ABSTRACT
SUM MARY. Cameroon’s forests have experienced the development of a flourishing informal forestry sector. This case study was designed to provide detailed information on illegal logging in the East Province of Cameroon, Messok district and focuses on Forest Management Unit (FMU) 10 030. Between 1999 and 2000, 21,750 ha of the unit’s 79,757 ha (27%) was logged illegally. In total, 162,255 m3 (7.46 m3 per ha) of timber worth approximately US$ 26.5 million were removed from this area. The area logged is equivalent to 8.2 annual cut blocks which should have generated US$ 7.5 million in tax revenues. Locally, no long-term investments were made and the employment generated by the logging operations lasted only 2 years. Imposing sanctions against companies re sponsible for illegal logging activities remains an untested approach in Cameroon. The company recently challenged the administration’s deci sion at the administrative court, on the grounds of the lack of evidence, and won the case. There is a risk that the company will escape all legal charges because of a four-year statute of limitations on tax infractions. The FMU 10 030 case shows the extent of financial and environmental damages from illegal logging and gives an idea of the level of losses incurred in Cameroon and other countries in the Congo Basin. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address: <docdelivery@haworthpress.com> Web site: < https://www.HawortliPress.com>; © 2004 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.]
KEYW ORDS. Illegal logging, sustainable forest management, forest policy, road detection, remote sensing, Cameroon, Congo Basin
INTRODUCTION Thanks to easy access to valuable resources and corruption, most forested
areas in Cameroon have experienced some form of illicit extraction of forest products as part of a flourishing informal forestry sector (Faure, 2000). The development of this wide base of illegal activities in the forest sector stemmed from the convergence of a variety of forces: a new 1994 forest law, the ongo ing attempt to implement the various aspects covered by the application arti cles, and the intense industrialization of the forest sector following the 1994 devaluation of F CFA, the national currency (Carret, 1999).
