violation of the rights of local populations and its international commitments in relation to the fight against climate change,” says Stella Tchoukep, Forest Campaigner at Greenpeace Africa.