GCP/RAF/408/EC
"Mobilization and capacity-building for small and medium-scale enterprises involved in the non-wood forest products value chains in Central Africa"
Review of Cameroon’s forestry policy and Law No. 94/01 of 20 January 1994 to lay down Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries Regulations and its
implementing instruments.
Sub-working group on non-wood forest products (NWFP)
SUGGESTED SECTIONS ON NWFP TO BE AMENDED AND PROPOSED IMPROVEMENTS TO THE
FORESTRY LAW
Project funded by the European Union
Yaounde, November 2009
Table: Suggested sections on NWFP to be amended and proposed improvements to the forestry law
Suggested sections on NWFP to be amended
Legal reference
Problems identified
concerned
1. No definition of
Sections 9(1) and
-Confusion between special
NWFP
(2) of the Law ;
forest products and secondary
Articles 3(22) and
forest products
26 (1) of the Decree -No clarification/specification
on the term ‘non-wood’ in the
definition of forest products
Restriction
Argument
Proposal
Formulation
-eru or Gnetum spp. is listed as special
product whereas Irvingia spp. and
Ricinodendron heudelotii are not.
- Ebony (wood) and eru (leaf) are found
on the same list.
-Do a proper classification /categorization of
NWFPs of plant origin.
Comment /what still
needs to be done
Formulate a proposal to
be validated through a
participatory approach
2. Limited usufruct
or customary right
Sections 8 (1), 8
(2), 29(1), 30(2),
38(2), and 39(4) of
the Law
NWFPs cannot be marketed
as part of customary right
Repugnant to MDGs and the Economic
Recovery Strategy Paper (ERSP)
Introduce commercial usufruct right to enable
the local population to market NWFPs
harvested as part of their customary rights
and satisfy their basic needs such as soap,
kerosene.
Formulate a proposal to
be validated through a
participatory approach
3. Exploitation of
NWFPs in FMUs
(forest
concessions)
Sections 26(1), (2)
and 62 of the Law
The regulation or prohibition of
the population’s access to
FMUs is not clearly defined
The local populations should have
access to forest species which are not
valued by forest concessions for their
timber
Formulate a proposal to
be validated through a
participatory approach
Section 41(1) of the
Law
Only one type of approval for
timber applied to NWFPs
The role of NWFPs in poverty
alleviation and food security should be
recognized. It is high time timberrelated activities are separated from
NWFP activities
-Specify the user or customary rights of the
local populations in FMUs;
-Specify the legal framework governing
access to and the marketing of NWFPs
found in FMUs
-Approval is necessary for NWFP exploiters
in order to better professionalize the sector;
-The granting of such approval should be
subject to more flexible conditions than the
exploitation of timber
4. Approval
Formulate a proposal to
be validated through a
participatory approach
Table (continuation)
Suggested sections on NWFPs to be amended
Legal reference
Problems identified
concerned
5. Exploitation
Section 56 (1) of
-The granting of exploitation
permit
the Law
permits or quotas is not based
on NWFP inventories
-No transparency in the
granting of exploitation permits
-Holders of permits can carry
out exploitation activities
wherever they choose to,
without any restriction
Restriction
Argument
Proposal
Formulation
The local communities and most
traders are excluded from the process
whereas they are the direct contributors
in the NWFP value chains
-Inventories to be made by the State
-The granting of exploitation permits should
be based on inventories.
-There is need to adopt a bidding procedure
so as to ensure greater transparency and
place all stakeholders on the same footing;
-Holders of exploitation permits should be
restricted to specific geographical locations
in order to better monitor their activities and
adequately check for abuses and target
collective sanctions.
Comment/what still
needs to be done
Formulate a proposal to
be validated through a
participatory approach
6. Validity of
exploitation permit
Section 56 (2) of
the Law
Limited period=12 months
7. Transfer of
exploitation permit
Section 60 of the
Law
Exploitation permits are in
reality transferred in the form
of waybills in contravention of
the law.
-Does not encourage investment in
resource conservation and
domestication activities.
- Delays in the granting of permits make
it impossible for their holders to exploit
their full quotas.
Exploitation permits are sold by their
holders as waybills at prices higher
than the regeneration tax of CFAF 10
per KG
Envisage the granting of exploitation permits
whose validity exceeds a year to foster
conservation and domestication activities.
Formulate a proposal to
be validated through a
participatory approach
-Prohibit the sale of exploitation permits in
the form of waybills.
-Punish holders of permits who sell them as
waybills
Formulate a proposal to
be validated through a
participatory approach
Table (continuation)
Suggested sections on NWFPs to be amended
Legal reference
Problems identified
concerned
8. Application file for Section 87 (1) of
Complex administrative
exploitation permit
the Law
procedures
Restriction
9. No annual
exploitation
certificate for the
marketing of
NWFPs harvested
from community
forests
10. Excessive road
checks
Annual exploitation certificate
available for timber
Section 127 (2) of
the Law
- Informal taxes collected by
control agents: police,
gendarmerie, forestry services,
customs service, council
service;
-Poor appraisal by control
agents
Proposal
Formulation
Long distance between the NWFP
harvest zone and the implementation
area of the forestry service which is
supposed to grant permits. Increase in
transaction costs.
No legal document authorizes the
exploitation of NWFPs in community
forests.
Decentralise and simplify the procedures
Comment/what still
needs to be done
Formulate a proposal to
be validated through a
participatory approach
Incorporate the annual exploitation certificate
in documents on the exploitation of NWFPs
in community forests;
Formulate a proposal to
be validated through a
participatory approach
-Between Sa’a and Idenau, a trader can
pay up to CFAF 239,000 as informal
taxes (corruption) for a load of 2,500
packets of Gnetum spp , broken down
as follows: CFAF 99,000 for
gendarmes, CFAF 63,000 for police
officers, CFAF 49,000 for the forestry
service, and CFAF 28,000 for the other
control corps (Source : Ndoye and
Awono, 2007) ;
-Corruption can make a trader to lose
up to 20% of his gross income ;
-Consequence : traders transfer
corruption costs to producers, by
buying the product at very low prices,
and to consumers, by selling same at
very high prices;
-Control agents (police and
gendarmerie) do not realise that
okok=eru=Gnetum spp. This is also
true of the other NWFPs;
-Abolish excessive checks and punish
control agents indicted;
-Properly train control agents to enable them
realise that Gnetum spp. is a scientific name
and that the local names of the product are
okok or eru, depending on whether one is in
the Francophone or Anglophone part of the
country.
Formulate a proposal to
be validated through a
participatory approach
Argument
11. Regeneration tax
Section 123 (2) of
the Law
This section of the law does
not take into account the
availability and profitability of
NWFPs.
Existence of easily perishable NWFPs
such as Gnetum spp leaves, and
Irvingia spp fruits (bush mango).
- Introduce the bidding procedure based on
inventories.
-Draw up a tax scheme based on the types
of NWFPs (for example, the tax on Gnetum
spp should be different from the tax on
Irvingia spp (bush mango), which should
differ from ebony tax).
Formulate a proposal to
be validated through a
participatory approach
Table (continuation)
Suggested sections on NWFPs to be amended
Legal reference
Problems identified
concerned
12. There is no legal
Cultivated or domesticated
provision that
NWFPs are taxed or seized by
differentiates
control agents.
cultivated NWFPs
from NWFPs that
grow in the wild
Restriction
Argument
Several local communities have
cultivated NWFPs in their plantations
Proposal
Formulation
-Promote the traceability of cultivated
NWFPs;
-Simplify the legal procedures which attest
that a NWFP was planted/cultivated so as to
foster the domestication of these products;
Comment/what still
needs to be done
Formulate a proposal to
be validated through a
participatory approach