Wood Processing, Logging Companies Urged to Prioritise Reforestation

Small and large scale logging and wood processing companies in Cameroon have been called upon to make reforestation a priority as they carry out logging in Cameroon. This call was made by the Cameroon Minister of Forestry and Wildlife, Jules Doret Ndongo, while visiting some wood transformation companies in the East Region of Cameroon, February 13, 2019.

The Minister divulged that reforestation by logging companies is very important to replace trees that have been logged and exported to the international market. “We have observed that only owners of UFAs are complying with the rules of the Ministry of Forestry. We call on all stakeholders including small enterprises to comply with our regulations to plant trees that will replace the ones cut and sold abroad,” he entreated.

Cameroon has been rated as the second country with the highest deforestation rate in the Congo Basin, after the Democratic Republic of Congo. The woods are cut predominantly by Lebanese, French and Chinese companies and exported to Europe and Asia. While logging contributes enormously to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), it undoubtedly has a negative impact on the forest ecosystem, if not well planned.

The forest ecosystem in Cameroon provides a host of services including but not limited to the provision of quality drinking water, Non-Timber Forest Products (eru, bitter kola, contry onion etc), habitats to biodiversity species, and carbon sink amongst others. The destruction of the forest ecosystem via logging will therefore mean depriving Cameroonians of these services. The Cameroon Government must therefore transcend words to putting in place a mechanism that ensure that low impact logging is practiced by the companies and effective reforestation done in accordance with regulations in place. It must equally scale up and ensure the effectively implementation of her annual reforestation programmes across all regions of Cameroon.  Meanwhile, adequate efforts should be put in place to protect and ensure the effective management of the country’s remaining primary forest.