thesis environment cameroon thaly
TRANSCRIPT
M.A.-Thesis Otto-Suhr Institut
Freie Universität Berlin
Environmental Policy Analysis of Cameroon
First Examiner: Prof. Dr. Martin Jänicke Second Examiner: Dr. Kirsten Jörgensen
Submitted by: Dominique Thaly Matr.-Nr.: 3101337
Berlin, 10. Mai 2000
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TABLE OF CONTENT
1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 6
2 ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS IN CAMEROON .................................................... 8
3 ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY IN CAMEROON BEFORE 1992 ............................... 11 3.1 ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION AND INSTRUMENTS .................................................... 12
3.1.1 National legislation ........................................................................................... 12 3.1.2 International Conventions ................................................................................. 13
3.2 ENVIRONMENTAL INSTITUTIONS ................................................................................. 14 3.3 ENVIRONMENT-RELATED PLANNING EXERCISES .......................................................... 16
4 ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGY AFTER THE 1992 RIO CONFERENCE ............ 17 4.1 THE ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGY ............................................................................... 17
4.1.1 The introduction of a comprehensive environmental policy ................................ 17 4.1.2 Problem perception and agenda setting ............................................................. 19
4.2 THE ENVIRONMENTAL LAW ........................................................................................ 22 4.2.1 The Law No 96 / 12 of 5 August 1996 relating to environmental management ... 22
4.2.1.1 Preventive measures ...................................................................................... 23 4.2.1.2 Incentive measures ........................................................................................ 25 4.2.1.3 Repressive measures ...................................................................................... 25
4.2.2 Evaluation of the environmental law .................................................................. 26 4.3 FORESTS WILDLIFE AND FISHERIES ............................................................................. 28
4.3.1 The 1994 Forest Law and its Decrees of Application ......................................... 29 4.3.1.1 Preventive measures ...................................................................................... 32 4.3.1.2 Incentive measures ........................................................................................ 33 4.3.1.3 Repressive measures ...................................................................................... 33
4.3.2 Evaluation of the forestry legislation ................................................................. 34 4.4 INSTITUTIONS ............................................................................................................ 35
4.4.1 The Inter-Ministerial Committee on the Environment ........................................ 35 4.4.2 The National Advisory Commission on the Environment and Sustainable Development (NCSD)........................................................................................................ 36 4.4.3 The MINEF ....................................................................................................... 36 4.4.4 The Permanent Secretariat of the Environment .................................................. 37 4.4.5 The decentralized environmental administration................................................ 37 4.4.6 Other ministries involved in environmental management ................................... 38
4.5 ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING ...................................................................................... 39 4.5.1 The National Environmental Management Plan ................................................ 40 4.5.2 Evaluation of the planning exercise ................................................................... 41
5 CAPACITY ANALYSIS FOR SUCCESSFUL ENVIRONMENTAL CAPACITY IN CAMEROON.......................................................................................................................... 47
5.1 ACTORS ..................................................................................................................... 48 5.1.1 Governmental institutions for environmental protection in Cameroon ............... 49
5.1.1.1 Policy making institutions.............................................................................. 49 5.1.1.2 Implementing agencies .................................................................................. 51 5.1.1.3 Legislation and international conventions ...................................................... 52
5.1.2 Political Parties ................................................................................................ 53 5.1.3 Environmental organizations ............................................................................. 53 5.1.4 Media ................................................................................................................ 56
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5.1.5 Ecologically innovative firms ............................................................................ 57 5.1.6 Epistemic community ......................................................................................... 57 5.1.7 International and multilateral organizations...................................................... 57
5.2 THE SYSTEMIC FRAMEWORK OF ACTION ..................................................................... 61 5.2.1 The cognitive-informational framework conditions ............................................ 61 5.2.2 Political-institutional framework conditions ...................................................... 64
5.2.2.1 The political system of Cameroon .................................................................. 64 5.2.2.2 Participative capacity ..................................................................................... 67 5.2.2.3 Integrative capacity ....................................................................................... 69 5.2.2.4 Capacity for strategic action .......................................................................... 70
5.2.3 Economic-Technological framework conditions................................................. 72 5.2.3.1 Economic performances in Cameroon............................................................ 72 5.2.3.2 The economic structure .................................................................................. 74 5.2.3.3 Technological standard .................................................................................. 74
5.3 UTILIZATION OF THE CAPACITIES ................................................................................ 76 5.3.1 Strategy, will and skill of environmental actors ................................................. 76
5.3.1.1 Strategy, will and skill of environmental proponents ...................................... 76 5.3.1.2 The strategy, will and skill of environmental opponents ................................. 80
5.3.2 The situative opportunity ................................................................................... 83 5.4 STRUCTURE OF THE PROBLEM ..................................................................................... 84
5.4.1 Politicization ..................................................................................................... 84 5.4.2 Power structure ................................................................................................. 85 5.4.3 Options .............................................................................................................. 86
6 FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ....................................... 87
7 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 92
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Abbreviations and Acronyms
AAC Assiette Annuelle de Coupe / Annual exploitation area APEMC Association pour la Protection des Ecosystèmes Marins et
Côtiers ATD Association Terre et Développement CBOs Community-based Organizations CDC Cameroon Development Cooperation CED Centre pour l’Environnement et le Développement CENEDAFOR Centre National de Développement de la Forêt / National Center
for Forest Development CERDIE Centre d’Etude, de Recherche et de Documentation en Droit
International et pour l’Environnement CFAF France de la Coopération Française en Afrique Centrale CIPCRE Cercle International pour la Promotion de la Création CNEDD Commission Nationale pour l’Environnement et le
Développement Durable CONGAC Confédération des ONG d’Afrique Centrale CRTV Cameroon Radio and Television company CU Co-ordination unit (for the NEMP in the MINEF) DATE Directorate of Territorial Management and the Environment DFID Department of Foreign and International Development (former
Overseas Department Administration of the British Cooperation)
DME Diamètre Minimum d’Exploitation / Minimum Exploitation Diameter (own translation)
ECOFAC Ecosystèmes Forestiers en Afrique Centrale FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FDCCC Fonds de Contrepartie Canado-Camerounais FEICOM Fonds d’Equipement Intercommunal / Inter-Municipal
Equipment Funds FONEDD Fonds National de l’Environnement et du Développement
durable (National Environmental and Sustainable Development Fund)
FONGEC Fédération des ONGs d’Environnement FSC Forest Stewardship Council IDA International Development Association IDF Institutional Development Fund IIED International Institute for Environment and Development IMF International Monetary Funds IMPM Institut de la Recherche Médicale et d’Etude des Plantes
Médicinales / Institute of medical research and of medicinal plant studies
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IRAD Institute of research for Agricultural development IRGM Institut des Recherches Géologiques et Minières / Institute of
geological and mineral research IRZ Institut de Recherche Zootechnique / Institute of Zootechnical
Research IUCN International Union for the Conservation of Nature now called
World Conservation Union LAVANET Laboratoire National Vétérinaire / National Veterinary
Laboratory MAB Man and Biosphere Committee MINAGRI Ministère de l’Agriculture / Ministry of Agriculture MINASCOF Ministère des Affaires Sociales et de la Condition Féminine /
Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Social Welfare MINDIC Ministre de l’Industrie et du Commerce / Ministry of Industry
and Commerce MINEF Ministère de l’Environnement et des Forêts / Ministry of the
Environment and Forests MINEFI Ministère de l’Economie et des Finances / Ministry of Economy
and Finance MINEPIA Ministère de l’Elevage, des pêches et des industries animales /
Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries MINMEE Ministère des Mines, de l’Eau et de l’Energie / Ministry of
Mines, Water Resources and Power MINPAT Ministère du Plan et de l’Aménagement du Territoire / Ministry
of Planning and Territorial Management MINREST Ministère de la Recherche Technique et Scientifique / Ministry
of Scientific and Technical Research MINTOUR Ministère du Tourisme / Ministry of Tourism NATCOM National Commission on the Environment NCS National Conservation Strategy NCSD National Advisory Commission on the Environment and
Sustainable Development NEMP National Environmental Action Plan NFAP National Forestry Action Plan NGO Non-Governmental Organization NTFP Non-Timber Forest Products ODA Official Development Assistance ONAREF Office National de Régénération des Forêts / National
Reforestation Service ONDADEF Office National de Développement des Forêts / National Office
for the Forests Development PAFN Plan d’Action Forestier National PAPGE Programme des Actions Prioritaires pour la Gestion de
l’Environnement / Program of Priority Actions for the Environmental Management
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PNGE Plan National de Gestion de l’Environnement PRGIE Programme Régional de Gestion de l’Information
Environnementale / Regional project on Management of the Environmental Information
RDPC Rassemblement Démocratique du Peuple Camerounais / Cameroon’s People Democratic Movement
REDDA Réseau pour l’Environnement et le Développement Durable en Afrique
SAP Structural Adjustment Plan SDF Social Democratic Front SDNP Sustainable Development Network Program SDR Special Drawing Rights SOCAPALM Société Camerounaise d’Huile de Palme / Palm Oil Company SONARA Société Nationale de Raffinerie / National Refinery Corporation SONEL Société Nationale d’Electricité / National Electricity Company SPE Secrétariat Permanent de l’Environnement / Permanent
Secretariat of the Environment TFAP Tropical Forestry Action Plan TRC Technical Regional Committee UFA Unités Forestières d’Aménagement / Forest Management Units UFE Unités Forestières d’Exploitation / Forest Exploitation Units UN/ESA United Nations Economic and Social Development UNDP United Nations Development Program UNDP Union Nationale pour la Démocratie et le Progrès / National
Union for Democracy and Progress UNEP United Nations Environment Programme UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization UNIDO United Nations Industrial Development Organization UNSO United Nations Sudano-sahelian Office WRI World Resources Institute
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1 Introduction The main environmental problems on the African continent are related to resource depletion: an
estimated 500 million hectares of land have been affected by soil degradation since about 1950
including as much as 65% of agricultural land. Africa lost 39 Million hectares of tropical forest
during the 1980s and another 10 million hectares by 1995. 14 countries are subject to water
stress or water scarcity, and a further 11 will join them by 2025. Comparatively, Africa emits
only 3.5% of the world’s total carbon dioxide, and this is expected to increase to only 3.8% by
the year 20101.
The fast growing population, the rapid urbanization and the expanding agricultural and industrial
activities are the direct causes for these environmental degradation. But above all, the major
cause and consequence for these problems is poverty, which is expected to rise during the next
century.
In Cameroon, the major environmental problems relate to soil degradation and desertification
due to agricultural activities and deforestation, loss of biodiversity due to deforestation and
hunting, siltation of waterways and uncontrolled urbanization: the urban population is expected
to grow to 13.8 million by 2,010 compared with the present 5.2 million.
The underlying cause of the natural degradation is, as for the whole continent, the growing
poverty of the population: about half the population lives below the poverty line of FCFA2
148,000 (US $ 250) a year. There has been a crisis in Cameroon since 1985 due to the fall in
revenues from oil and agricultural exports. Since 1988 Cameroon has been undergoing several
structural adjustment programs that did also have a negative impact on poverty and environment.
The globalization of environmental policy did not spare the African continent and African
countries have been practicing in this new field since 1987. The African countries have been
building up their capacity in environmental policy especially through the establishment of new
environmental ministries and agencies, and new legislation.
Although Cameroon did start pretty late, it has by now an extensive set of institutions and
legislation at its disposal: one line ministry and several agencies, two extensive laws for forest
and environmental management and several implementation decrees constitute its institutional
capacity. It also has a National Environmental Management Plan (NEMP) at its disposal which
has been developed with the newest capacity building paradigms.
1 UNEP (1999), Global Environment Outlook 2000, United Nations Environment Programme, Earthscan Publication Ltd, United Nations Environment Programme, 1999, Kenya. Online: http://www.unep.org/geo2000. 2 FCFA: Franc de la coopération Francaise en Afrique Centrale. FCFA 100 = FF 1.
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The environmental policy problems found at the continental level deal with the lack of qualified
personal, expertise, funds and equipment to implement existing national laws and international
conventions, a lack of commitment of national governments, a largely regulatory approach to
environmental protection and management rather than a sound use of economic instruments and
legal incentives and a progressive empowerment of rural communities over natural resource on
the land on which their lives depend.
Despite a modern approach, a lot of voices also raise to express critics towards the
environmental policy of the Cameroonian government. One reproaches to the Cameroonian
government a lack of political commitment to the effective implementation of the environmental
policies and programs proposed in the NEMP. A lack of resource commitment (material,
personal, financial) has also been ascertained. The forest policy is being undermined by
economic interests and by the incompetence of the services in charge of its implementation3.
Why is it that the environmental policy fails to achieve its goal in Africa in general and in
Cameroon in particular?
To answer this question, the model of policy explanation regarding the preconditions for
successful environmental policy and management developed by Martin Jänicke4 will be used.
This model analyzes a set of variables that influence the capacity for environmental policy of a
given country. It analyzes the capacities of the proponents of environmental policy regarding
their strength, competence and configuration. These proponents are moving in given cognitive-
informational, political-institutional and economic-technological structures, which also need to
be analyzed. After this formal analysis of the capacities for the environment, one has to look at
how these capacities are being utilized by analyzing the strategy, will and skill of the proponents
and their situative opportunities. And of course the structure of the problem needs to be taken
into account: is it an urgent problem? And what are the capacities of the target group to oppose
the environment policy. This theoretical model will be further explained in a later section5.
The application of this model to the study-case Cameroon should help us understand why the
environmental policy has not been yet as successful as it has been expected to be. It should show
the deficits in the political and societal systems that led to the deficits in the implementation of
the environmental policy.
3 See among others Bomba, Célestin Modeste Dr. (199b), Nouveau régime forestier du Cameroun: le ballet classique des intérêts, in: Ecovox Nr. 3, Octobre 1999, Bafoussam. Online: http://wagne.net/ecovox/eco03/dossier2.htm. Kengne Kamgue, Maurice (1999), Des institutions et des compétences, in: Ecovox Nr. 3, October 1999, Bafoussam. Online: http://wagne.net/ecovox/eco03/dossier4.htm. Njog, Nathanaël (1999), Arrêt de l’exportation des grumes: Le combat n’a pas commencé, in: Ecovox Nr. 19, Juillet/Septembre 1999, Bafoussam. Online: http://wagne.net/ecovox/eco19/actual3.htm. 4 Jänicke, Martin (1995), The Political System’s Capacity for Environmental Policy, Forschungsstelle für Umweltpolitik, Freie Universität Berlin, FFU-report 95-6, 1995, Berlin. 5 See Chapter 5.
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The reason why Cameroon has been chosen is because it has developed its environmental policy
quite recently, and therefore has benefited from the experience of the neighboring countries in
developing such a policy. The environmental plan has been conceived with the newest
instruments of policy planning available in Africa. The conditions have been quite favorable, and
there should be actually a good level of policy success. Nevertheless protests have overshadowed
the policy implementation, and the first results are not quite satisfying. Therefore it should be
interesting to find out why it so happened.
Secondly the German Development Cooperation agencies had quite a lot to do with capacity
building in environmental policy in Cameroon. Therefore gray literature on this topic is available
in Germany, what one can not affirmed of other African countries.
Thirdly Cameroon has attracted the attention of the international community because of the
destruction of its wildlife in the remaining tropical forests: elephants are being hunted for their
ivory, apes are being hunted as trophies and for their flesh. There is furthermore the issue of the
construction of the pipeline from the petroleum fields in Chad going through Cameroon, which
has caused the protest of local and international NGOs. A third issue relates to the construction
of a route, which was to be financed by the European Union and which has proved to be harmful
for the forest it was to go through, what raised an European protest where Germany has been
quite active, and that actually led to a temporary stop in the project6. Cameroon has therefore
been the object of attention from the environmental policy related international community and
could be an interesting case-study.
Before treating the environmental policy through the study of the legislation, institutions and
planning, we shall take a closer look at the environmental problems in Cameroon, so as to have a
clear picture of the environmental problems. The environmental policy in Cameroon after 1992
will be thoroughly analyzed with the help of the Jänicke’s model for policy analysis, but before,
it will be interesting to look at the environmental policy before 1992, as this date constitutes a
fundamental step for Africa in this area and for Cameroon in particular.
2 Environmental problems in Cameroon In this chapter, we shall have a short, indicators-based overview of the environmental problems
in Cameroon with the main causes and consequences.
The key environmental problems of Cameroon are desertification, mostly in the Sudano-Sahelian
zone (affecting 25% of the total population), deforestation in the coastal, central, eastern and
southern regions, soil erosion and degradation in the high plateau region of the west and north
6 [no name] (1999), Regenwald Report, Nr. 3/99, October 99, Hamburg.
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west provinces, water supply, urban waste management and industrial pollution in the urban
centers as well as marine pollution in the coastal areas. Population growth and environmental
degradation are closely linked in both rural and urban setting as it impacts on the natural
resources according to density and activities.7
The deforestation rate amounts to yearly 0.6% affecting 1,292 square kilometers8. Up to 60% of
the primary forest has been lost, which is more than in any other country in Africa9. The main
causes are shifting cultivation, logging, gathering of fire-wood, road construction and
uncontrolled settlement in city area. Concerning the technique of shifting cultivation and the
gathering of firewood, these activities are originally not harmful, when practiced in a sustainable
way. But the population growth (2.9% for the period between 1990 and 199710) put much
pressure on the land and wood resources.
The consequences of the deforestation problem are the loss of biodiversity, the loss of soil
productivity and the phenomena of soil compaction11. A positive effect of the selective logging is
that the sink and ecological service functions of the remaining vegetation is not reduced, it might
even become greater, as it allows for a new vegetation to grow12.
The forest cover degradation is a milder form of deforestation and it affects up to 2,000 square
kilometers yearly13. It mainly occurs through inadequate agricultural practices like bush fires, the
disorganized and irrational use of resources and utilization of rudimentary tools and of chemical
pesticides. Other negative practices are the overgrazing and the extensive breeding. Agroforestry
techniques are not widely used because they are not known yet. At the bottom of all these
problems there is the land tenure issue. Although a modern land tenure law exists, it is not
respected as it collides with the traditional land tenure system and the sensitivity of the
population14.
The consequences are the same as for deforestation.
7 UNDP / SDNP (1996), UNDP SDNP Cameroon Project Document, UNDP, 1996, New York. Online: http://192.124.42.15/sdnp/af/cameroon.htm. 8 World Bank (1999c), World Development Report: Knowledge for Development, The World Bank, 1999, Washington D.C. p. 206. 9 Fombad, Charles Manga (1997), Overcoming the Legal and Institutional Challenges to implementing Cameroon’s National Environmental Management Plan, in: Environmental Policy and Law, Vol. 27 Number 6, December 1997, Bonn. P. 489. 10 World Bank (1999c), p. 194. 11 The phenomena of soil compaction can also occur through logging, even selective logging as it takes place in Cameroon: “as much as 30 to 50% of the remaining trees can be destroyed or fatally damaged and the soil can become so impacted as to impede regeneration.” WWF (1995), Structural adjustment and sustainable development in Cameroon. A World Wide Fund for Nature Study, Working Paper 83, ODI, 1995, London. P. 32. 12 Ibid. 13 MINEF (1998b), Forests in Cameroon: A situation Report. Prepared for the Cameroon/UNDP Global Programme on Forest Management to support sustainable livelihoods, Department of Forestry, prepared by Fofung Tata, Thomas, August 1998, Yaoundé. P. 4. 14 The 1974 land tenure law and the traditional land tenure law cohabit in practice. The 1974 law allows any Cameroonian or collectivity having exploited the land before 1974 to access to a land title. This was part of the governmental strategy to develop the country. But at the same time, the state appropriated every single piece of land, without respecting traditional rights. Some pieces of land were attributed to individuals, although they had always been considered being the property of the local community. The local community felt cheated by the state as well as by the individuals (often retired civil servants who know the law better) who appropriated the land without respecting former laws. This lead to the fact that by 1987, only 2,4% of the rural plantations had been registered. As the property of land is a great incentive for the responsibilization of the peasant for taking care of the land, the insecurity of land property leads to environment-damaging behaviors. MINEF (1995a), Analyse des conflits et du cadre juridique et institutionnel de l’environnement au Cameroun, Octobre 1995, Yaoundé. Pp. 37.
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The desertification affects about 100,000 square kilometers in the northern part of Cameroon,
and there is a cyclical drought about every ten years. Beside the climate change, the main
anthropological reasons for desertification are uncontrolled bush fires and gathering of firewood.
Pollution affects the soil, the air and the waterways. The soil pollution mainly occurs through the
use of fertilizers in the rural area and through household and industrial wastes in the urban area.
1992/93, 2.92 kg fertilizers per square kilometers were used, and by 1995, this had already
increased by more than 50% to 4.36 kg per square kilometers15. According to the Ministry of the
Environment and Forests, the household waste in secondary cities amounts to 0.4
kg/inhabitant/day as against 0.8 kg/inhabitant/day in the main cities16. This increase is mainly
due to the population pressure, the urbanization (1995, the urbanization rate amounted to 5.57%
and the urban population represented 45% of the total population of 13 million17) and the
deficient infrastructure, which leads to the presence of dump mountains in the city.
The carbon dioxide emission amounted 1995 to 4.1 million metric tons, that is 0.3 metric tons
per capita18. The greenhouse gas emission amounted 1990 to 5.6 million metric tons, of which
89% was carbon dioxide gas, 9.2 % methane and 1% sulphure trioxide19.
The main cause lays in the change of land use through slash-and-burn techniques, soil burning
and bush fires to gain agricultural land (this contributes to 85.4% of the greenhouse gas
emission), energy consumption, mainly firewood consumption (6.75%), wastes (0.7%) and
pollution through industries (0.6%)20.
The water is polluted through the use of fertilizers in the rural area and the proximity of pollution
sources such as industrial zones, lavatories and septic tanks in the urban area.
The main consequences are the water-originated illnesses like bilharziosis21, appearance of the
guinea worm22, typhoid and mosquitoes relating diseases23.
Coastal erosion occurs as a consequence of the clearing of the shores for settlements, the
disorganized organization of the pits and quarries to extract construction materials, the
disappearance of coconut trees on the beaches and of other trees important for the mangrove.
15 CSD (1997), Profil de Pays. Examen des progrès accomplis depuis la CNUCED – Juin 1992: Cameroun, CSD / UNDP, 1997, New York. Online: http://sdnhq.undp.org/sdncmr/docs/profilcm.doc / http://sdnhq.undp.org/sdncmr/docs/misonu.doc. 16 MINEF (1996), vol. II, 1 p. 362. 17 MINEF (1996), vol. I, p. 107. 18 World Bank (1999c), p. 208. Compare to Germany: 835.1 million metric tons, that is 10.2 metric tons per capita. 19 Ngnikam, Emmanuel and Emile Tanawa (1998), Observatoire Mondial de la Viabilité Energétique: Rapport du Cameroun, 1998, Yaoundé. Online: http://www.globenet.org/helio/FFORUM/Frappnat/FnCAM.html. 20 Ibid. 21 Also called blood flukes: chronic disorder caused by small, parasitic flatworms, that live in the blood vessels of man and other mammals, releasing eggs that produce tissue damage. The course of the disease usually begins with an allergic reaction to the parasites and their by-products, and symptoms may include inflammation, cough, late-afternoon fever, skin eruption and swelling and tenderness of the liver. Next to malaria, it is probably humanity’s most serious parasitic infection. In: The New Encyclopaedia Britannica. 15th edition, Chicago, 1997. 22 Common parasite in man of tropical regions of Asia and Africa. The disease caused by the worm is called dracunculiasis. The human being becomes infected when drinking water contaminated by this worm. For humans the disease dracunculiasis can be extremely debilitating and painful, with worms slowly emerging from open blisters. The open blisters are also common point of entry for other infections, such as tetanus. In: The New Encyclopaedia Britannica. 15th edition, Chicago, 1997 23 MINEF (1996), vol. II, 2, p. 529.
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The marine pollution is due to the dumping of harmful wastes in waters like metals from urban
wastes, chemicals from chemical industries and from agro-industrial plantation, and the dumping
of household wastes.
This leads to the quantitative and qualitative reduction of the biodiversity. The unhygienic
conditions of living of the local population who use the polluted waters as lavatories lead to
microbial pollution, which itself can lead to eutrophication24
There are no figures available for both the coastal and marine pollution.
The loss of biodiversity is a growing problem in Cameroon. This is mainly due to poaching, the
overexploitation of faunal and floral species, the illegal and irregular export of protected species,
the weak administrative control25 and the insufficient legislation. The growing poverty and the
growing demand for bushmeat in the cities are incentives for poachers. The loss of biodiversity
can lead to heavier losses, as not all the species have been indexed, and some might disappear
that could have been helpful in the treatment of illnesses26.
Natural catastrophes are quite a common occurrence in Cameroon. The natural risks relate to
volcanism, seism, toxic gas emissions, landslides and heaps of rock, flooding and drought.
The causes of such occurrences are natural, as there is a volcanic geological fault of a length of
1,700 km that concerns about 50% of the population. The Mount Cameroon volcano is still
active, causing for instance in March 1999 the destruction of 100 buildings and leaving about 20
families homeless. Furthermore, Cameroon is internationally well-known for the natural gas
explosion of the Lake Nyos in 1986 that killed 1,746 people, and that might kill again, as the
carbon gas continues to accumulate in the depths of the lake27.
Landslide, on the other hand, might occur for a natural reason, as it is typical of tropical regions
with an important pluviometry, but it can also be human-induced through the clearing of land
and the overgrazing that accelerate the erosion.
3 Environmental policy in Cameroon before 1992
24 Eutrophication is the gradual increase in the concentration of phosphorus, nitrogen, and other plant nutrients in an aging aquatic ecosystem. Blooms, or great concentrations of algae and microscopic organisms, often develop on the surface, preventing the light penetration and oxygen absorption necessary for underwater life. In: The New Encyclopaedia Britannica. 15th edition, Chicago, 1997. 25 1996, there were only 300 forest rangers to monitore 4.2 million ha, that is 14,000 ha for each forest ranger. MINEF (1996), vol. II, 1. p. 155. 26 Two plant species are worth mentionning, as they have important medicine qualities, and they have been discovered quite recently: the pygeum africana, which bark is good for the treatment of the prostate (and which is overexploited) and the ancestroclaudus korupensis that has given good in-vitro results in the treatment of AIDS. Therefore the forest contains a great potential yet to be indexed and exploited in a sustainable manner. Pfaff, Renate and Ulrich (1996), Kamerun auf dem Holzweg, in: Tropenwald: Robin Wood-Magazine 3/96. Online: Pfaff, Renate and Ulrich (1996), Kamerun auf dem Holzweg, in: Tropenwald: Robin Wood-Magazine 3/96. Online: http://www.netzweber.de/robin-wood/german/magazin/artikel/9603.htm. 27 Soh Bejeng, Pius and Christopher Ngwa (1990), The Lake Nyos Catastrophe, in: Revue science et technique: Série sciences humaines, Vol. VII, N° 1-2 Janvier – Juin 1990, Yaoundé. P. 46. The catastrophe of the Lake Nyos impressed the Cameroonian population a lot, as it did not know what caused it. A great controversy broke out and the rumor accusing the Japanese Government of conducting nuclear tests went around. This rumor still exists (personal communication).
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Until 1992 one can not really speak of environmental policy in Cameroon. Since the 70’s the
Cameroonian Government actually committed itself to the protection of the environment and
considered itself as model for the protection of the environment in Central Africa28. The struggle
against the environmental degradation was translated into laws and was part of the development
plans. At the same time, it cooperated with other countries at the regional level. But these
measures were actually only a reintroduction and modernization of protection measures that had
been adopted in colonial times for the management of natural resources.
3.1 Environmental legislation and instruments
3.1.1 National legislation The environment-relevant laws were spread out in the legislation and decrees.
The only law which object was principally the protection of the environment was the Law N°
81/13 of 21 November 1981 laying down forestry, wildlife and fisheries regulation in Cameroon.
It affirmed the principle of prevention through the creation of national parks, protection areas
and natural reserves, the classification of animal species for the purpose of their protection, the
interdiction of certain activities that contribute to the degradation of the environment like the
felling of trees in ecologically sensitive areas and the restriction of the fishery rights29.
Three application decrees to the Law 81/1330 were adopted that contained exploitation norms and
repressive measures relating to the infraction of the law.
There were no other laws regulating specifically the environment, but rather sections in some
laws and decrees mentioning environmental provisions.
Regarding the waste and industrial pollution management, there were provisions for the risk
management but few provision for the restoration of the polluted areas and the repair of the
damages causes by the pollution. The household waste management was strictly regulated
through two texts31 regarding the collect, transportation and dump. These texts were deemed
satisfactory enough if applied. The management of toxic and dangerous wastes has been quite
good regulated since 1989 concerning their introduction, production, stocking, detention,
transportation, transit and dump on the national territory32.
28 Rietsch, Britta Joséphine (1991), Périodisation des logiques de gestion des ressources naturelles et fondement d’une politique environnementale au Cameroon, in: Afrika Spectrum, No. 26, 1991, Hamburg. P. 369. 29 Zang, Laurent (1998), Normes africaines en matière de protection de l’environnement, in: Africa Development, Vol. XXIII, No. 2, 1998. Pp. 35. 30 Decree N° 83/169 laying down the forest regulation, Decree N° 83/170 laying down he wildlife regulation and Decree N° 83/171 laying down the fishery regulation. These three decrees have been adopted on April 12th, 1981. Zang, Laurent (1998), p. 39. 31 Order of October 1st, 1937 and circular of August, 20th, 1980. MINEF (1995a), p. 67. 32 Law N° 89/027 of December 27th, 1989. Ibid, p. 89.
13
There were some control and prevention provisions regarding the quality of mineral and spring
waters33, but no quality control for ground waters. The marine environment was incidentally
regulated through the law on port-related activities34 and its application decree, with sanctions
foreseen for those ships polluting the port domain and dispositions on the pollution of the marine
environment. It did not regulate the pollution resulting from industrial activities, which is one of
the main polluting factor in the marine environment35. The mineral and oil extraction activities
were not subject to much environmental provisions, except for a few preventive measures like
the constitution of a protection zone around certain mines. The oil extraction was more regulated
through individual contract than through the law, and these individual contracts did not contain
any environmental provision36.
This legislation is mainly characterized by norm setting, control, authorization, prohibition,
classifications, and sanctions (administrative and penal) for the non-respect of these provisions.
This is the command-and-control approach. Except for the forest, fishery and wildlife, there were
no laws aimed at the protection of the environment or the prevention of pollution. The
environmental provisions that were to be found in some laws regulating the water, mineral and
oil extraction activities, the marine environment and the port-related activities were mainly
aimed at the preserving of the concerned resources for their continuing exploitation.
One sector that almost totally lacked any environmental provision was the agricultural sector.
There was no standard set or deficient standards for the use of dangerous products like
fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides. In the modern breeding, hormone products were being used
without any control37.
David Reed38 from WWF describes this legislation as follows:
the political setting for environmental policy [could] be described as centralist, hierarchic, and geared to the collection and distribution of natural resource surpluses (rents). Cameroon’s natural environment [was] viewed as an opportunity for revenue rather than as interdependent resources to be managed over the long term. Not surprisingly, the characteristic policies [were] not coherent, they [were] motivated by revenue and control objectives, and they [did] not provide the basis for rational management. There [were] many competing offices and agencies.
3.1.2 International Conventions The Government of Cameroon had adhered to several International Conventions that were aimed
at the conservation of the nature and natural resources, the preservation and management of the
33 Law N° 73/16 of December 7th, 1973. 34 Law N° 83/016 of July 21st, 1983. 35 MINEF (1995a), p. 157. 36 Ibid., pp. 136. 37 MINEF (1995a), p. 54.
14
marine environment, the protection of the air, atmosphere and climate and the chemical and
nuclear security39.
Although signed and ratified, not all of these texts found their way in the national legislation.
This was due to a misunderstanding and negligence on the part of the Cameroonian Government.
It seems that the signed and ratified conventions were believed to be directly applicable on the
national territory, despite the fact that, according to the Vienna Convention on the Law of
Treaties of 1969, the international conventions are subject to a national translation in term of
laws and decrees40. This results in a confusion regarding the national translation of the
international convention: they are not always applied in Cameroon, and they are not well known
by those who are supposed to apply them.
A second problem related to the fact that Cameroon was not totally part of some of the
conventions that were deemed important. This concerned the Convention on Wetlands of
International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat (Ramsar, 1971), the Basel Convention
on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal (Basel,
1989) and at the regional level the Convention on the Ban of the Import into Africa and the
Control of Transboundary Movement and Management of Hazardous Wastes Within Africa
(Bamako, 1991). These conventions were important for Cameroon and their non-ratification
denoted a disinterest of the Government of Cameroon.
3.2 Environmental institutions There was no line ministry responsible for the environmental policy, but rather a split of the
environmental related tasks between several ministries and agencies.
1984 the Government of Cameroon set up the Directorate of Territorial Management and the
Environment (DATE) within the Ministry of Planning (MINPAT41). Its main task was to
elaborate the national environmental policy, to monitor the work of the departments and
38 Reed, David (1996), Structural Adjustment and the Environment, London, Earthscan, 1996. 39 MINEF (1995a), pp. 183. Regarding the conservation of the nature and natural resources, Cameroon adhered and ratified following conventions: The Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (Paris, 1972), the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES, Washington, 1973), the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (Bonn, 1979). At the regional level, it signed among others the African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (Algiers, 1968). Regarding the preservation and the management of the marine environment, it signed the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage (Brussels, 1969), the International Convention of the Safeguard of the Human Life in the Sea (London, 1974) and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Montego Bay, 1982). At the regional level, it signed the Convention for Cooperation in the Protection and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the West and Central African Region (Abidjan, 1981) and the Protocol Concerning Cooperation in Marine and Coastal Environment of the West and Central African Region (Abidjan, 1981). Regarding the protection of the air, atmosphere and climate, it signed the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer (Vienna, 1985), the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (Montreal, 1987) and the Adjustments and Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (London, 1990). Concerning the chemical and nuclear security, it signed the Convention on Civil Responsibility in Nuclear Damage (Vienna, 1963). MINEF (1995a), pp. 183. Zang, Laurent (1998), pp. 31-32. The texts of these conventions can be found online http://sedac.ciesin.org/entri. 40 MINEF (1995a), p. 177. 41 MINPAT: Ministère du Plan et de l’Aménagement du Territoire.
15
institutions active in the environmental field and to collaborate with the regional and
international institutions in this field.
But this broad mandate went well beyond the possibilities of this small department, as was
assessed in the National Report on the State of the Environment and Development in
Cameroon42: “Dans la pratique, on constate qu’il y a une inadéquation relative entre les missions
de ce département et son organigramme, ses ressources humaines et matérielles, ses moyens
juridiques, les missions d’élaboration et de suivi de la politique gouvernementale en matière
d’environnement, ses missions de coordination restent lettres mortes dans les faits.” This
directorate was replaced 1992 by the Ministry of the Environment and Forests.
Several other ministries and administration had environment-relating tasks. Actually, virtually
every ministry had environmental responsibilities in its field of action.
The Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MINDIC43) mainly through the Directorate of Industry
and the Ministry of Mines, Water and Energy (MINMEE44), through the Sub-Directorates of
mineral resources, of techniques and nuisances and of urban waters, were in charge with the
control of industrial and commercial activities regarding their compliance with environmental
norms45.
The Ministry of Agriculture (MINAGRI46), the Ministry of Tourism (MINTOUR) and the
Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries (MINEPIA47) were in charge of the
management and protection of the natural resources. The management of the forests rested in the
hands of the MINAGRI through its Directorate of Forests48 and the responsibility for the
management of faunal and natural reserves was vested in the MINTOUR through the Directorate
for Faunal and Natural Reserves49. Both Directorates were transferred in the Ministry of the
Environment and Forests in 1992.
At the decentralized level, provincial, departmental and district level forest units were in charge
with the implementation of forest-related tasks, and the municipalities were in charge with the
collect and treatment of wastes and with the implementation of hygiene and sanity measures50
Three non-governmental bodies were furthermore active in the environmental field: the National
Reforestation Service, the National Center for Forest Development and the National Committee
on Man and Biosphere.
42 Republic of Cameroon (1992), Conférence des Nations-Unies sur l’environnement et le Développement. Rapport National sur l’Etat de l’Environnement et du Développement au Cameroun, 1992, Yaoundé. P. 113. 43 MINDIC: Ministère de l’Industrie et du Commerce. 44 MINMEE: Ministère des Mines, de l’Eau et de l’Energie. 45 Zang, Laurent (1998), p.p. 46. 46 MINAGRI: Ministère de l’Agriculture 47 MINEPIA: Ministère de l’Elevage, des pêches et des industries animales. 48 Law No. 89/140 of 29 January 1989. Zang, Laurent (1998), p. 48. 49 Decree No. 86/1460 of 12 December 1986. Zang, Laurent (1998), p. 49. 50 Zang, Laurent (1998), p. 53.
16
The National Reforestation Service, the ONAREF51, was created 198252. It was an autonomous,
executive public agency with the tasks of carrying out the governmental policy regarding forest
regeneration and management, reforestation, protection and erosion-control53.
The National Center for Forest Development (CENADEFOR54) was set up in 1981 with
Canadian technical and financial assistance to carry out forest reconnaissance and inventories,
draw up forest management plans and promote timber utilization. 1990 CENEDAFOR and
ONAREF merged in ONADEF55 as part of the structural adjustment program.
1977 a National Committee on Man and the Biosphere56 (MAB Committee) was set up. It was
located under the patronage of the Ministry of Higher Education. It had been established as part
of an international program of the UNESCO57. It provided for the establishment of a worldwide
system of biosphere reserves representative of natural ecosystems and for the conservation of the
genetic diversity. Its purpose was furthermore to develop the scientific knowledge regarding the
rational natural resources management and to train a task force in these fields58.
In Cameroon, it was in charge with the evaluation, monitoring and sometimes implementation of
researching projects. It was to regularly evaluate the state of the environment in Cameroon. It
took care of the environmental reporting, information and education. It promoted the
collaboration between the diverse directorates and administrations in charge with the
environment. Last, it acted as a liaison organ between the Government of Cameroon and the
international organizations, especially the UNEP and UNESCO, and it monitored the activities in
Cameroon relating to the International Hydrological Program and of the Inter-Governmental
Ocean Commission59. Concretely, the MAB transformed the faunal reserve of Dja that is located
in Southern Cameroon and that covers an area of 526,000 ha, into a Reserve of the Biosphere60.
The MAB committee was also terminated in 1990 and its tasks were spread between the
ministries of Education and of Planning 61.
This institutional structure is characterized by a dispersion of the responsibilities regarding the
environment. These responsibilities were progressively added to existing ministries without
really seeking to coordinate them, as the DATE was too weak to carry out this task.
3.3 Environment-related Planning exercises
51 ONAREF: Office National de Régénération des Forêts. 52 Decree No. 82/636 of 8 December 1982. 53 WWF (1995), p. 35. 54 CENEDAFOR: Centre National de Développement de la Forêt.. 55 ONADEF: Office National de Développement des Forêts / National Office for the Forests Development. 56 Decree No. 77/138 of 12 May 1977. 57 UNESCO: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. 58 Sayer, Jeffrey A. (ed.) (1992), The conservation atlas of tropical forests, IUCN, Macmillan publishers Ltd., 1992, London. P. 73. 59 Zang, Laurent (1998), p. 55. 60 Ibid., p. 33. 61 WWF (1995), pp. 34.
17
In the sixth 5-year-plan of Economic and Social Development (1986 – 1991), the regular overall
development Plan of Cameroon, a national policy for the rational management of the
environment and the appropriate legislation were supposed to be drawn62. However this plan was
interrupted due to the 1987 economic crisis.
1988 Cameroon started to develop a Tropical Forest Action Plan (TFAP) with the help of the
World Bank. The concept of a TFAP itself was developed 1985 by the World Bank, the United
nations Development Program (UNDP) and the World Resources Institute (WRI) within the
Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The main finding of this
planning process was that the rapid worldwide deforestation was not to be coped with through
traditional forest management instruments only, but that this problem was due to a set of
complex factors that needed a more comprehensive framework of actions63.
This was the first time that an attempt had been made to make an overall analysis of the causes
and consequences of environmental degradation with emphasis on the forest issue in Cameroon.
Sound recommendations were formulated for the rational management and conservation of the
natural resource base and the protection of critical zones of biodiversity. However this TFAP had
little impact on the forest situation in Cameroon: first of all it was formulated by a small group of
people, mainly forest technicians, focussing on forest exploitation. This led to the apparent
impression that forest conservation was being sacrificed on the bonfire of economic
performance. Secondly, although very good recommendations had been made, they were not,
according to WWF64, put into practice in the subsequent projects. A third important influencing
factor is the fact that Cameroon was going through a very hard economic crisis, and the
government had signed 1988 the first Structural Adjustment Plan (SAP) that asked among others
for a reduction of public spending65.
4 Environmental Strategy after the 1992 Rio
Conference
4.1 The environmental strategy
4.1.1 The introduction of a comprehensive environmental policy
62 Bendow, Joachim (1993), Elaboration du Plan National de Gestion de l’Environnement: L’approche du Cameroun, Réseau pour l’Environnement et le Développement Durable en Afrique (REDDA), 1993, Abidjan. Online http://www.rri.org/envatlas/africa/cameroon/cm-sum.html. 63 Vollmer, Udo (1990), Der Tropenwald-Aktionsplan als Instrument der Internationalen Zusammenarbeit zur Walderhaltung in der Dritten Welt, in: Allgemeine Forstzeitschrift für Waldwirtschaft und Umweltvorsorge (AFZ), Heft ½, 13. Januar 1990. Pp. 37. 64 WWF (1995), p. 37. 65 Hillebrand, Ernst und Andreas Mehler (1993), Kamerun, in: Nohlen, Dieter; Nuscheler, Franz (1993), Handbuch der Dritten Welt. Westafrika und Zentralafrika, Verlag J.H.W.Dietz Nachf., 1993, Bonn. Pp.444.
18
From 1992 onwards everything changed for Cameroon. Just before the Rio Conference, the
Ministry of Environment and Forest (MINEF) was created in April 1992. This new ministry was
part of a revision of the administrative structure of the Government through a Presidential
Decree66 following the general elections of March 1992 and the constitution of the new
government under an English-speaking Prime Minister, Simon Achidi Achu. Its mandate
contained expressly the task of developing a comprehensive national strategic plan aiming to
protect the environment and to conserve the natural resources of the country67.
Cameroon’s new Minister of Environment and Forests, Professor Joseph Mbede, took part in the
1992 Earth Summit. The preparation process for the UNCED helped to develop a national
capacity for environmental planning. A national commission (NATCOM, the National
Commission on the Environment) was set up to prepare the national report for the summit. A
draft report under the sponsorship of UNDP and the Government of Canada was discussed at a
national seminary held in December 1991. Following this seminary, the Cameroon national
report for Rio was finalized, containing an up-to-date review of the environment68.
1992, a UNDP-headed multidisciplinary mission, to which various UN agencies and interested
bilateral donors belonged, was created69. It first drew up a potential environmental plan and
policy for Cameroon as part of a seminary that took place between September 7 and October 9,
1992. This report identified actions to be carried out and methods to be used for the
implementation of the sustainable development strategy of Cameroon70.
This strategy was to be implemented as part of a UNDP-sponsored program, the Capacity 21
Program. This program was aimed at assisting developing countries to build up their capacity to
integrate the principles of Agenda 21 into national planning and development. It was initiated by
the UNDP and financed by a trust fund donated by Capacity 21 partner countries. It mainly
helped developing countries to draw up national programs of capacity building, the bulk part of
which being the draw up of national environmental plans71.
66 Presidential Decree No. 92/069 of 9 April 1992. Its attributions were laid down in the Decree 92/245 of 26 November 1002 and the modalities of its organization were defined by the Decree 92/265 of 29 December 1992. MINEF (1995a), p. 17. 67 WWF (1995), p. 36. 68 Republic of Cameroon (1992). 69 It was headed by Professor Aist K. Biswas on behalf of the UNDP with Mesack Tchana, Inspector-General of MINEF, as the National Coordinator. Among the other UN agencies taking part were UNSO, FAO, UNESCO and UNIDO. Bilateral donors who fully participated in the mission included Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States while the World Bank was also actively involved in the discussions. Biswas, Aist K. and Cecilia Tortajada (1995), Environmental management in Cameroon: A participatory approach, in: Le Courier ACP-EU No. 153, Septembre – Octobre 1995, Bruxelles. Online: Biswas, Aist K. and Cecilia Tortajada (1995), Environmental management in Cameroon: A participatory approach, in: Le Courier ACP-EU No. 153, Septembre – Octobre 1995, Bruxelles. Online: http://europa.eu.int/comm/development/publicat/courier/courier153bis.html. 70 This report was called „Environment and Sustainable Development for Cameroun, Report of Multi-Disciplinary and Multi-Institutional Mission on Environment“. MINEF (1996), Vol. I. 71 UNDP (1992), Capacity 21. Online: http://ww3.undp.org/c21
19
The overall objective of the program “Capacity for sustainable Development”72 was to operate a
shift of the development focus from economic growth to long-term sustainability. The
government was to develop a broad program of environmental management and to integrate it
into the national development policy. The increase in the national capacity for environmental
management at both local and central levels was to lead to the improvement of the socio-
economic development of rural and urban areas. It particularly emphasized community
participation and the strengthening of institutional coordination. The principle of participation,
which is one of the core principles of the Agenda 21, was to be applied through a participatory
approach for the development of the National Environmental Management Plan and through the
realization of pilot programs.
4.1.2 Problem perception and agenda setting73 For a problem to get on the political agenda, it has to be perceived as such by the relevant actors.
This perception can depend on the very nature of the problem: a natural catastrophe or the
destruction of the tropical forests are highly visible topics and can be easier perceived than the
pollution of the air or of underground-waters. In this case the problem itself puts pressure on the
political actors. The existence of framework capacities to solve the problem can also be of
relevance: are the economic-technical, socio-cultural and politic-institutional capacities
available for the problem to be solved? If a government does not have these capacities, it might
not be able to perceive it as a problem or might try to avoid it in order not to have to solve it. A
problem might also get on the political agenda, because the concerned persons are close to the
media. If there are enough persons concerned by an environmental problem, a press campaign
can make the topic well-known to the whole society (media agenda) and it can then be taken
over by the politically relevant actors. The administration can also play an important role by
identifying the problem and trying to put it on the political agenda in order to expand its areas of
actions, for example.
Agenda setting means that a perceived problem is being put on the list of the governmental and
political tasks to be carried out. The question is, how can a problem, when it has been perceived,
become a political issue that is being handled by the executive and legislative organs? There are
several explanation variables. For example, when a society has reached a certain stage of its
socio-economical development, it will almost automatically be confronted with specific
problems of this development stage. This corresponds to the modernity theory74. Also, if the
72 UNDP (1993), Cameroon. Capacity for Sustainable Development, Programme Number: CMR/93/G81. Capacity 21 Programme Summaries, Number 24. Online http://www.undp.org/c21/prog/cameroon.html. 73 Priwitz, Volker v. (1994), Politikanalyse, Leske und Budrich, 1994, Opladen. Windhoff-Héritier, Adrienne (1987), Policy-Analyse: eine Einführung, Campus Verlag, 1987, Frankfurt/Main. 74 Priwitz, Volker von (1994), pp. 138.
20
capacities to solve the problems are available, then it will be easier for it to be tackled, as it was
easier for it to be perceived by the relevant actors. In the same manner than for the perception,
the structure of the problem is also important for it to get on the political agenda. If an
environmental problem is urgent, the state will have to handle it. A political party or a
government can also choose to put a problem on its agenda to make its mark in politics. Usually,
several factors play a role in this process.
In the case of Cameroon, the necessity to devise an overall environmental policy had actually
already been acknowledged: this had been put on the agenda of the sixth five-year development
plan of 1986. Before 1986, the natural resources were exploited to produce monetary resources.
This was the purpose of the green revolution that took the form of the modernization of the
agriculture75 and was based on the utilization of the modern agricultural techniques at the
expense of the traditional know-how in this field.
But then the deregulation of the primary sector led to a shortfall in the food self-sufficiency, the
urbanization and the destruction of the environment. So the structure of the problem is the
explanatory variable that led to the problem perception: the degradation of the environment led
to concrete shortfalls in food supply. So that the planned environmental policy would have
certainly brought the available and the yet to be developed environmental plans and legislation
into an articulated framework.
But this development plan could not be carried out due to the economic crisis Cameroon had to
face from 1987 onwards. So even if there was a perception of the environmental issue, this could
not be tackled because there were other priorities on the political agenda, like coming to terms
with the Structural Adjustment Program. One can therefore say that the social and economical
framework conditions were not favorable for the environmental issue to get on the political
agenda.
As we saw before, the agenda setting that took the form of the planning process was actually
started by a multi-disciplinary mission made up of numerous multilateral and bilateral agencies
and few nationals. This was top-down start. One can talk of a case of vertical or even forced
diffusion pattern of a new policy76.
This way of agenda setting does not correspond to any of the ways described above. Cameroon
could not get the environmental issue on its political agenda because of the inadequate socio-
political and economical frameworks. If there was a societal or media agenda, it doesn’t show in
the available literature. But one can not deny that the international events that took place in 1992
75 Rietsch, Britta Joséphine (1991), p. 360. 76 Kern, Kristine (1998), Horizontale und vertikale Politikdiffusion in Mehrebenensystemen, Freie Universität Berlin, Forschungsstelle für Umweltpolitik, unpublished paper, 1998, Berlin. Online: http://www.fu-berlin.de/ffu/download/rep-98.6.pdf.
21
did not have a great influence on the perception of the environmental problem and on the will of
the Cameroonian government to put it on the political agenda. The Cameroonian Government
took actively part in the Rio Conference by completing a report on the State of the Environment
and by endorsing the Agenda 21. So the commitment of the Cameroonian government to the Rio
Principles and the Agenda 21, that implied a translation of the sustainable development principle
at the national level, could be considered as the impetus for agenda setting.
This constituted a kind of international agenda. And this corresponds to the vertical pattern of
policy diffusion, as defined by Kristine Kern77. The vertical diffusion happens when a sub-unit
of a multi-layer system launches a policy initiative that is not only taken over by other sub-units
but also by the higher level unit in order to be implemented by other sub-units. So that it
practically starts in a few sub-units, goes up to the central, higher-located unit to trickle back
down to the other sub-units that are part of the system. This works in the international system in
the case when a policy is decided at the international level to be implemented at the national
level. This was the case for Cameroon.
But the way the sustainable development issue was actually put on the agenda makes it very look
like the third type of policy diffusion, that is the forced one: one high-level unit forces a decision
down upon lower units. This can theoretically not work in the international system, as no
international institution has the legal right to impose a policy to a national government. But in
this case, it is very close to this kind of policy diffusion pattern.
As a matter of fact the MINEF was created following a legislative election and a ministerial
reshuffle. But this new creation was actually part of the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP).
This SAP was being partly financed through the IDA that strongly recommended the
Cameroonian Government to devise an environmental policy and to set up adequate institutions.
A deadline was set up for June 30, 1993 for the African Countries that were IDA-eligible only to
complete a National Environmental Action Plan or to be at an advanced stage of its
completion78. Although the IDA can not de jure force the African states into adopting any policy
concept, it can de facto do it by refusing any further credit79.
At this place I would like to add that this pattern was then changed during the course of the
planning process, during which a broad participation of the population was encouraged in order
to make of the environmental planning a society project.
77 Kern, Kristine (1998). 78 World Bank (1994), OP 4.02 Environmental Action Plans, in: World Bank [ no date], The World Bank Operational Manual, The World Bank, Washington D.C. Online: http://wbln0018.worldbank.org/institutional/manual/opmanual.nsf/OP4_02.htm. 79 This has actually been the case for other African Countries that were IDA-eligible only, and that also started an environmental plan from 1992 onwards to comply with the IDA’s conditionality. Jan Schemmel came to this conclusion in his comparative work on environmental planning in Africa. Although he didn’t talk of a forced diffusion pattern, he also considered the IDA’s conditionality to be the ultimate reason for numerous African Countries to embark upon an environmental planning process. Schemmel, Jan Peter (1998), National Environmental Action Plans in
22
4.2 The Environmental law
4.2.1 The Law No 96 / 12 of 5 August 1996 relating to environmental
management This law can be characterized as an umbrella environmental legislation. It was adopted in August
1996 and it represents a real progress compare to the previous situation of dispersed legislation.
It covers the domains of protection of the receptors of the environment – atmosphere, continental
waters and flood plains, coast and maritime waters, soil and sub-soil and human settlement – the
plants classified as dangerous, unhygienic or inconvenient and pollution activities – wastes,
classified establishments, harmful and/or dangerous chemical substances, resonant and olfactory
nuisances – the natural resource management, biodiversity conservation, and the risks and
natural disasters80.
The framework environmental law of Cameroon defines the role of the different institutions in
the preparation, coordination and financing of the environmental policy. The president is to
define the national environmental policy, whereas its implementation is in the resort of the
government in collaboration with the decentralized territorial authorities, grassroots communities
and environmental protection associations [section 3]. The government is to formulate the
national strategies, plans and programs.
The Government is in charge with establishing quality norms for air, water, soil and any other
norms necessary to safeguard the human health and the environment [section 10, 1].
The environmental law provides for the creation of two additional institutions: the Inter-
Ministerial Committee on the Environment and the National Consultative Commission on the
Environment and Sustainable Development. According to section 10 § 2, they shall assist the
government “in its mission of formulating, coordinating, implementing and monitoring
environmental policies”81.
It also provides for the creation of the National Environmental and Sustainable Development
Funds for environmental audits, sustainable development projects, research, education,
promotion of clean technologies, to support legalized associations involved in environmental
protection and to backup the actions of ministries involved in environmental management
[Section 11]. The resources of the fund come among others from proceeds from fines on
compromises that are paid by liable persons instead of the corresponding sanction [section 91]
Africa. Forschungsstelle für Umweltpolitik, Freie Universität Berlin, unpublished paper. Online: http://www.fu-berlin.de/ffu/download/rep-98-8.pdf. 80 Republic of Cameroon (1996b), Law No 96/ 12 of 5 August 1996 relating to environmental management. Online: http://sdnhq.undp.org/sdncmr/doc/envlaw.htm. 81 Republic of Cameroon (1996b), Section 10 § 2.
23
and which amount is to be fixed by the MINEF and the Ministry of Finances. They also come
from monies paid by holders of mining permits and quarrying for the rehabilitation of the
exploited sites [section 37 § 2].
The tasks devolved to the MINEF are essentially of coordinating and controlling nature. It is to
ensure that environmental concerns are included in all economic, energy, land and other plans
and programs. It is to ensure that the international commitments of Cameroon are translated in
national laws, regulations and policies. It is in charge of the environmental planing, the set up of
an environmental information system and the draw up of a bi-annual report on the state of the
environment82. And of course, it is to take care of its resort attributions, which are the forest, the
wildlife and protected areas.
One of the most progressive provision of this law is the possibility for authorized grassroots
communities “to exercize the rights of the plaintiff with regard to facts constituting a breach to
the provisions of this law and causing direct and indirect harm to the common good they are
intend to defend” [Section 8 § 2]. Herewith, the tragedy of the neighboring Nigeria with the
plight of the Ogoni tribe, whose homeland has been devastated by industrial pollution caused by
oil extraction, is given a chance to be avoided: More that 2,000 Ogonis have died in violent
protests for compensation, and the playwright and environmentalist Ken Saro-Wiwa wax hung
1995 together with eight other co-defendants for alleged involvement in the death of four Ogoni
elders during protests against the Nigerian government and the oil companies responsible for the
pollution. According to Fombad, this right could already be used in some hot spots in Cameroon
like around Limbe, because of marine pollution through the National Refinery Corporation
(SONARA) and in Douala because of the cement dust from the Cement Company
CIMENCAM83.
The law bases the environmental policy on the following six principles: the principle of
precaution, the principle of preventive action and correction, the polluter-pay principle, the
principle of liability, the principle of participation and the principle of substitution84.
4.2.1.1 Preventive measures
Preventive measures are set to prevent or control activities that could have an negative impact on
the environment.
Some products are prohibited. A decree is to complete a list of harmful or dangerous substances
produced in Cameroon, whose discharges into continental and marine waters are prohibited
[section 31], as well as a list of authorized fertilizers and pesticides with their authorized
82 Republic of Cameroon (1996b), Sections 14, 15, 16. 83 Fombad, Charles Manga (1997), p. 492. 84 Republic of Cameroon (1996b), Section 9.
24
quantities. It is prohibited to discharge any pollutant into the air beyond a certain limit [section
21]. Norm setting is another preventive measure and it goes hand in hand with prohibition
measures. Norms are foreseen in the case of atmosphere pollution (for example vehicles have to
respect technical norms) and water pollution. The specific norms are not mentioned in the law as
they have to be laid down in a decree.
Provision is made for the introduction of an Environmental impact assessment procedure
[section 7] to be completed before the beginning of any project which may endanger the
environment. “This to [sic] assessment shall determine the direct or indirect incidence of the said
project on the ecological balance of the zone where the plant is located or any other region, the
physical environment and quality of populations and the impact on the environment in
general.”85. The Environmental law does not give any further indication regarding the
Environmental Impact Assessment procedure, leaving it to the executive to draw up the
procedure guidelines. Similar to the procedure of Environmental Impact Assessment, a study on
the dangers involved in the running of classified industrial and commercial establishments86
must be carried out by the competent administration before the opening up of the said
establishment [section 55].
The opinion of the Environmental administration is obligatory in two cases: in the allotment and
management of land for agriculture or other uses as well as in prospecting, research or
exploitation of sub-soil resources likely to endanger the environment [section 38]; and the urban
development plans and public or private housing development plans also need the opinion of the
MINEF [section 40].
Planning of land use, zoning, dissemination of ecologically efficient methods of land use [section
68] are foreseen for the protection of land against erosion and the prevention and fight against
desertification. The drawing up of a national map and of monitoring plans of high risks and
natural zones, especially seismic and/or volcanic zones, flood zones, zones likely to experience
landslides, marine and atmospheric pollution risk zones [section 70] are also foreseen for the
prevention of natural risks and disaster.
The law provides for a regulation for the elimination of waste. According to section 42, the
“waste shall be treated in an ecologically rational manner to eliminate or curb their harmful
effects on human health, natural resources, the fauna and flora, and on the quality of the
environment in general”. The task of eliminating the household waste should be devolved to the
decentralized administration [section 46].
85 Republic of Cameroon (1996b), Section 7 § 1. 86 According to section 54 of the Environment law, classified establishment are “factories, workshops, warehouses, building sites, and […] industrial or commercial plants […] which pose or may pose dangers for public health, security, hygiene, agriculture, nature and the environmental in general, or disadvantages for the convenience for the neighborhood..”. Republic of Cameroon (1996b), Section 54.
25
The principle of decentralization also come in another case, namely in case of dispute settlement
relating to the use of some natural resources, especially water and pasture. The traditional
authorities are competent and they settle the dispute on the strength of the local ways and
customs [section 93 § 1].
Last but not least, population participation is especially mentioned by the environmental law.
The Part IV entitled “Implementation and Follow-up of programmes” is exclusively dedicated to
the participation of population, underlining how vital they are for the successful implementation
of the sustainability strategy. Their participation should be ensured through their free access to
information, their consultation, their representation within environmental advisory bodies, their
sensitization and the introduction of environmental education in school curricula [section 72].
According to section 8 § 2, authorized grassroots communities may even exercise the rights of
the plaintiff in a trial with regard to facts constituting a breach to the provisions of the
environmental law.
4.2.1.2 Incentive measures
There are three incentives: the first one is related to specific actions and takes the form of a
financial helping program. According to the section 75, actions against soil erosion and
desertification as well as the promotion of the use of renewable resources especially in the
northern part of Cameroon should be partly financed by the above mentioned environmental
funds.
The two other incentives are tax incentives. First, industrial establishments that import
equipment to enable them to eliminate greenhouse gases in their manufacturing process or in
their products or to reduce any form of pollution, will benefit from a reduction of the custom
duty on these equipment [section 76 § 1]. The proportion and duration of this tax reduction is to
be determined by the Finance Law. Second, private individuals and corporate bodies promoting
the environment can also benefit of a tax reduction in the form of the reduction of the taxable
profits that is also to be determined by the Finance Law [section 76 § 2].
4.2.1.3 Repressive measures
The search and finding of breaches is carried out by sworn officers from several administrative
units. They can come from the environmental administration but also from the cadastral survey,
the town planning, the industry and tourism services.
The repression are of two natures: there are administrative sanctions and sanctions pronounced
by the court.
The administrative sanctions relate to the non-respect of norms and take the form of a
suspension, or execution at the expense of the polluter. In the case of non-execution or disrespect
26
of the impact assessment procedure for example, the work envisaged or initiated for the
implementation of the concerned project can be suspended [section 20]. Plants that discharge
pollutants into the atmosphere beyond the norms will have either to pay an administrative notice
or can be suspended [section 23]. In the same way, abandoned and dumped wastes as well as
waste processed in violation of the prescription of the law, will be eliminated by the
administration at the expense of the producer [section 48]. Another administrative sanction
relates to the seizure of prohibited products. This applied especially to manufactured, imported
or sold chemicals, harmful and dangerous substances. They can even be destroyed or neutralized
in case of a real and imminent danger [section 59].
Independently of the administrative sanctions, sanctions can also be pronounced by the court.
The fines lay between CFAF87 500,000 and 500,000,000 and the prison sentence can go from six
months to life imprisonment (!)88.
They apply for following breaches89:
• Implementation of a project needing an impact assessment without carrying it out or
implementation of a project that does not respect the requirements of the impact assessment.
• Obstruction of checks and analyses provided by the law.
• Dumping of toxic and/or dangerous waste on Cameroonian territory, dumping of hydrocarbons
or other environmentally harmful liquid substances into marine waters under Cameroonian
legislation.
• Import, production, ownership or use of harmful or dangerous substances
The sanctions can be doubled in the event of subsequent offences.
The repressive measures may seem impressive, but in the absence of norms or application
decrees, they might as well be useless.
4.2.2 Evaluation of the environmental law This law is a mix of several environmental policy instruments, of which the regulative one
dominates.
Jänicke90 distinguishes between regulative, planning, economic, co-operational and
informational instruments. Their main distinctive feature lays in the way in which the state
chooses to implement a specific policy. It has the choice between very constraining instruments
like prohibitions and requirements supported by sanctions in case of non-compliance. But it can
also choose to be less constraining and to seek the dialog with the target group of which it wants
87 After the 1994 FCFA devaluation, the ratio was set at CFAF 100=FF 1. 88 According to section 80, any “person who dumps toxic and/or dangerous waste on Cameroonian territory shall be liable to a fine of 50,000,000 (fifty million) to 500,000,000 (five hundred million) CFA francs and life imprisonment.”. Republic of Cameroon (1996b), Section 80. 89 Republic of Cameroon (1996b), Chapter VI.
27
to change the behavior. By using the planning instrument, it seeks to reach a certain consent in
the objectives to be attained. The economic instruments in the form of tax incentives and
subventions are positive incentives for the economic actors but they can also take the form of
taxes, in which case they are felt as constraining. The co-operative instrument can be utilize by
the state to reach an agreement with a specific industrial branch, in which the latter commits
itself to abide by certain environment-friendly rules91. Last, the informational instrument in the
form of environmental reports, awareness raising campaigns, educational, research and training
programs, but also in the form of the introduction of a certification system for sustainably
produced products is the less constraining instrument.
The more constraining an instrument is, the more difficult it will be to carry it through. So that
the cooperation and volunteering-based instruments are more likely to be accepted by the target
groups and to achieve their objectives. On the other hand constraining regulative instruments are
traditional, indispensable instruments of the state when it wants to reach concrete objectives.
These instruments can be to a certain extend successful, and the state can not renounce them. In
the face of the capacity of a state to carry out its political tasks, it will have to find the right
balance between the constraining and the dialog-based instruments if it is to reach its objectives.
Among these instruments, the Government of Cameroon uses the regulative one through norm
setting backed up by administrative and legal sanctions. The economic instruments are limited to
tax incentives and no ecological tax is provided for. Subvention in the form of financial helping
programs for the promotion of renewable resources and of program to combat the soil erosion
and the desertification are also provided for. These subventions come from the Environmental
funds that is to be financed by fines paid by liable persons culprit of having breached a provision
of the law. So that this is not really a subvention, but rather a self-financing mechanism.
The planning instrument is also mentioned as being a task to be carried out by the environmental
administration and to be amended every five years. By the same token a land-use plan is foreseen
for the rational management of land, and environmental concerns are to be included in other
policy areas. Management plans are also foreseen for endangered species and the preservation of
their habitat [section 64 § 1].
The cooperative instrument comes in the form of the promotion of popular, that is target-group
representation in environmental advisory committees through representatives, whatever these
committees are as no further details are mentioned. Consultation mechanisms are meant to “take
stock of the opinion and contributions of the populations” [section 72]. One does not know
90 Jänicke, Martin, Philip Kunig, Michael Stitzel (1999), Umweltpolitik. Lern- und Arbeitsbuch, Dietz Verlag, 1999, Bonn. Pp. 99. 91 Another kind of agreement can also be reached between an actor of the target group and environmental organizations. This kind of instrument goes beyond the power of the state and rests in the hands of the private sector. Therefore it can not be used in the assessment of the governmental environmental policy.
28
exactly what the role of the population really is. The letter of the law does not allow for a lot of
possibilities for the population to actually play an active role in negotiation and policy
formulation: the population seems rather to be the recipient of information and it may express its
opinion. The only power conferred to the population takes the form of the right of the
environmental organizations that have been recognized as such to claim any breaches of the
environmental law in court.
Last the informational instrument is well provided for through education, sensitization, training,
environmental reporting and awareness raising campaigns.
An additional instrument shall be mentioned, which is the takeover of environmental tasks by the
state92. The logic behind this is that where one can not state who the polluter is or might be, the
state ought to prevent or to repair the environmental degradation. In Cameroon, this apply
especially in the cases of the erection and the operation of protected areas, sensitive areas
[section 22 § 2] and ecologically protected areas to be the subject of an environmental plan
[section 64 § 3]. It also applies to the elimination of household wastes, midnight and abandoned
dumping to be carried out by the decentralized territorial councils [section 46].
So that there seem to be a great emphasis on the regulative instruments backed up by
informational instruments to get the support of the population for the carrying out of the
environmental protection tasks.
4.3 Forests Wildlife and fisheries93 With its 22.5 million hectares of humid and dense forests, Cameroon has the second forest
reserve in Africa in terms of surface area after Zaire as well as the second biodiversity reserve
after Madagascar94. These humid and dense forests cover about 47% of the national territory95.
Beside this dense humid forest, there are wooded savannas, steppes and gallery forests. As a
whole 78% of the Cameroonian territory is covered by forest.
92 This form corresponds to the German expression “Infrastrukturleistung” or “Infrastrukturisierung”, that is the state overtakes environmental protection tasks like the construction and operation of sewage plants. See Glagow, Manfred (1996), Umweltpolitik, in: Nohlen, Dieter (Hg.) (1996), Wörterbuch Staat und Politik, Piper Verlag, 4. Auflage, 1996, München. Pp. 786-790. 93 MINEF (1995b), Programme d’action forestier national du Cameroun. Document de politique forestière, Novembre 1995, Yaoundé. MINEF (1996), Plan national de Gestion de l’Environnement. 4 Volumes, Février 1996, Yaoundé. MINEF/ONADEF (1995), Forêts camerounaises: pour une gestion soutenue et durable, 1995, Yaoundé. MINEF (1998a), Directives nationales pour l’aménagement durable des forêts naturelles au Cameroun, Mars 1998, Yaoundé. MINEF (1998b), Forests in Cameroon: A situation Report. Prepared for the Cameroon/UNDP Global Programme on Forest Management to support sustainable livelihoods, Department of Forestry, prepared by Fofung Tata, Thomas, August 1998, Yaoundé. MINEF/ONDADEF (1994), Les efforts du Cameroun pour assurer l’aménagement durable de ses forêts tropicales d’ici l’an 2000, 1994, Yaoundé. MINEFI (1998), Contribution du Secteur Forestier à l’Economie Nationale (1992/3 – 197/98), Commission d’Etude sur le Secteur Forestier, Septembre 1998, Yaoundé. Nguiffo Tene, Samuel Alain (1994), La nouvelle législation forestière au Cameroun, Fondation Friedrich-Ebert au Cameroun, Août 1994, Yaoundé. 94 Cameroon is well-known for its great biological diversity. It is sometimes called little Africa, as most of the African species are to be found there. 21% of the African fish species , 48% of the mammals (409 species), 54% of the birds (849 species), 50% of the batrachia, 30% of the reptiles and 25% of the butterflies live in Cameroon. It ranks five in the biological diversity on the African Continent behind ex-Zaire, Madagascar, Tanzania and South Africa. Some species are endemic: this concerns among others the black rhinoceros, and diverse parots. In: CSD (1997). 95 MINEF (1998b).
29
The main activities within the forest are the timber industry, the gathering of firewood, the
gathering of Non-Timber Forest Products – NTFP – (medicine plants, nutritious plants and
service plants) and hunting.
1994/95, the annual timber production reached for the first time 3 million cubic meters. With an
export volume of 1.250 cubic meters, timber is the second export product in values and volume
behind oil (20% of the total exports in value)96. The turnover amounted 94/95 to FCFA 153
billion and brought the government FCFA 25 billion in taxes. Theoretically the timber
production in Cameroon could reach an annual production of 5 million cubic meter for a century
without affecting the productive potential. Although as much as 300 species are exploitable, 60%
of the production is constituted by only three tree species97. The legal exploitation takes place
on 7 million ha which represents half of the exploitable humid forest. The illegal exploitation is a
estimated at about 360,000 ha in the Littoral, Center and South-West.
The timber exploitation is growing very fast. The potentialities are great, but the exploitation
methods are so unsustainable that they endanger these potentialities. Only a few tree species are
exploited, so that this trees might disappear in the long run. Besides, the losses are great: up to
50% of the logged trees are left over. Furthermore the construction of logging routes entails the
clearing of up to 30 meters on each side of the track, and the fact that there are numerous logging
paths is a proof that loggers are more willing to sacrifice the nature than to invest in fuel98.
These problems can occur because the administration in charge of the control of the existing
regulation is not effective: due to a lack of human, material and financial resources, there are
virtually non control in the logging exploitations. And when they take place the forest personal
depends on the concessionaires to be driven inside the concessions, so that the exploiters can de
facto plan their exploitation without any control. The corruption of the civil servant is a further
hindrance to the application of the law99.
4.3.1 The 1994 Forest Law and its Decrees of Application The Law N° 94/01 laying down Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries Regulations in Cameroon was
adopted by the General Assembly in January 1994 and its Decree of application were adopted on
June 1995 and July 1995 regarding respectively the fishery and faunal regimes and in August
96 MINEF (1995a), pp. 91. 97 These species are the Ayous, Sapelli and Azobe. Ayou (also called abachi) is mostly used as plywood, for furniture parts and packaging. Sapelli looks very much like mahogany and is used mostly for furniture, veneer and parquet floor. Azobe is used for hydraulic engineering, (railroad) sleepers, railroad tracks, ceiling works, floors in department stores and external hardwood construction. Mombächer, Rudolf (et al.) (1988), Holz-Lexikon, 2 Bänder, DRW-Verlag, 3. neubearbeitete Auflage, 1988, Stuttgart. 98 MINEF (1995a), p. 93. 99 It seems that a monthly subsidy paid to the foresters by the exploiters is a common practice. MINEF (1995a), Analyse des conflits et du cadre juridique et institutionnel de l’environnement au Cameroun, MINEF, PNUD, PNUE, FAO, Octobre 1995, Yaoundé. P. 94.
30
1995 regarding the forest regime100. The national Directives for the sustainable management of
the natural forests of Cameroon have been published in March 1998101.
The 1994 law makes provision for the protection of nature and biodiversity. It splits the National
Forest Estate between the Permanent or classified Forests and the Non-Permanent Forests102. It
requires the establishment of an inventory of the permanent forests in order to ensure a rational
exploitation and management. It gives directives on financial provisions regarding forest
revenues and their utilization. There are also directives for the promotion and marketing of
Timber and Non-Timber Forest products. At last it makes provisions for the protection of
Wildlife, Biodiversity and Fisheries.
One of the most spectacular provisions is the pledge of the Government of Cameroon to keep at
least 30% of the national territory under forest cover (in the category of Permanent Forest). The
new legislation aims at increasing the area of all reserved forests from the current 9% to 30% in
the medium term. The network of protected areas covers about 9% of the national territory
(4,232,899.07 ha). By 1995, there were 7 national parks (1,030,900 ha), 7 faunal reserves
(1,002,995 ha), 26 hunting reserves (2,200,000 ha) and 3 botanical gardens (407 ha)103.
Each of the forests that falls into the category of permanent forests is subject to a development
program.
In this law, management of a permanent forest means the carrying out of certain activities and investments, based on previously established objectives and on a plan, for the sustained production of forest products and services, without affecting the primitive value or compromising the future productivity of the forest nor causing any damage to the physical and social environment.104
100 Décret N° 95/413/PM du 20 Juin 1995 fixant certaines modalités d’application du régime de la pêche ; Décret N° 95/466/PM du 20 Juillet 1995 fixant les modalités d’application du régime de la faune ; Décret N° 95/531/PM du 23 août 1995 fixant les modalités d'application du régime des forêts. 101 MINEF (1998a), Directives nationales pour l’aménagement durable des forêts naturelles au Cameroun, Mars 1998, Yaoundé. 102 These two types of forest have been further divided as follows: Permanent Forest Non-Permanent Forests State Forests Council Forests Community forests Communal Forests Private Forests Areas protected for wildlife (national parks, game reserves, zoological gardens…)
Forest reserves proper (production forests, protection forests, forest plantation, integral ecological reserves…)
Forests that have been classified on behalf of a local council or has been planted by the local council
Forests managed by a community under a management plan
Forests that do not fall under any other categories
Forests planted by a natural person or corporate bodies
Private property of the state Private property of the local council concerned
Village communities have a right of preemption but are not owners.
Preemption right, but not owner.
From: Republic of Cameroon (1994), Law No 94/01 of 20 January 1994 laying down Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries regulations in Cameroon. Online: http://sdnhq.undp.org/sdncmr/doc/forlaw.htm. Vermeulen, Cédric (1996), Problématique de la délimitation des forêts communautaires en forêt dense humide, Sud-Est Cameroun“ Rapport intermédiaire, Novembre 1996, Yaoundé. Online : http://www.ulb.ac.be/soco/apft/general/publicat/rapports/verm.HTM. 103 MINEF (1996), Vol. II, 1, p. 152 104 Republic of Cameroon (1994), Section 23.
31
The management plan has to contain the following sections: inventory, re-forestation measures,
natural or artificial regeneration, sustained forestry exploitation and infrastructure [section 63].
The production forests of the Permanent Forest Estate are to be managed with the aim of
providing permanent forest cover in the relevant areas. The forests will be divided into
development units (UFA: “Unités forestières d’Aménagement”) allocated as long-term forestry
concessions (15 years), linked to wood-processing factories. The allocation of these concessions
will be made by public tender. The development program for production forests will entail that
the exploitation for the sale of timber must only be for a limited period of time and the volume of
wood sold must be specified in advance and must not exceed the annual felling allowance.
Responsibility for the management contracts, based on specifications (“cahier des charges”), will
be placed upon the concessionaires, to ensure that the forest resources are maintained. Each
management contract will guarantee a yield, based on a calculation of the potential output; the
concessionaire in return must participate in the management and supervision of the concession.
The management plan included in the contract will determine the actual quantities of wood to be
produced, and the silvicultural operations to regenerate and improve the forest which are
indispensable to the preservation of the forest ecosystem105.
The great innovation of this law is the creation of a new type of forest, namely the community
forest. It is a forest forming part of the non-permanent forest estate, which is covered by a
management agreement between a village community and the Forests Administration.
Management of such forests is the responsibility of the village community concerned, with the
help or technical assistance of the Forests Administration106. According to the section 37, this
new type shall “promote the management of forest resources by village communities which so
desire”. Forests products, that is wood, non-wood, wildlife, fishery resources and special
products107 resulting from the management of community forests will belong to the village
communities concerned [section 37]. The minimum duration of the management plan is twenty-
five years and shall be revised every five years108.
The constitution of community forests is meant to encourage the participation of the local
population in the sustainable management of its forests109. This participation has been
furthermore improved, as part of the taxes are paid directly to them instead of to the Inter-
105 WWF (1995), p. 93. 106 Article 3 (I 1) of the Decree of 23 August 1995. In: SDNP Cameroon (1999), Manual of the Procedures and Norms for the Attribution and Management of Community forests“. UNDP / SNDP Cameroon, July 23, 1999, New York. Online: http://sdnhq.undp.org/sdncmr/doc/comfor.htm. 107 Ebony, ivory, wild animal horns, as well as certain animal, plant and medicinal species or those which are of particular-interest are considered as special forest products. [section 9 § 2]. 108 Article 30 (1) of the Decree of 23 August 1995. Ibid. 109 Before the 1994 law, the participation of the population in the management of the forest was limited to their notification of a unilaterally taken decision about the gazetting of a forest or the opening up of a new concession. MINEF (1996), Vol. II,1. P. 91.
32
Municipal Equipment Funds (FEICOM110), which did not pay this money back to the
municipalities111.
The law also provides for the creation of three financial mechanisms: the Special Forestry
Development Fund [Section 68] which is to be supplied with the sums resulting from the
collection of taxes, royalties as well as the proceeds of sales (annual forestry fees, felling tax,
graduated surtax on export of unprocessed forest produce, carrying out of a forest inventory , the
participation in management project and transfer fees resulting from the transfer of a forestry
concession). This fund is to finance the forest management activities [Section 64].
A Special Fund for the Development and Equipment of Areas for the Conservation and
Protection of Wildlife has been created, which will be financed with 30% of the sums resulting
for the collection for hunting permits and licenses as well as the proceeds of killing, capture and
collection fees and taxes [section 105].
Last but not least, an Inter-Professional Solidarity Fund has been set up. It aims at facilitating the
access of persons of Cameroonian nationality to the forestry profession.
The Forest law has provided for preventive, incentive and repressive measures.
4.3.1.1 Preventive measures
Preventive measures are set to prevent or control activities that could have an negative impact on
the forests and on the resources inside the forests. The four main preventive measures are the ex-
situ conservation, the classification of some forests, the prohibition of dangerous activities and
the introduction of the environmental impact assessment procedure.
According to section 12, the State is responsible for the protection of the forestry, wildlife and
fishery heritage. The forest administration is authorized to initiate or take part in operations
aimed at establishing ex-situ conservation units like for instance botanical gardens, genetic
resources banks or tree nurseries. Any person wanting to use the genetic resources for scientific,
commercial or cultural purposes will need the prior authorization of the relevant
administration112.
The classification is a way to protect and preserve endangered species or natural areas. The law
provides for three kinds of classification: prohibition to clear or to exploit forests or parts of a
forest; classification of certain zones as ecologically fragile areas to be regulated by the state;
and classification of a zone as a areas protected for wildlife (like hunting areas, wildlife
sanctuaries), proper forest reserves (like integral ecological reserves and protection forests)113.
There are also provisions for the classification of fauna species into class A (totally protected
110 FEICOM : Fonds d’Equipement Intercommunal. 111 MINEF (1996), Vol. II,1. P. 91. 112 Section 17 § 4. 113 Section 24 § 1
33
animals that may not be killed unless under specific conditions laid down by the law), class B
(protected species that may be captured or killed with a hunting permit) and class C (partially
protected species which capture or killing is regulated by decree) [Section 78].
Some activities likely to endanger the vegetation of the national forest estate are prohibited: bush
fires [Section 14], the clearing, the dumping in national forests as well as in public waterways,
lakes and the sea of any toxic product or industrial waste [Section 18 § 1]. Concerning industrial
wastes, they must first be treated, then their dumping shall be subject to the prior obtaining of a
government permit.
Section 127 gives provision for the prohibition of certain fishery activities in order to protect the
fauna, the aquatic environment and to maintain fish production at an acceptable level.
4.3.1.2 Incentive measures
The incentive measures are mentioned in only one section [Section 19], that says that they may
be taken, when necessary, in order to encourage the reforestation, the game-breeding, algae and
fish farming. They can only be bestowed to private persons.
4.3.1.3 Repressive measures
Administrative sanctions are provided for the following occurrences: violation of the prescription
of a management plan for a permanent or community forest, the breach of obligations relating to
industrial installations, or to the implementation of clauses of the specifications. These sanctions
comprise suspensions, or in case of subsequent offence, withdrawal of the exploitation
document.
There are other sanctions that can be decided upon by the Court. The following violations fall
into this category:
§ Breaches that can destroy, degrade or damage the environment: Setting fire in a state forest, an
afforested or a fragile ecological zone; trespassing within a state forest; logging under personal
authorization in a communal forest for gainful purposes; unauthorized forest exploitation in a
State or Council forest; the unauthorized importation of exportation of genetic material for
personal use; possession of a hunting implement within an area where hunting is forbidden or
hunting without a license or permit or exceeding killing limit.
§ The contravention of the laws and regulations on attribution of exploitation rights: logging
beyond the period or quantity granted; transfer or sale of a personal logging authorization;
acquisition of shares in a company with an exploitation title, without the prior approval of
forestry services; production of false supporting documents; acquisition of shares or setting up
of a forest exploitation company with the intention of increasing the total area of exploitation to
34
more than 200,000 hectares; killing or capture of protected animals either during periods when
hunting is closed or in areas where hunting is forbidden or closed.
§ Falsification on or forgery of any document issued by the services in charge of forestry,
wildlife and fisheries
For these offences fines between five thousands and ten million F CFA can apply. Beside, or
combine with the fines, imprisonment between ten day and three years may also apply114. The
fines can be doubled when there have been previous offences or when the offence was
committed by sworn officials of the competent services or by judicial police officers with
general jurisdiction or with their complicity; for any hunting involving the use of chemicals or
toxic products and for any violation of forest control gate [Section 162].
There is a last point worth mentioning: One of the objectives of the Cameroonian government is
to increase the share of the forestry sector in the PNB. The sale of processed timber brings more
currency than the sale of logs. Therefore the law gives provisions to increase the share of
processed timber in the total timber export. Section 71 of the Forest law set up a five-year
transition period during which up to 70% of the total production of each species of logs has to be
processed by the local industry. Afterwards, that is from January 1999 onwards, there should be
a total ban on log export from Cameroon.
4.3.2 Evaluation of the forestry legislation For this evaluation, we shall use the same tools as for the evaluation of the environmental law115.
More than for the environmental law, the regulative instrument clearly dominates. The forestry
administration intends to protect the forests, the wildlife and the fishery through the instruments
of classification, delivering of authorizations, permits and licenses, prohibition, restriction,
process and standard setting. As we have just seen, the breach of one of these regulation is
severely reprimanded.
The second most important instrument is the planning instrument: management plans have been
foreseen for each of the permanent forests and for the non-permanent forests. The forest
resources are to be assigned according to the master plan for regional development [Section 16 §
3], and the management plans have to be drawn according to the directives of the forestry
services. Management plans have also been foreseen for the exploitation of wildlife within state,
council, community and private forests as well as within hunting zones [section 95].
The participation instrument has been used in two cases: on the one hand for the implementation
of the management plan. The concessionaires are supposed to carry out these plans as part of the
114 Section 150 and following. 115 See Chapter 4.2.2.
35
provisional three-year exploitation contract. If during this provisional exploitation contract the
concessionaire has not accomplished the management works, his concession right can be
withdrawn [section 46]. In the national directives for the sustainable management of the forests,
it is even stipulated that they ought to participate in the elaboration of the management plan116
through the employment of an executive in charge with the forest management. The principle of
participation in the implementation of the management plan is also valid for the private forests,
the communal and the community forests.
On the other hand, this last forest-type, the community forest, is a form of popular participation,
based on a win-win constellation, for the exploitation of the forest resources.
The informational instrument is not mentioned anywhere. One can suppose that this instrument
has been enough elaborated in the umbrella environmental legislation.
The economic instruments relate mainly to the collect of taxes, part of which shall finance either
forest management activities or activities aimed at conserving and protecting the wildlife. 30%
of the sums resulting from the collection of fees for hunting permits and licenses as well as the
proceeds of killing, capture and collection fees and taxes shall be paid into a special fund for the
development and equipment of areas for the conservation and protection of wildlife [section
105]. And the financing of the forest management activities shall be paid by the holders of
concessions to the Special Forestry Development Funds. The national directives encourage the
use of fiscal incentives for the concessionaires to implement the management plan117
Such a legislative and regulative setting calls for a strong and efficient administration and a very
willful target-group. Regarding the population
4.4 Institutions The right to a safe environment is a constitutional right since the revision of the Constitution of
1996. The preamble of the Constitution says: “Toute personne a droit à un environnement sain.
La protection de l’environnement est un devoir pour tous. L’Etat veille à la défense de
l’environnement.“118.
4.4.1 The Inter-Ministerial Committee on the Environment The Inter-Ministerial committee has been set up at the level of the Prime Minister’s Office to
ensure the coordination of activities, the participation of different technical ministries and to
provide necessary policy guidelines for the formulation of the NEMP. It is the political arm of
the NEMP process and shall demonstrate the governmental commitment to the NEMP.
116 MINEF (1998a), p. 11. 117 Ibid.
36
4.4.2 The National Advisory Commission on the Environment and
Sustainable Development (NCSD119) The NCSD is the highest institution in charge of the Environment. It was created in 1994120. Its
creation has been directly inspired by the recommendations of the Rio Conference. Chapter 39 of
Agenda 21 says that States may wish to consider setting up a national coordination structure
responsible for the follow-up of Agenda 21. And this is exactly the function of the NCSD: it is to
support the government in the elaboration of the national environmental and sustainable
development policies as well as in their coordination and implementation. It brings together
members of different ministries and private stakeholders (NGOs, CBOs121 and business
community representatives). It acts in liaison between the Cameroonian Government and the
Commission of Sustainable Development of the UN.
It is presided by the Prime Minister, at present Mr. Peter Musonge and is to meet at least twice a
year.
4.4.3 The MINEF The main ministry responsible for the environment is the 1992 created Ministry for the
Environment and Forests122.
It is in charge with the elaboration, coordination and follow-up of the national environmental
policy. It has a mandate to coordinate and follow-up the interventions of the regional and
international cooperation organizations regarding the environment. It is furthermore to define the
rational natural resources management measures together with the competent ministries and
specialized organisms.
It has overtaken prerogatives of the Ministries of Tourism (MINTOUR), Agriculture
(MINAGRI), of the Territorial Management (MINPAT) and functions through three directorates:
the Permanent Secretariat for the Environment (which replaces the former Department of the
Environment), the Department of Forestry, and the Department of Wildlife and Protected Areas.
The Permanent Secretariat for the Environment will be treated separately, as it has a special
status.
Through the two other directorates, the MINEF has a direct managing function in the forest and
wildlife management areas. It is in charge of the devising, implementation and control of forestry
programs, inventories and management plans as well as of the elaboration and implementation of
118 Own translation : Every person has a right to a healthy environment. To protect the environment is everybody’s duty. The State is in charge with the defense and promotion of the environment. 119 Also called CNEDD: Commission Nationale pour l’Environnement et le Développement Durable. 120 Decree 94/259/PM of 31 May 1994. 121 CBOs: Community-Based Organizations. 122 Decree No. 92/069 of April, 9th 1992 and Decree No. 96/224 of October 1st, 1996 re-organizing the MINEF.
37
the national wildlife and hunting policies. The protection and management of the state forests
and the management of the botanical gardens fall under its area of competence. At last it is
responsible for the control of the forestry exploitation and for the communication with the
professional organisms of the logging and wood-processing industries123.
The organisms that are under the responsibility of the MINEF are the National Office for the
Forests Development (ONADEF), the Inter-Ministerial Commission on the Ozone Layer
Protection, the Inter-Ministerial Committee on the follow-up of the Convention on Biological
Diversity and the Inter-Provincial Committee on the Fight against Drought and Desertification.
These commissions and committees act as advisory organs on policy issues related to the
protection of the environment and biodiversity conservation and management.
4.4.4 The Permanent Secretariat of the Environment At the administrative level, there is a Permanent Secretariat of the Environment124 in charge of
the implementation of the NEMP. It actually replaces the Environmental Directorate in the
MINEF and the Co-ordination Unit (CU) of the NEMP125. It also acts as the administrative
structure of the CNCEDD. It is to formulate and coordinate the environmental program in the
country. It is under the patronizing of the MINEF (it is financially dependent on the budget of
the MINEF), but has a semi-autonomous status within the MINEF, so that it is quite flexible to
intervene as much as possible126.
It seems that whereas the MINEF has real management prerogatives in the forest and wildlife
areas, it has rather initiative, evaluation, planing, programming, proposal and control functions in
the other environmental fields, the real management functions being left to the resort
ministries127.
4.4.5 The decentralized environmental administration There are Provincial Delegation of the Environmental and Forests at the level of the ten
provinces and Departmental Delegations of the Environment and Forests at the departmental
level. The Provincial Delegation coordinate all the activities of the MINEF at the provincial
level. They have the same sub-units as the central administration. There are additional
operational technical units, that develop and manage each natural areas autonomously like parks,
faunal reserves or the Forest Management Units. Each province has also a Technical Regional
123 MINEF (1995a), pp. 18. 124 Decree No. 96/224 from October 1st, 1996. 125 UNDP (1997b), Plan National de Gestion de l’Environnement II, CMR/97/004/01/99, UNDP, 1997, New York. Online: http://stone.undp.org/dimadocs/PD/CMR97004pd.pdf. 126 The Permanent Secretary has the status of a General Ministerial Secretary and the two units of the Secretariat have the status of ministerial directorates. UNDP (1997b). 127 MINEF (1995a), p. 18.
38
Committee (TRC) which membership is drawn from the administrators of MINEF and other
related ministerial representation, NGOs and grassroots organizations128.
The provincial delegation provides leadership to the divisional administrative services that work
at the grassroots level with the local people. Since MINEF's policy is to encourage and enhance
grassroots support and participation, these divisional services give substance to the policy
through concrete realizable micro-projects and sensitization and environmental education and
sustainable development.
The Departmental Delegation carries out localized tasks like the support of the rural population
regarding the environment and forestry, the follow-up and control of reforestation and inventory
activities, the implementation of management programs in protected areas and the combat
against poaching.
4.4.6 Other ministries involved in environmental management The effective implementation of the legal and administrative responsibilities of MINEF also
requires input from several other key ministerial departments. These include the Prime Ministry,
the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Agriculture (MINAGRI), the Ministry of Livestock,
Fisheries and Animal Industries (MINEPIA), the Ministry of Mines, Water Resources and Power
(MIMEE), the Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MINDIC), the Ministry of Town Planning
and Housing, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Social Welfare (MINASCOF), the Ministry
of National Education, the Ministry of Higher Education, the Ministry of Scientific and
Technical Research (MINREST), the Ministry of External Relations, the Ministry of Economy
and Finance (MINEFI), the Ministry of Tourism (MINTOUR) and the Ministry of Industrial and
Commercial Development129.
It is actually so that the prerogatives these Ministries used to have prior to the 1992 restructuring
remain as they were. Except for the forests, wildlife and protected areas, which are the direct
domain of competence of the MINEF, the latter has only coordinating and advisory functions
regarding the other environmental fields. For instance, through the Nutritional Action Plan,
devised by the MINAGRI as part of the National Agricultural Policy, the problems related to the
conservation and sustainable use of agricultural biodiversity have been taken into account. The
MINAGRI is also promoting permanent farming systems to reduce shifting cultivation through
the National Agricultural Extension and Training Program130.
128 UNDP / SDNP (1996), UNDP SDNP Cameroon Project Document, UNDP, 1996, New York. Online: http://192.124.42.15/sdnp/af/cameroon.htm. 129 Vabi, Michael B. & Gartland, Steve J. (1997), Institutional framwork for biodiversity conservation in Cameroon, in: African Rainforests and the Conservation of Biodiveristy, Preceedings of the Limbe Conference, Limbe Botanic Garden, Cameroon, 17-24 January 1997, organized by Earthwatch Insititute, Yaoundé. Online http://www.uk.earthwatch.org/africa/limbe97-theme-12.html. 130 MINEF (1998b), Forests in Cameroon: A situation Report. Prepared for the Cameroon/UNDP Global Programme on Forest Management to support sustainable livelihoods, Department of Forestry, prepared by Fofung Tata, Thomas, August 1998, Yaoundé. P. 38.
39
Such a setting is intentional131. The purpose was to avoid the creation of additional services and
the duplication of the tasks in times of tight state budget. The diverse inter-ministerial
commissions and committees shall ensure that the environmental tasks devolved in the different
ministries are carried out effectively.
This institutional setting remains basically oriented towards a top-down model, as the central
organs devise the policy and the decentralized organs implement it. A laudable effort to integrate
the policy-making process horizontally has been made, but this presupposes powerful inter-
ministerial coordinating organs. The organ which is responsible for the coordination on a daily
basis, the SPE, has the structural weakness of being financially and administratively dependent
on the MINEF, and therefore the other ministries with environmental prerogatives contest its
authority132.
4.5 Environmental Planning The MINEF took the recommendations of the multi-disciplinary mission into account and at the
beginning of 1993 it elaborated a Program of Priority Actions for the Environmental
Management (PAPGE) to be implemented over the following 18 to 24 months133.
The PAPGE recommended first the elaboration of a National Environmental Management Plan
that was to contain the policies and strategies for the environmental management and that was to
identify the specific actions needed for the protection and the rational use of the natural
resources, which was identified as one of the sine qua non sub-objectives to attain the overall
objective of sustainable development. Second, it advocated the elaboration of a strategy and
programming of actions to combat desertification within the framework of an Environmental
Management Plan of the Sudanese-Sahelian Region. Third, a strategy and programming of
actions was to be elaborated to protect the coastal and marine ecosystems (wetland, estuary,
coastal fishery industry, beaches, etc). Fourth the Priority Program called for the elaboration of a
project, of a strategy and programming of actions for the conservation, management and
valorization of the forests and the biodiversity. Fifth, it also called for the completion of studies,
elaboration of strategies and programming of actions for the rehabilitation and the management
of the urban environment (solid wastes, sewage, spontaneous settlement, etc..). And sixth, it
recommended that the staff of MINEF and of other concerned Ministry directorates be trained
especially within orientation seminaries.
131 World Bank (1999g), Cameroon Petroleum Environment Capacity Enhancement (CAPECE) Project, The InfoShop, The World Bank, December 1999, Washington D.C. Online: http://www.worldbank.org/pics/pid/cm48204.txt. 132 MINEF (1995a). 133 Programme des Actions prioritaires pour la Gestion de l’Environnement (PAPGE). Bendow, Joachim (1993), Elaboration du Plan National de Gestion de l’environnement: L’approche du Cameroun, Réseau pour l’Environnement et le Développement Durable en Afrique (REDDA), 1993, Abidjan. Online http://www.rri.org/envatlas/africa/cameroon/cm-sum.html. MINEF (1996), Vol. I. Pp. 1-2.
40
Two plans were elaborated: the National Environmental Management Plan and the National
Forestry Action Plan. I will mainly consider the NEMP, as the Forestry action plan is actually a
sectoral plan, that is to complete the NEMP.
4.5.1 The National Environmental Management Plan According to Carew-Reid et al.134, a National Environmental Management Plan is sponsored by
the UNDP and follows a process of round table discussions and consultation with key decision-
makers and organizations. This process is to lead to a policy framework and portofolio of
programs and projects for donor support. This is exactly how the Cameroonian NEMP process
went.
The NEMP report is constituted by four volumes:
• The first volume is the main report. It gives an overview on the strategies of the PNGE in
each sectors and the general framework of the PNGE.
• The second volume gives an analysis of the 16 sectors affected by the strategy. For each
of the sector, there is an analysis of its characteristics (identification of the actors,
analysis of the law and institutional framework, of the socio-economic issues, of the
problems and potentialities), then a description of the current policies, the formulation of
the policies and strategies needed and at the end a presentation of the synoptic planning
tables with a summary of the identified projects for each of the objectives to be reached.
• The third volume is a presentation of the project sheets and of the recapitulative tables for
the central and regional projects.
• The fourth volume is the annex presenting the planning tables.135
The way the NEMP was carried out places it within the framework of the modern approach to
planning. The paradigm shift from simple environmental policy to sustainable development set
the way for the new strategic and integrative environmental planning to be carried out by the
government of Cameroon.
According to Jänicke136, this strategic and integrative environmental planning is “a
comprehensive strategy, a permanent process of learning, goal-setting, formulation of measures
and their implementation.”. Sustainable development does not deal with short-term , visible and
acute environmental problems, but with the problem of long-term degradation, which require this
new type of environmental planning. As the Government of Cameroon chose to apply the
134 Carew-Reid, Jeremy, Robert Prescott-Allen, Stephen Bass, Barry Dalal-Clayton (1994), Strategies for National Sustainable Development: A Handbook for their Planning and Implementation, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), London, and World Conservation Union (IUCN), Gland, in association with Earthscan Publication, London.. P. 37. 135 MINEF (1996), Plan national de Gestion de l’Environnement. 4 volumes, Février 1996, Yaoundé. 136 Jänicke, Martin and Jörgens, Helge (1997), National Environmental Policy Plans and Long-term Sustainable Development Strategies: Learning from International Experience, 2nd, revised Version – October 1997, unpublished paper, Berlin. P. 2.
41
strategy of sustainable development, the NEMP should be appraised with criteria used for these
new types of planning.
For the appraisal of the environmental planning, I shall use a catalog of criteria. This catalog is
based on the findings of four institutions that dealt especially with modern environmental
planning in developing countries. These institutions are the World Bank, the IIED and IUCN, the
Development Assistance Committee of the OECD and the Environmental Policy Research Unit
Berlin at the Free University of Berlin137. Jan Schemmel developed this catalog in his
unpublished paper entitled “National Environmental Plans in Africa”138. The planning process
and the content of the plan were appraised separately as follows:
Process υ Placement of process
• demand driven • high institutional placement • based on binding legal act
υ Integration of Planning Effort • involvement of other relevant ministries • integration of existing environmental plans • integration of development priorities • donor coordination
υ Participation • participation • dissemination of information
υ Longevity of Process • built on local knowledge and skills • institutional building and capacity
development • multi-track, cyclical process • assessment and revisions
Content υ Analysis
• identification of information needs • description of the state of the environment • description of political and legal
framework • concentration on few priorities in the
problem analysis • causal analysis of environmental problems • cost benefit analysis of actions
υ Strategic Objectives • long-term perspective • quantitative targets • timeframe for targets
υ Action Plan • setting up a natural resource information
system • work-plan including timetable • clearly defined actions • choosing priority actions • Mix of legal and economic instruments • Financial plan
Table 1: Criteria for the appraisal of the planning process139
4.5.2 Evaluation of the planning exercise The following table shows in a synthetic way how Cameroon performed on each of the criteria.
By using the method developed by Jan Schemmel, a rating between –1 and +1 is attributed to
137 The following documents have been used: World Bank / OED (1996), Effectiveness of Environmental Assessments and National Environmental Actions Plans: A Process Study, Report No. 15835, The World Bank, Washington D.C. Carew-Reid Jeremy, Robert Prescott-Allen, Stephen Bass, Barry Dalal-Clayton (1994), Strategies for National Sustainable Development: A Handbook for their Planning and Implementation, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), London, and World Conservation Union (IUCN), Gland, in association with Earthscan Publication, 1994, London. OECD (1992), Guidelines on Aid & Environment, No. 2, Good Practices for Country Environmental Survey and Strategies, Development Assistance Committee, 1992, Paris. OECD (1995), OECD Documents, Planning for Sustainable Development, Country Experience, 1995, Paris. Jänicke, Martin and Jörgens, Helge (1997). 138 Schemmel, Jan Peter (1998). 139Schemmel, Jan Peter (1998), p. 16.
42
each of the criteria. This criteria is called the average country measurement140 and it provides
information on the overall degree to which Cameroon met the characteristics of a promising
environmental action plan.
Criteria Evaluation for Cameroon Rating Process 0.69 Placement of the process -0.33 Demand driven: - = initiative taken by external donor institution &/or no commitment of the government ++ = initiative taken exclusively by the government or government was already planning to develop a strategy prior to the NEAP initiation
The initiative was taken by external institution, but there was a responsive government
0
High institutional placement of process: - = within a department of a line ministry other than the one for economic planning ++ = within an inter-ministerial committee attached to the office of the president or with explicit support
Coordination Unit (CU) set up in the MINEF. But backed up by expert from other Ministries: Agriculture, Economy and Finance, Commerce and Industry, and Mines, Water and Energy mainly, but also participation of other ministries
0
Based on binding legal act: - = adopted by the cabinet / gov. only + = adopted by parliament / given statutory power by law
October 1993: the Inter-Ministerial Consultation headed by the Prime Minister adopted the results of the planning seminaries.
-
Integration of the planning effort 1 Involvement of other relevant ministries: - = handled only by and within one ministry + = all relevant ministries are involved in the plan development
The sectoral approach141 allowed for the participation of experts from the concerned ministries. The objective was to ensure that the sectoral problems would be taken into account in the proposed policies, strategies and actions.
+
Integration of other environmental plans: - = not considered ++ = revision, adjustment, integration, avoidance of duplication of all other environmental plans in the scope of the NEMP as an umbrella strategy
The first meeting took place in northern Cameroon in order to integrate the results of the previous National Plan to Combat Desertification142. The PAFT was integrated in the National Forestry Action Plan, which is itself totally integrated in
++
140 The Average Country Measurement has been calculated as follows: All negative cases * (-1) + all positive cases All cases 141 The sectoral studies dealt with the following topics : industrialization and industrial pollution conservation, management and valorization of Biodiversity and Forest Resources study of the geological situation and of the mineral resources analysis of the environmental conflicts and study of the law and institutional framework for a sustainable solution plan for the management coastal and marine ecosystems management plan for the sea resources and the maritime and continental fish industry hygiene and management of the urban environment analysis of the sectoral policies by taking environmental considerations into account analysis of a scheme on territorial development by taking environmental considerations into account inventory and evaluation of the research programs by taking environmental considerations into account MINEF (1996), Vol. 1, p. 9. Also Fombad, Charles Manga (1997), p. 490. 142 It also took into account the proposals of the Convention on Desertification that had been ratified in November 1994.
43
Criteria Evaluation for Cameroon Rating the NEMP.
Integration of development priorities: - = no consideration of development priorities ++ = harmonizing the development and environmental priorities and trying to find win-win solutions
The very objective of the NEMP was to reach a sustainable development, which necessitates both a positive economic growth and the respect of the environment. The industrial and sylvo-agro-pastoral developments are fully integrated in the environmental strategy.
+
Donor coordination: - = no donor coordination organized ++ = donor coordination planned in detail and as an ongoing process
Organized donor coordination: From the beginning to the end, donor participation was ensured. But no institutionalization of donor coordination.
+
Participation 1 Participation: - = development of the NEMP within the public sector only ++ = involvement of nearly all sectors of society or of quite a few sectors at several stages of the process
Thanks to the horizontal or regional approach143, a broad popular participation could be reached. The Regional Technical Committees were constituted by people from local technical services, NGOs, development projects, village associations and municipalities. About 3,000 people were involved in the regional planning and an estimated 500 persons took part in the sectoral meetings.
++
Accessibility / dissemination of information: - = hardly any chance for interested inhabitants to inform themselves about the process ++ = comprehensive and systematic information of the general public
Dissemination of information in the form of planning seminaries and workshops at the local, national and regional levels. The results of the NEMP were discussed as part of a national debate in which about 350 environmental specialists from all over the country and from all the target groups took part.
+
Sustainability of the process 1 Build on local knowledge and skills: - = hardly any local experts involved ++ = process nearly exclusively run by local experts
180 local specialists and experts have taken part in the regional seminaries. The sectoral reports have been mainly elaborated by Cameroonian experts. Only two international experts are mentioned144.
++
Institution building and capacity The capacity building constitutes one of ++ 143 The regional approach was also adopted at the first Meeting in Garoua. It allowed for a broad popular participation and for the specific problems of each province and ecological area regarding the protection of the environment and the valorization of the natural resources to be taken into account. 11 Regional Studies covering the 11 Great Ecological Regions were elaborated during meetings and workshops. They were to focus especially on the following issues: the demographic situation and trend the management of the agro-sylvo-pastoral sector, the management of coastal and marine ecosystems, the management of faunal and sea resources, the management of the urban environment, the industrial, port-related and transport-related pollution the sub-soil resources such as water and minerals In: MINEF (1996), vol. I, p. 7. 144 One UNDP consultant – Joachim Bendow, Principal Technical UNDP consultant – who had been working with the National Coordinator on the conception, organization and follow-up of the NEMP process and a consultant – Maxime Belot – specialized in methodology.
44
Criteria Evaluation for Cameroon Rating development: - = no actions taken or planned to be taken ++ = comprehensive, detailed and systematic elaboration of an integrated institutional framework
the main objectives of the NEMP. This strategy is based on integration of women in env. programs, familial planning, public hygiene, sensitization and education, training, research, information and strengthening of the institutional capacities
Multi-track process: - = linear process: first development of the planning document, than implementation + = starting implementation of some pilot projects already during plan preparation
Parallel activities to the development of the NEMP were organized: sensitization program from 1995 onwards, draw up of an Environmental Information System, program of micro-projects for the support of the sensitization program.
+
Assessments and revisions: - = plan not perceived as a process and/or no provisions for assessments and revisions included ++ = specific timetable and institutionalization of regular assessments and revisions
The NEMP has been considered as a capacity building process and is to be revised every five years. The MINEF is to publish a State of the Environment Report every two years. The Permanent Environmental Secretary is in charge with the follow-up of the implementation of the NEMP
+
Content 0.5 Analysis 0.28 Identification of information needs: - = not considered ++ = systematic identification of specific information needs
Inventories are to be carried out in virtually every sector of intervention of the NEMP. Their terms of reference have been identified.
++
Description of the state of the environment: - = not included ++ = comprehensive, detailed and quantified description and pointing out tendencies and/or differentiating between regions
Comprehensive description of the state of the environment, differentiated by regions, but not much figures.
+
Description of political and legal framework: - = not included ++ = comprehensive and detailed description of both aspects combined with an analysis of their functioning
Systematic analysis of the legal and institutional framework of every sector of intervention. The overall political context is not mentioned.
+
Concentrating on few priorities: - = more than 10 issues described and analyzed: no priorities set ++ = concentrating on less than 6 issues that again are ranked according to their importance
19 sectors of intervention are mentioned, which are actually reminiscences of the traditional sectors. No real focus in the problem analysis.
-
Causal analyses of environmental problems: - = not included ++ = presenting proximate and underlying causes in detail or naming the polluters
For each of the intervention sector, there is a causal analysis. Good analysis of the underlying problem, identified as being poverty. No naming of polluters.
++
45
Criteria Evaluation for Cameroon Rating Quantitative analysis – costs imposed by environmental problems: - = not included ++ = quantifying the economic costs in a rather comprehensive and elaborated way
No quantitative analysis of the costs imposed by environmental problems. The effect of environmental problems, especially of the water and air pollution in the urban centers is well described but not quantified.
0
Cost-benefit analysis of actions: - = not included + = applied as rationale for prioritizing actions in the plan
No cost-benefit analysis of actions -
Strategic Objectives 0.66 Long-term perspective: - = no ++ = having a time horizon of more than 10 years
The NEMP has a time horizon of 15 years (until year 2,020)
++
Quantitative targets: - = none + = many targets are quantified
Reduction of firewood consumption (by 60% for North Cameroon, level of 1987/88 to be divided by 2.5% for the whole territory)145. extension of the electricity network 70% of the urban population to be organized in emergency committees in case of natural risks. reduction of industrial pollution by 80%, but no further details146. 30% of the national territory under permanent forest. Total log export from January 1999 onwards. No other quantitative targets.
0
Timeframe for targets: - = none + = for many targets
The above mentioned targets (except for the last one) are to be reached by year 2,020.
+
Action plan 0.66 Setting up a natural resource information system: - = no ++ = elaborating in depth a comprehensive system
A comprehensive informational system is to be implemented147.
++
Work plan and timetable: - = no + = actions listed and including a timetable
Each sector is accompanied by a synopsis table where the projects are listed with the starting date and the duration of the
+
145 MINEF (1995b), Programme d’action forestier national du Cameroun. Document de politique forestière, MINEF, Novembre 1995, Yaoundé. P. 46. 146 MINEF (1996), vol. II, 1. pp. 396. There is no further indication as to what kind of pollution is meant and what level of pollution should be reached. 147 The World Bank finances Regional Project on Management of the Environmental Information (PRGIE: Programme Régional de Gestion de l’Information Environnementale). It is aimed at generating and disseminating information on biodiversity and the tropical forests in Central Africa. The UNDP financed Sustainable Development Network Program (SDNP) is aimed at enhancing the capacity to integrate sustainability and intersectoral environment-development concerns in decision-making at all levels in the country through the application of computer mediated communications. World Bank (1998c), Rapport du Cinquième Atelier de Planification du Programme régional de Gestion de l’information Environnementale (PRGIE), Bangui, RCA 27-30 Octobre 1998. Online : http://www-esd.worldbank.org/reimp/ateliers/bangui/rapport.htm. UNDP / SDNP (1996).
46
Criteria Evaluation for Cameroon Rating project.
Clearly defined actions: - = no ++ = very specific actions together with the institution responsible for the implementation
Actions are defined in terms of objectives and strategies to attain these objectives. They are translated in specific projects and programs. But not all the intervention sectors have formulated program and projects (“to be formulated” is a common occurrence).
+
Choosing priority actions: - = no ++ = ranking some/most actions and ranked in coherent way
A list of 44 priority projects was set up by the Regional Technical Committees. About 3 to 6 projects for each province but no ranking.
0
Mix of legal and economic instruments: - = no + = economic instruments integrated in the action plan
Great deal of legal instruments, but few economic instruments, except for the forestry activities through tax alleviation and collection. Incentive measures are foreseen for the introduction of sustainable agricultural, pastoral and forest activities.
0
Financial plan: - = no ++ = investment plan including estimate of the cost of each projects and the external funds needed as well as the internal funds available for implementation
Detailed financial plan: total cost amounts to CFAF 232.3 billion, of which about 14.6% are to be financed by the government and 75% by the international community. The costs of the 180 projects have also been estimated.
++
Total 0.58 Table 2: Evaluation of the planning exercise
The whole NEMP has an average country measurement of 0.58, which is quite positive, even
though one would have expected a better result for a plan developed in such a modern way.
It seems that a great emphasis had been placed on the process, with the rates of integration,
participation and sustainability of the process being the highest. On the other hand, the content of
the NEMP is pulling the value of the NEMP down with only 0.5. This is mainly due to too great
a dispersion in the problem analysis and to the lack of a cost-benefit analysis of the actions to be
undertaken. The analysis rates low at 0.28, and this is mainly due to the fact that there is a lack of
quantitative data. On the other hand, this lack has been clearly identified as a problem to be dealt
with and is being corrected in the course of the plan implementation.
The action plan rates pretty good, but the one-sided financial plan, with no secured financial
resources, could be a hindering factor.
As a whole, the NEMP is promising, even if one is missing some more quantitative targets. It
seems that this is a characteristics of the environmental plans in Africa148. A set of quantitative
targets would presuppose that the government has already the capacity to impose this kind of
148 Schemmel, Jan Peter (1998).
47
policy in the country. But it has been recognized that there is a need for capacity building, so that
the efforts of the government have first to go in that direction, and then, when it is so far, it can
set quantitative targets.
5 Capacity analysis for successful environmental
capacity in Cameroon Environmental policy in Cameroon is a relatively new field. The National Environmental Plan
was adopted in 1996, and four years are definitely too short a period of time to be able to say
whether the implementation of the environmental plan is a success or not.
Nevertheless, one can look at the framework conditions under which this policy is to be
implemented and see whether they are favorable or not. In this analysis, the first efforts in
environmental policy will be mentioned, so that not only the framework for the implementation
of the environmental policy will be analyzed but also the first conclusions will be confirmed or
invalidated by concrete examples.
Jänicke’s model for environmental policy analysis will be used to analyze whether Cameroon
has the capacity for this policy and how it utilizes this capacity to solve the kind of
environmental problem to which it is confronted149.
The concept of capacity is defined by the OECD as the “society’s ability to identify and solve
environmental problems”, that is, it “points to the objective limits to (and necessary
preconditions of) successful solutions of a given type of problem, limitations beyond which
failure sets in, even in cases of good luck, skill and highly motivated actors.” 150
Such a definition calls for a heuristic societal analysis, as the capacity for environmental policy
does not only depend on the strength, competence and configuration of environmental
proponents at the governmental and non-governmental levels, but also on the structural
framework conditions, that is the cognitive-informational, political-institutional and economic-
technological framework conditions151.
Once these capacities have been assessed, one need to look at how they are being utilized, that is
what kind of strategy the proponents use, whether they really have the will and the skills for this
task, and how much that are favored or not by current events. The wills and skills of the
149 Jänicke, Martin and Helge Jörgens (1997). Jänicke, Martin (1995), The Political System’s Capacity for Environmental Policy, Forschungsstelle für Umweltpolitik, Freie Universität Berlin, FFU-report 95-6, 1995, Berlin. Jänicke, Martin and Helmut Weidner (eds.) (1997), National Environmental Policies. A comparative Study of Capacit-Building, Springer-Verlag, 1997, Berlin. Jänicke, Martin, Philip Kunig, Michael Stitzel (1999). 150 Jänicke, Martin and Helmut Weidner (eds.) (1997), p. 1. 151 Further details about these explanatory factors will be given in the respective chapters.
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environmental opponents must also be analyzed so as to compare them with those of the
proponents.
Last, the very nature of the problem to be solved, its structure, is bound to influence the outcome
of the environmental policy.
Jänicke152 therefore distinguishes five categories of explanation – proponents of environmental
protection, structural framework conditions, strategy, situative opportunities and structure of the
problem – that can explain whether or not a country has the capacity to implement a policy, in
this case the environmental policy.
The capacities for the environment are constituted by: (1) the strength, competence and configuration of organized governmental and non-
governmental proponents of environmental protection and (2) the (a) cognitive-informational, (b) political-institutional, (c) economic-technological
framework conditions. The utilization of the existing capacity depends on:
(3) the strategy, will and skills of proponents and (4) their situative opportunities.
This has to be related to: (5) the kind of the problem: its urgency as well as the power, resources and options of the
target group. Table 3: Capacity for the environment and its utilization153
5.1 Actors The actors are the proponents of environmental protection of either governmental or non-
governmental nature. The broad definition also includes their support group and third parties.
Their competencies, number and organizational strength (human and financial capacities) are of
relevance. But it is also important to see what their constellation is and whether they are able to
join forces to defend their interests or to dialog with their opponents. Their personal will and
skill to utilize situative opportunities are also very important.
Jänicke154 distinguishes four main types of actors: the governmental institutions for
environmental protection, the environmental organizations, the media and the ecologically
innovative firms. The three last ones are of non-governmental nature. Other relevant actors are
what Jänicke calls the “epistemic community”, that is those universities, research institutions and
international environmental organizations that can have an influence on national environmental
policies through their scientific contribution to international environmental regimes.
152 Jänicke, Martin and Helmut Weidner (eds.) (1997), pp. 4. 153 Jänicke, Martin and Helmut Weidner (eds.) (1997), p. 8. 154 Jänicke, Martin, Philip Kunig, Michael Stitzel (1999), pp. 83.
49
As we are working with a developing country, other relevant actors are the donor community,
that is the bilateral and multilateral institutions, which, as we have seen before, have played an
important role in the making of the environmental policy in Cameroon.
5.1.1 Governmental institutions for environmental protection in Cameroon 5.1.1.1 Policy making institutions
Governmental institutions are understood as specialized environmental institutions and
administration. They are considered as being indispensable condition for successful measures.
As we have previously seen, there is a line Ministry in Cameroon since 1992. Together with the
National Commission on Sustainable Development, it is the policy-making institution of the
Cameroonian Government. But it is not the only one. As much as 22 governmental institutions155
have been listed as having competencies in the environmental field.
There are those sectoral institutions with environmental competencies (Ministry of Agriculture,
Ministry of Livestock and Fishery, Ministry of Urbanism and Settlement and Ministry of
Territorial Administration), those with competencies in pollution control (Ministry of Mines,
Water and Energy, Ministry of Industrial and Commercial Development, Ministry of
Transportation and Ministry of Public Works), and those that have educational, sensitization and
research functions (Ministry of Public Health, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Tourism)156.
So that the same sector is covered by several Ministries, as it is the case for the fishery sector, the
biodiversity sector, the forestry sector, the control of pollution, etc…157.
The main consequences of this overlapping could be a waste of the scarce financial and human
resources and an uncertainty regarding the actual domain of competence of each ministry.
There are actually very few indications about the staffing of the MINEF. Nevertheless, it seems
that efforts have been made to counter the problem of understaffing in the former Direction of
Environment (DE), now replaced by the Permanent Secretary of the Environment (SPE158).
Whereas the DE had only six technical experts and no sub-unit to carry out its sixteen
attributions159, the SPE has now two divisions, five technical units and 18 experts160.
At the same time, the budget of the MINEF has been increased: 1992/93, it amounted to FCFA
0.7 billion, and in 1994/95, it amounted to CFA 0.9 billion161. By 1997/98 it amounted to FCFA
155 CSD (1997). 156 MINEF (1995a), pp. 17. 157 For the fishery sector, see: Djama, Théodore et Pierre Nna Abo’o (1999), Aperçu de la Pêche Camerounaise, Cours ACP-UE sur la gestion des pêches et de la biodiversité, 12 au 23 avril 1999, Dakar. Online: http://www.cgiar.org/iclarm/fishbase/training/countryreports/dakar/cameroon.htm, for the biodiversity and forestry sectors: MINEF (1998b). 158 SPE: Secrétariat Permanent de l’Environnement. 159 MINEF (1995a), pp. 31. 160 UNDP (1997b), p. 9. 161 MINEF (1996), Vol. 1, p. 141.
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3,419 million162 but 1999/200, it amounted to only FCFA 2,377 million163, what nevertheless
represents an increase by 7.95 percent compare to the previous 1998/99 budget of CFAF 2,202
million. One must consider that the 1994 50 percent devaluation diminishes the importance of
the 1997/98 increase, so that the budget was not actually doubled.
The increase in the staffing of the MINEF combined to a decreased budget could lead to the
same situation that prevailed at the time of the elaboration of the NEMP: In 1995, the report on
the institutional issues stated that the budgetary shortcuts lead to the fact that only fixed costs
like salaries could be financed164. Furthermore, it seems that the 1999/2000 budget was not
allocated for the financing of all of the tasks of the MINEF, but specifically for the financing of
its sectoral activities: the FCFA 2,377 million should be spent to attain the objectives of the
forestry policy, that is the industrialization through incentive to wood-processing industries to
process at least 70% of the production and the improvement in the tax collection system in
forestry165.
This assertion is confirmed by the fact that the SPE has actually been conceived as an institution
with a light coordination function, with other ministries assuming the main responsibilities for
regulating and monitoring environmental concerns in their respective areas166.
The actual task of coordinating the environmental tasks of the different ministries involved in
this field is vested in the National Commission on Sustainable Development (NCSD). There are
actually other institutions with such a coordinating role but in specific areas: the 1997 constituted
Inter-Ministerial Commission on the Ozone Layer Protection167, the 1994 created Inter-
Ministerial Commission on the Ozone Layer Protection, the Inter-Provincial Committee on the
Fight against Drought and Desertification, and the Inter-Ministerial Committee on the
Environment168. This last institution has been instored by the 1996 Environmental law, but there
is no indication in the available literature that it even met.
So that the next most important relevant coordinating institution is the NCSD. From the very
beginning, there are serious flaws regarding its actual tasks. According to the report on
institutional issues169, the coordinating function is not even mentioned in the decree that created
it. Furthermore, it is accused of being too much preoccupied with the follow-up of the Agenda
21 and of not taking the Cameroonian specificity enough into account. And as a matter of fact,
162 [no name] (1998a), Budget 1997/1998, publié en ligne par Camnet, 1998, Yaoundé. Online: http://www.camnet.cm/eco.htm. 163 [no name] (2000a), 1999/2000 Budget : Who’o [sic] got what share?, publié en ligne par Camnet, 2000, Yaoundé. Online: http://www.camnet.cm/ingeni/ecobuge.htm. 164 MINEF (1995a), p. 31. 165 [no name] (2000a). 166 World Bank (1999g), Cameroon Petroleum Environment Capacity Enhancement (CAPECE) Project, The InfoShop, The World Bank, December 1999, Washington D.C. Online: http://www.worldbank.org/pics/pid/cm48204.txt. 167 Decree 0079/MINEF/CAB/CT1 from January 31st, 1997. 168 MINEF (1998b), pp. 37. 169 MINEF (1995a), p. 36.
51
the available literature points out to activities relating exclusively to the follow-up of the Agenda
21: 1997, the NCSD wrote several versions of the report on Cameroon’s progress in the
implementation of the Agenda 21170. Last it is considered to be too dependent on the MINEF: it
is to be financed on the budget of the MINEF and its permanent secretary (SPE) is also located
within the MINEF. This might endanger its function as coordinator, as the other ministries might
assimilate it, together with the SPE, with the MINEF.
5.1.1.2 Implementing agencies
At the administrative level, the ONADEF is the main central enforcement agency of the MINEF
regarding the forestry policy.
As with the MINEF, the main problems relate to the getting of a skilled manpower and a
sufficient budget.
The two forestry funds provided by the forestry law (the Special Funds for Development and the
Inter-professional Funds) were still not operational by year 1998. As the Special Funds for
Forestry Development is in charge with the inventories and the forestry management, this means
that very important provisions for the sustainable management of forestry resources had still not
been implemented171. This situation might change however, as the first meeting of the
management committee of the Special Funds for Forestry Development took place on October
25th, 1999 to decide about the repartition of the FCFA 5.5 with which it has been endowed172.
On the other hand very laudable efforts have been made in the collection of the forestry taxes:
the 2.5 percent stumpage fee generated 1997/98 FCFA 5,438 million, which represented 4.7 time
the amount of 1992/93173. This stumpage fee is very important, as it represented 1997/98 72
percent of the forestry taxes. This increase came about thanks to the increase in the forestry
production, but also thanks to the improvement in the tax-collection system. As the revenue of
this tax is to be earmarked for the financing of the renewal and reconstitution of the forestry
resources, this should impact positively on the sustainable management of the forests.
Furthermore, the Government of Cameroon is examining proposals to rationalize the forestry tax
policy, preserving the environment and encouraging processing activities with high economic
value added on the basis of the recommendations of an economic and financial study being
undertaken by an independent , qualified company. The study, which will include a financial and
operational audit of a sample of the main forestry operators and is supported by the World Bank,
was to be completed before end-January 2000. Since June 1999, the granting of forestry
170 CSD (1997). 171 MINEFI (1998), Contribution du Secteur Forestier à l’Economie Nationale (1992/3 – 1997/98), Commission d’Etude sur le Secteur Forestier, Septembre 1998, Yaoundé. P. 42. 172 [no name] (1999d), Les principaux repères du mois, publé en ligne par Wagne, Octobre 1999, Yaoundé. Online: http://www.wagne.net/devdur/actu/actu02.htm. 173 MINEFI (1998), pp. 24.
52
concessions is monitored by an independent expert, so as to increase transparency in this area
from the next tender.174
5.1.1.3 Legislation and international conventions
Since 1992, the Government of Cameroon has literally actualized its legislation regarding the
environment. First it issued the 1994 Forestry Law, and then the 1996 framework Environmental
Law. Both are very progressive in their content, considering the African context and put high
expectations on the Government.
As we have already seen175, Cameroon has adopted quite a few conventions. After 1992, it
adopted furthermore following conventions: the Convention on Biological Diversity, ratified on
October 1994; the 1994 UN Convention to Combat Desertification in those Countries
Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa, ratified in August
1995; and the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, ratified in October 1994176.
The Government has been very active in the issuing of implementation decrees of the Forestry
law. It brought out three decrees for the implementation of the provisions regarding the forestry,
wildlife and fishery regimes. Furthermore, it created several protected areas: the sanctuary of
Banyang-Mbo177, the Operational Technical Unit (protected area) of Campo-Ma’an178 and the
Operational Technical Unit of South-East179.
It has also been very active in the implementation of the Convention on Climatic Changes that it
ratified in 1994180. On October 15, 1996, it adopted a decree forbidding the import of apparels
and equipment that utilize substances impoverishing the ozone layer181. In this field, a program
for the elimination of CFC 11 and CFC 12182 in the manufacturing of refrigerators and freezers
has been implemented. By April 1997, the first CFC-free refrigerators were on the market183.
This quick implementation could occur thanks to the help (financial and transfer of technology)
brought about by the international institutions.
But four years after the ratification of the Environmental Law, its overall decree of
implementation in the form of an environmental code is still missing. The environment-relating
laws are still spread out in several sectors creating quite a confusion in their implementation.
Furthermore, the traditional and modern laws still cohabit regarding very important issues like
174 IMF (1999b), Cameroon Letter of Intent, IMF, Government of Cameroon, August 9, 1999, Yaoundé. Online: http://www.imf.org/external/np/loi/1999/080999.htm. 175 See chapter 3.1.2. 176 MINEF (1995a), pp. 260. 177 Decree N° 96/119/PM from March 12, 1996. 178 Arrêté N° 054/CAB/PM du 06 Août 1999. 179 Arrêté N° 055/CAB/PM du 06 Août 1999. 180 Decree N° 94/167 from August 29, 1994. 181 Décision N° 986/MINDIC/CAB portant interdiction des importations des équipements et appareils utilisant les substances appauvrissant la couche d’ozone au Cameroon du 15 Octobre 1996. 182 CFC 11: Trichlorofluoromethane; CFC 12: Dichlorodifluoromethane. 183 CSD (1997).
53
the land tenure issue, the forestry, the faunal and water management184. The fact that there is no
implementation decree is very important for issues such as the provision regarding the conduct
of Environmental Impact Assessments185 or the polluter-pay principle: it is true that these
principles are very progressive, but in absence of implementation directives, it is as if they did
not exist.
Kamto186 calls for the conception of an environmental code that is to gather all environment-
related laws in one place so as to avoid dispersion, incoherence, inefficiency and duplication of
tasks. This code, which is actually underway, should bring solutions to the new problems and
complete the legislation on more ancient problems by taking the new paradigms into account.
5.1.2 Political Parties On the occasion of the last general elections that took place in May 1997, the RDPC (Cameroon
People’s Democratic Movement / Rassemblement Démocratique du Peuple Camerounais) of the
President Paul Biya obtained the maximum number of seats (116), way more than the main
opposition party, the SDF (Social Democratic Front) with 43 seats. Of the seven parties that are
represented at the National Assembly, only these two are of relevance, as they have a
parliamentary group. It seems that the parties tend to represent regions or groups instead of ideas
and programs187.
1991, a green party called “Parti Camerounais de la Défense de l’environnement” (Cameroonian
Party for the defense of the Environment) was created, but beside its overall objective of
promoting the sustainable development in the country, nothing about its precise program, its
geographical sphere of influence or its membership is known188.
So that it is clear that no green party played any role in the devising of the national
environmental policy. On the other hand, there is no trace of any party having an environment-
oriented agenda in the government. The only relevant party is assimilated to the government, and
as we will see later on, this party is very much identified with its leader, the President Paul Biya.
So what is relevant, is what Biya says, and not what the party says.
5.1.3 Environmental organizations
184 Kamto, Maurice (1999), Droit Camerounais de l’environnement: Entre l’être et le non-être, in: Ecovox Nr. 3, Octobre 1999, Bafoussam. Online: http://wagne.net/ecovox/eco03/dossier1.htm. 185 The impact assessment procedure has been used for example in the pipeline project, but by using the criteria of the World Bank on the demand of external actors with a lot of controverses. Bomba, Célestin Modeste Dr. (1999), La prise en comte de la biodiversité dans les études d’impacts: Etat de la législation dans la sous-région, CERDIE, paper presented at a workshop on Biodiversity and Impact Assessment in Central Africa, 30-31 March 1999, Yaoundé. Online: http://economics.iucn.org/pdf/99-05-05.pdf. 186 Maurice Kamto is Professor of Law and Director of the CERDIE [Centre d’Etude, de Recherche et de Documentation en Droit International et pour l’Environnement], created in 1988. 187 Gazibo, Mamoudou (1999), Cameroun: Situation institutionnelle, Université de Bordeaux, 1999, Bordeaux. Online: http://www.cean.u-bordeaux.fr/etat/institutionnel/cameroun.htm. 188 MINEF (1995a), p. 29.
54
The environmental organizations are perceived as very important actors who can very much
influence the national environmental policy. The more members and the more financial means
they have, the more they are able to influence the politically relevant actors.
Of the 238 NGOs that have been indexed by the UNDP in 1997189, about 18% are involved in
environmental activities, which is the second occupational area of the NGOs after educational
activities. Most NGOs are settled in the Center Province, few are national. The most publicly
visible NGOs are the CERDIE190, the CED191, CIPCRE192, the APEMC193.
International NGOs that are present in Cameroon and active in the field of environment are the
following: ENVIRO-PROTECT194, A.T.D. – Cameroun195 and WWF196, Birdlife and IUCN197
From 1992 onwards, the number of environmental NGOs in Cameroon soared. The reason for
this sudden increase lays in the international trend of creating environmental NGOs. It also
seems that the environment is perceived as a field where one can make money: Since the Rio
Conference, donors have been very willing to give monies to environmental NGOs in developing
countries. For example NGOs from Sub-Saharan Africa have enjoyed support from the Program
“Natural Resources Management Support for Private Voluntary Organizations and Non-
Governmental Organizations” that was to reinforce their capacities to implement projects aimed
at safeguarding the ecological imbalance198.
Another reason for the increase in the number of NGOs is the favorable legislation in Cameroon
since 1990. The Law No. 90/053 of December 19, 1990 made it easier for an association to
register as a union of persons who pursue other objectives than benefit sharing199. Thanks to this
law, they don’t need any authorization anymore, they just need to declare themselves. Then the
Law No. 99/014 of December 22nd, 1999 made it easier for associations, that have been
recognized as NGOs, to receive grants from international organizations200.
189 UNDP / SDNP (1997), Annuaire des Organisations Non Gouvernementales (ONGS) du Cameroon, UNDP, Decembre 1997, New York / Yaoundé. Online: http://sdnhq.undp.org/sdncmr/doc/ngo_dir.doc. 190 CERDIE : Centre d’Etude, de Recherches et de Documentation en Droit International pour l’Environnement, created in 1988. 191 CED : Centre pour l’Environnement et le Développement, created in 1994, which is to promote the involvementof the population in the natural resources management and the implementation of the sustainable development concept. 192 CIPCRE : Cercle International pour la Promotion de la Création, created in 1990. It is to sensitize people to integrate the concept of environment in their development. 193 APEMC : Association pour la Protection des Ecosystèmes Marins et Côtiers, created in 1991, which is aimed at combat the degradation of marine and coastal Ecosystem, improve the conditions of life of people and living species and educate and train the population. 194 ENVIRO-PROTECT : Association Internationale pour la Protection de l’Environnement en Afrique, created in 1990. It aims at ensuring a better living standard to the population through the promotion of the protection, of the improvement of the environment and of the rational management of the natural resources. 195 A.T.D. Cameroun : Association Terre et Développement, created in 1993 to organize the population in order to improve their conditions of living and promote the local resources. 196 WWF : World Wide Fund for Nature / Cameroon Programme Office. Created in 1990, specialized in education and training in environmental and rural development, as well as in research. 197 IUCN: International Union for the Conservation of Nature, now called World Conservation Union. 198 MINEF (1995a), p. 29. 199 Before the 1990 law, the legalization of the NGOs was the responsibility of the Ministry of Planning and Territorial Management. Then it became the responsibility of the prefects, therefore the number of NGOs has been growing ever since. Among the 58 prefectures, there is about one new NGO every day. In: UNDP / SDNP (1997). 200 UNDP / SDNP (1997). Republic of Cameroon (1999c), Loi N° 99/014 du 22 Déc. Régissant les organisations non gouvernementales, Décembre 1999, Yaoundé, publiée en ligne par Wagne. Online: http://wagne.net/devdur/dossier/dos03.htm. Republic of Cameroon (1999d),
55
NGOs have been recognized the right to go to court, receive donations and legacy of any nature
as well as financing from national or international organisms. As the 1999 law is quite recent,
such important points as the right to go to court are yet to face the reality as to whether or not a
NGO actually can claim environmental rights of citizen.
The “pseudo” NGOs201 have given a bad reputation to otherwise serious environmental NGOs,
therefore the legislation has provided for a three-year probation period, after which a
commission consituted by representatives of the public administration, members of the civil
society and occasionally representatives of donor countries, decides to give the association the
NGO status for five years renewable 202.
Beside the NGOs, there are other village associations called Local Development Initiative that
are active in the fields of agriculture, livestock, fishery and craft industries. Their members meet
to solve common problems like search for funding of projects, marketing of products. They are
more on the implementing side and they can be very important for the diffusion of sustainable
agricultural, breeding and fishery techniques.
Regarding the strength of the NGOs, there is no indication in the available literature about their
membership or their presence in the mass-media. Some of their members have taken part in the
formulation process of the NEMP, as it was the case for Prof. Maurice Kamto of CERDIE in the
report on legislative and institutional conflicts in the environment in Cameroon.
There are several groupings of NGOs like the Federation of Environmental NGOs203 or the
CONGAC204. The CONGAC, like other NGOs-groupings, seems to have organizational and
leadership troubles. As a matter of fact, it had established an ambitious program of networking,
training, sensitization and research, but by 1999, it still could not really get organized and
complained about the fact that the leadership slipped out of the hands of the African NGOs and
populations205.
As a whole, it seems that there is an interest in the civil society to get organized around the
environmental issue. They play an important role at the grass-root level, as they contribute to the
raising of the environmental awareness and to the spreading of sustainable techniques.
Projet de Loi régissant les organisations non gouvernementales, Décembre 1999, Yaoundé, publié en ligne par Wagne. Online: http://wagne.net/devdur/dossier/dossier.htm. 201 MINEF (1995a), pp. 33. 202 République du Cameroon (1999c). One-person associations can have a provisional three-year NGO status right from the start. 203 FONGEC : Fédération des ONGs d’Environnement, created in 1991, specialized in the sensitization, education and training in environmental field, in the promotion of the local natural resources and in lobby work towards public administration for it to management the forestry resources in an efficient and sustainable manner. 204 CONGAC : Confédération des ONG d’Afrique Centrale, created 1992 to provide a framework for mutual support and cooperation between the ONGs, to encourage the popular participation in the development and environmental protection efforts. 205 [no name] (1999a), La congac à la croisée des chemins, Partnership Management and Support Programme 1999, Douala. Online: http://wagne.net/partners/chronic01.htm.
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Regarding their strength in the political arena, the Cameroonian NGOs are too new to be relevant
enough, although they already have reached some successes206. Their participation in the NEMP
process and the principle of participation that has been anchored in the environmental law are
positive signs of the willingness of the Government to integrate them.
International NGOs, like WWF, work directly with the Government and through their
international leverage, they can put a lot of pressure on the government or influence its
decisions207.
5.1.4 Media There is one official newspaper in Cameroon, the Cameroon Tribune, which is a bilingual daily
newspaper. Camnews is the national press agency. There are about thirty private newspapers that
are published on a non-regularly basis. They are either for or against the government, with the
opposition press criticizing systematically the governmental action.
There is only one national radio station and one national television, both managed by the
Cameroon Radio and Television company (CRTV). The radio is the most widespread media in
Cameroon (69%), followed by the television (48%) and at the last place the written press
(43.8%), which is mainly present in big cities208. They are both controlled by the government.
In the electronic media, several organizations are very active in the environmental field. It
concerns the NGOs WAGNE209, CIPCRE and ECOVOX. An additional electronic source of
information is SYFIA, a network of African journalists based in Montpellier, France and
financed by the French Inter-Governmental Francophony Agency210. They are mainly relevant
for the international community, as very few Cameroonian have access to the internet.
In the available literature, there are references to newspaper articles criticizing the forest policy
of the government, or the non-application of the forest policy. For example, the decision of the
Ministry of the Environment, Sylvestre Naah Ondoua, to postpone the ban on log-export
provoked critics in the press211.
The other topic that is recurrent in the national press is the waste problematic, especially in the
two big cities Douala and Yaoundé. Yaoundé is being called the “ville poubelle”212 (Trash City)
and the media keep on complaining about the accumulation of wastes everywhere in the city.
206 See Chapter 5.3.1.1. 207 See Chapter 5.1.7. 208 Essono, Thomas (1995), La communication politique au Cameroun (Structures, contenu et effets), Thèse, Université de Lille, 1995, Lille. P. 256. 209 WAGNE: Wagon Africain de Gestion de Nouvelles Electroniques. 210 Online address: http://www.syfia.com. 211 [no name] (1999e), Arrêt de l’exportation des grumes: Un véritable poker menteur, in: Ecovox Nr. 20, Octobre / Décembre 1999, Bafoussam. Online: http://wagne.net/ecovox/eco20/actual3.htm. 212 Zoa, Anne-Sidonie (1995), Les ordures à Yaoundé. Urbanisation, environnement et politique au Cameroun, Editions l’Harmattan, 1995, Paris.
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In the international and national press, the topic relating to the construction of the pipeline going
from Southern Chad through Cameroon to Douala is abundantly commentated as a project that
endangers the surrounding ecosystem and the environment of the Baka people (Pygmies). The
international press concentrates mainly on the destruction of the biodiversity and of the forest213.
5.1.5 Ecologically innovative firms A project of reconversion of the manufacturing companies (FAEM: Fabrication d’Appareils
électroménagers and UCF) that is being implemented aims at eliminating the CFC 11 and 12 in
the manufacturing process of refrigerators214. These are the only examples of “green” companies,
which is very little, when one consider that the initiative comes from the outside.
5.1.6 Epistemic community Research institution are important as they provide conditions under which environmental
knowledge is produced, interpreted, distributed and applied.
Presently forestry research is carried out at the University of Yaoundé, at the Institute of
Zootechnical Research215, the Institute of medical research and of medicinal plant studies216, the
Institute of geological and mineral research217, the National Veterinary Laboratory218 and the
Fishery Research Station219 and the IRAD, the Institute of Research for Agricultural
Development. ONADEF and International co-operations such as TROPENBOS-Cameroon,
WWF, WCS, Birdlife International are also involved in forestry research.
At the international level, research concerning the environment in Cameroon is carried out by the
Institute for the Development (IRD220), that is an organ of the French cooperation implanted in
Yaoundé.
The main problems facing the research sector are the inadequate number of researchers, the
marginalization of research structures, the inadequate liaison between research and users of
research results and the inadequate funding of forestry research221.
5.1.7 International and multilateral organizations
213 For example: FOE (1996), World Bank in African Rainforest Scandal, in: Friends of the Earth Press Release online, September 1996, London. Online: http://www.foe.co.uk/pubsinfo/infoteam/pressrel/1996/19960909115504.html. Musa, Tansa (1998a), Environment-Cameroon: Rattan Plant Threatened by Furniture Boon, in: IPS World News, March 1998. Online: http://www.oneworld.org/ips2/mar98/15.03_053.html. Pfaff, Renate and Ulrich (1996). Strieker, Gary (1997), Mission impossible: conserving Cameroon’s natural resources, CNN online, February 25, 1997, New York. Online: http://www.cnn.com/EARTH/9702/25/mission.impossible/index.html. 214 CSD (1997). 215 IRZ : Institut de Recherche Zootechnique. 216 IMPM : Institut de la Recherche Médicale et d’Etude des Plantes Médicinales. 217 IRGM : Institut des Recherches Géologiques et Minières. 218 LAVANET : Laboratoire National Vétérinaire. 219 MINEF (1995a), p. 24. 220 IRD: Institut de Recherche pour le Développement. 221 MINEF (1998b), p. 49.
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As we have seen previously, the international community is expected to contribute to more than
70 percent to the implementation of the NEMP. So that the international community is bound to
play a very important role in the success or failure of the environmental policy in Cameroon.
Virtually all the bilateral and multilateral agencies that are active in Cameroon are also active in
the environmental field. Some are more concentrated in the forest management, like the
Canadian International Development Agency, or the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ),
other are more in the agricultural management (like the USAID)222.
France is the first bilateral donor, with a bilateral investment of US$ 265.2 million for a total
ODA for Cameroon of US$ 444.1 in 1995223. The environmental projects are to be found as part
of the program that aims at enhancing the competitiveness and boasting the productive rural
sector. The French Cooperation helps by the implementation of the forestry management
programs, the training of the private and public forestry actors and by the training of the
administrative tasks force for the management of the protected areas in northern Cameroon224.
There are also diverse infrastructure projects in the urban environment financed by the 1994
created Social Development Funds to overtake tasks that the municipalities can not face anymore
as part of the strategy against poverty225.
Germany is the second bilateral donor with US$ 35 million in 1995226. One of the domain of
intervention of the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) is called “Protection of the
Environment and Resources”, and five projects out of the 12 that are being carried out in
Cameroon are devoted to this issue: protection of the forests in southwest Cameroon,
Environmental advisory service to the MINEF, sponsorship of the Korup National Park227,
integrated protection of the Cameroon Mountain and Protection of the Forests in Akwa228. A
total of DM 24.3 Million is devoted to these projects. The first project is part of the GEF
Biodiversity project, and the Korup project is carried out together with WWF, the European
Union and the British Cooperation. These projects are oriented towards the protection of nature,
the sustainable management of the forests and capacity building of the MINEF.
222 I will name here only a few, but significant organizations and programs they carry out in the environmental fiels. As there are numerous projects and program underway, their comprehensive enumeration would go beyond the scope of this study. 223 BMZ (1998), Länderbericht Kamerun, Bundesministerium für Entwicklung und wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit, Referat 213, Januar 1998, Bonn. P. 5. 224 Service de Coopération au Développement (1999), Coopération au Cameroun, Service de Coopération et d’Action Culturelle, 28 Juillet 1999, Yaoundé. Online: http://www.france-cam.cm/cooperat/agir/index.htm 225 These activities are aimed at encouraging the participation of the civil society and at alleviating the poverty through human-intensive projects. Regarding the environment, there is a project of waste composting in Bafoussam, of construction of gutters in Yaoundé, and of cleaning up of the garbage collectors in Yaoundé. Ibid. 226 BMZ (1998), p. 5. 227 This project involves the conservation activities in the Korup National Park including forest management and rural development within the area around the park, the management of the Ejagham Forest Reserve, the Rumpi Hills forest Reserve and the Ntal’ali Forest reserve. Financing for this project comes from the Government of Cameroon, the WWF, the GTZ and the EU. 228 BMZ (1998), Länderbericht Kamerun, Bundesministerium für Entwicklung und Wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit, Referat 213, Bonn, Januar 1998. pp. 14.
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Canada is the third bilateral donor with US$ 13.2 million229 and it has been involved in the forest
sector for about a decade. It is currently implementing two projects, one relates to the rational
forest management and the decentralization of functions associated with this sector, and the other
one involves developing a procedure for assessing the effects of infrastructure projects on the
forest environment230.
At the international and multilateral levels, the EU, the World Bank and the United Nations
Organizations, mainly the UNDP, are active in the environmental field. At the regional level, the
African Development Bank is worth mentioning.
The European Union is mainly present through the ECOFAC231 project. This project is a regional
project232 that aims at protecting up to 40,000 ha tropical forest. It has a sustainable management,
and educational and medical research component233. In Cameroon, it is mainly in charge with the
management of the Dja Biosphere Reserve. Since 1992, it had set up tasks force-intensive
activities in order to reduce the pressure on the biodiversity in the Dja reserve. These activities
relate to the valorization of the local materials and the rehabilitation of the cultivation of coffee
and cocoa234. Agroforestry activities are also foreseen as well as the creation of community
forests235. The EU is also part of the Korup National Park project, the Mount Cameroon
project236 and the Waza-Logone project.
The World Bank is a major player in Cameroon with a great leverage instrument in the form of
the Structural Adjustment Program. In the field of the environment, it has been instrumental for
the introduction of the new environmental and forest policies237. The projects it is currently
implementing – mainly the Agricultural Research and Extension Program and the Cameroon
Petroleum Environment Capacity Enhancement – have important environmental components.
The World Bank implements also environmental programs through the 1991 established Global
Environment Facility (GEF)238.
229 BMZ (1998), p. 5. 230 CIDA (1996), CIDA and Cameroon, Canadian International Development Agency, June 1996, Montreal. Online: http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca. 231 ECOFAC: Ecosystèmes Forestiers en Afrique Centrale. This project is co-financed by the Government of Cameroon and the Netherlands International Development Cooperation. There are other bilateral donors (USA, Netherlands and Great Britain), that also have projects with environmental components, and the three countries mentioned above are also involved in other projects, but to name them all would go beyond the frame of this work. 232 The ECOFAC project is present in Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Guinea Equatorial, Central African Republic and Sào Tome and Principe. 233 Jacquet, Laurent (1997), L’Union européenne et la gestion durable des forêts tropicales, in: Marchés Tropicaux, 1er août 1997, Paris. P. 1728. 234 ECOFAC (2000), Cameroun: la réserve de faune du Dja, Ecosystèmes Forestiers en Afrique Centrale, Programme régionale de l’Union Européenne, April 2000, Brussels. Online: http://www.ecofac.org/Composantes/CamerounDja.htm. 235 Delvingt, W., C. Vermeulen, M. Dethier (1998), L’aménagement durable, c’est aussi l’approche terroir, in: Canopée – Bulletin sur l’environnement en Afrique Centrale - n°11, Mars 1998, Bruxelles. Online: http://www.ecofac.org/canopee/N11/N1109_amenagement/amenagementdurable.htm. 236 The Mount Project is aimed at protecting the biological resources around the mountain and its lowland slopes from degradation and biodiversity. The activities include biological surveys, Community participation in forest management and socio-economic studies. The financing comes from the Government of Cameroon, the Global environment Facility, the Department of Foreign and International Development (DFID, British Cooperation) and the GTZ. 237 See chapter4.1.2. 238 This funds is managed by the World Bank, the UNDP and the UNEP together. It was launched 1991 as a pilot program that provided grant and concession funds to recipient countries for projects and activities that aim to protect the global environment. Since 1994, it has become a permanent financial mechanism for climate and biodiversity conventions and more than seventy participating governments concluded an
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An extensive program has been launched since 1996 on the conservation of the biodiversity by
the Global Environment Facility (GEF) funded by the World Bank. This program operates at the
national and regional levels. The national component has thee units: institutional development,
botanical surveys and zoological surveys. The regional component has six sites spread over the
Cameroonian territory239. Like the national component, the regional component carries out
biological and zoological surveys with the development of strategies for the involvement of the
local communities and institutional sustainability240.
The UNDP is also instrumental in the environmental policy in Cameroon. As we have already
seen, it sponsored the drawing up of the NEMP and delivered monies as part of the Capacity 21
program for the implementation of micro-scheme projects241. The current mission of the UNDP
regarding the environment consists in supporting institutionally the structure in charge with the
implementation of the NEMP, that is the SPE, and to finance some micro-scheme projects. Of
the 32 projects that were executed in 1999, eight were expressly dedicated to the environment,
and others had environmental components242.
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is very active in Cameroon, mostly in the areas of
forest and biodiversity conservation. Between 1961 and 1995, it had completed 45 projects. The
1997/98 program contains 17 projects243. It disposes of a Programme Office in Cameroon. It has
undergone a partnership with the Cameroonian Government to discuss strategies towards
sustainable logging according to the Forest Stewardship (FSC)244 criteria. It also underwent a
partnership with the private sector to ensure the sustainable use of forest resources in the Congo
Basin by helping them to implement sustainable forest management in their concessions245. It
undertook the Jengi initiative, named after the Baka forest-god, for local communities to pool
resources and exchange ideas to encourage forest management, and that is aimed at ensuring that
from the year 2,000 onwards, sustainable logging is a reality at least in some of the south-east
agreement to restructure the facility and replenish it. In: World Bank (1996), Toward Environmentally Sustainable Development in Sub-Saharan Africa. A World Bank Agenda, A World Bank Publication, November 1996, Washington D.C. p. 72. 239 The six sites are: Mount Kupe, Kilum / Ijim, Mount Cameroon, Campo/Ma’an, South-East and the savanna ecosystem of the North. 240 Vabi, Michael B. & Gartland, Steve J. (1997), Institutional framwork for biodiversity conservation in Cameroon, in: African Rainforests and the Conservation of Biodiveristy, Preceedings of the Limbe Conference, Limbe Botanic Garden, Cameroon, 17-24 January 1997, organized by Earthwatch Insititute, Yaoundé. Online http://www.uk.earthwatch.org/africa/limbe97-theme-12.html. 241 See chapter 4.1. 242 UNDP (1999b), Programmes et projets, UNDP, New York, 1999. Online: http://www.un.cm/pnud/programmes.htm. 243 WWF (1997), WWF’s Global Conservation Programme 1997/98, World Wide Fund, International Publication, WWF homepage, 1997, Geneva. Online: http://www.wwf.org. 244 The FSC is an international organization, that accredits organizations, that certify logging companies that sustainably manage their concessions. Ten criteria were set up – Respect of the Law and FSC principles; property rights, land-use right and responsibility; rights of the local population; working conditions; forest use; effect on the environment; management plan, control and assessment; conservation of natural forests; plantations. These criteria are then adapted by the FSC-Working group of the concerned country and submitted to the FSC. After they have been accepted, they have to be implemented by the logging companies and asserted by an accredited institution at their own cost. They can then obtain the FSC-label, that is to be renewed every five years. Ripken, Heiko (1999), Die Deutschen FSC-Standards zur Zertifizierung auf dem Prüfstand, in: Forst und Holz, Nr. 6, 25. März 1999, Verlag M.&H. Schaper Alfeld, Hannover. P. 170. 245 WWF (1999), Propositions nouvelles pour la protection des forêts. Le sommet de Yaoundé sur les forêts, 17 March 1999, Yaoundé.
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forests, and at setting a trust fund to help cover the long-term costs of managing the forest
protected areas246.
Of all the above mentioned actors, it seems that the most relevant ones are the governmental
actors and the outside players – the bilateral, international and multilateral, governmental and
non-governmental organizations. In this phase of implementation of the environmental policy,
the governmental institutions get the role of controlling, monitoring and coordinating, whereas
the outside organizations carry out diverse projects. The societal actors – the NGOs, the media
and the political parties – don’t have an established structure and lack the power to be really
influent. But a mutation is taking place, as the growing number and importance of the NGOs
show, and the civil society might gain power in the following years.
5.2 The systemic Framework of Action The systemic framework of action refers to the opportunity structure of the actors, in this case in
the environmental field. Jänicke distinguishes between three structural framework conditions: the
cognitive-informational, the political-institutional and the economic-technological framework
conditions247.
5.2.1 The cognitive-informational framework conditions The availability of environmental knowledge is an unavoidable condition for environmental
actors to be able to act in this field. This category of explanation tries to understand the
conditions under which environmental knowledge is produced, distributed and applied, it looks
at the culture as a background condition and at the actually available knowledge in order to
define the structure of this knowledge.
The education standard in Cameroon used to be very good, but the economic crisis has sharply
deteriorated this situation: Between 1970 and 1975, the primary school enrollment rate used to
be 97.0 percent; then it went down to 80.7 percent in 1997 before going slightly back up to 81.0
percent by 1998248. The percentage of illiteracy is low concerning 28 percent of the population
aged 15 and more as against 42 percent for Sub-Saharan Africa249.
With such a level of education, the population should be able to comprehend environmental
education programs. But according to the available literature, the governmental organizations
like the radio or television do not have any environmental broadcasts. These are foreseen in the
246 Ibid. 247 Jänicke, Martin and Helmut Weidner (eds.) (1997), pp. 6. 248 IMF (1998), Cameroon – Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility. Medium-Term Economic and Financial Policy Framework Paper (1998/99-2000/1), IMF, 1998, Washington D.C. Online: http://www.imf.org/external/np/pfp/1998/cameroon.htm. 249 World Bank (1999d), Cameroon at a glance., September 1999, Washington D.C.. online: http://www.worldbank.org/cmr_aag.pdf.
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NEMP, as well as the integration of the environmental issue in the school program, but they have
not yet been implemented.
Only NGOs are active in the environmental education field like for example the CIPCRE,
Birdlife International, Enviro-Protect and WWF250. There is also a National Environmental
Education Program that is being developed by WWF in very close collaboration with the
Ministry of National Education251. No further details could be found about this program.
Regarding the cultural background of Cameroon, there are over 200 ethnic groups with many
languages. The majority speaks French, while a minority is english speaking. The main religions
are Christianity (nominally at least 40 percent, chiefly in the southern and western provinces),
Islam (nominally at least 20 percent, chiefly in the northern provinces) and Animism (at least
nominally 40 percent spread throughout the territory).
Forest ecosystems are very important in the socio-cultural life of the local communities living
within, around or near forests. Inside the forest ecosystems, the local communities have shrines,
sacred grounds for certain traditional ceremonies which have to be carried out within the calm,
tranquility and sacredness of the forest. The traditional management of such sites is usually that
of complete protection252.
There are about 50,000 to 100,00 baka (pygmies). This term encompasses several different
ethnic groups. They primarily reside in the forested area of the South and East provinces, in
which Pygmies were the earliest known inhabitants. While no legal discrimination exists, other
groups treat Pygmies as inferior and sometimes subject them to unfair and exploitative labor
practices253. These communities have a long tradtion of sustainable resource use through taboos
preventing overexploitation, tribal warfare that kept wide areas as wilderness or buffer zones
between tribal groups and ancestral land tenure system254.
Although these communities have a long standing tradition of forest protection, these traditions
are becoming less and less relevant: through the rural exodus, the displacement of population
groups to new, for them taboo-free forestry areas, and population pressure on new land,
facilitated through the opening up of new forest areas by logging companies, the different groups
mix up with each others, and the traditions give in to the necessities of life. The environmental
250 MINEF (1996), Vol. II, 2, p. 563. 251 Vabi, Michael B. & Gartland, Steve J. (1997). 252 MINEF (1998b), pp. 34. 253 U.S. Department of State (2000), 1999 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Cameroon, released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, U.S. Department of State, February 25, 2000, Washington. Online: http://www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/1999_hrp_report/cameroon.html. 254 Vabi, Michael B. & Gartland, Steve J. (1997).
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problems that arise are forest encroachment for agriculture, soaring poaching and pollution
through wastes in the main cities255.
The main reason for this behavior is the rising poverty. The GNP per capita amounted 1998 to
US$ 610, and as much as 47 percent of the urban population was living below the national
poverty line256. Although the macro-economic data have improved, as we will see in the section
about the economic framework conditions, the social situation is still disastrous, ruling out any
inch of postmaterialism in the Cameroonian society. The poverty has led the population to adopt
survival strategies to combat poverty that are environmentally destructive.
Environmental awareness is hardly existent, as the population struggles to survive. On the other
hand, the population is very well aware of problems such as the overexploitation of its forest and
the waste problems in the big cities, or the lower fertility of the soils that lead to shorter fallow
periods. But it has a hard time linking these problems with its own behavior, all the more when it
sees that for example it does not get anything from the exploitation of the forests257.
The leading paradigm of the government is sustainable development. This has been several times
asserted in the NEMP. But the government also pursues the goal of managing the resources
rationally in order to increase their share in the GNP.
The NEMP was the occasion to gather a lot of environment-relevant information. Information
about the production of forest outputs (firewood, timber), the waste production, the agricultural
production, the energy and water consumption and availability and wildlife species were made
available. On the other hand, there is no comprehensive information about water and ground
pollution, about the respective contribution of the different sector to environmental degradation
and about the rejection of industrial waste from the industrial firms.
The fact that only few environment-relevant pieces of information are available may well lay in
the fact that no much statistical capacities are available in the country: there are only the
documentation service within the MINEF, the IRAD, and research programs such as ECOFAC
and Tropenbos258. There is one national statistics department within the Ministry of Finances
called the Directorate of Statistics and National Accounting259 that gathers traditional sectoral
255 Zoa, in her sociological analysis about the perception of wastes in Yaoundé, advanced the thesis that the different ethnic groups have a different perception of the meaning of wastes. For some of these groups, the waste plays a very important role in the social life, as it brings wealth, happiness and security. Therefore these groups are not willing to get rid of their waste that easily. The odors are also perceived differently: some groups like their meat rotten, other their fish. So that the problem of waste in Yaoundé and other big cities is more a cultural issue than an environmental awareness issue. Zoa, Anne-Sidonie (1995), pp. 87. 256 World Bank (1999d). 257 MINEF (1996), vol. II,2, pp. 548. 258 CSD (1997). 259 DSCN: Direction de la Statistique et de la Comptabilité Nationale.
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data. There is not any inter-sectoral approach. The possibility of collecting and diffusing
integrated data is bound to the availability of financial means260.
This sectoral and limited approach to environmental information reflects the general situation of
the environmental policy and knowledge in Cameroon. The general links and issues regarding
environmental degradation have been understood, but there is no exact strategy to eliminate
exact damages, but rather a broad, somehow confused program of overall sustainable
development, ambitious enough to please the donor and international community for whom it
was developed, but too general to have concrete impacts on the environment.
This analysis points to weak cognitive-informational framework conditions: The cultural
heritage, which could lead in certain areas to an environment-friendly behavior, is being
destroyed by the negative social and economic conditions and the rapid urbanization. The
knowledge about the links between the different factors is still by far incomplete, although
efforts to complete this knowledge are underway.
5.2.2 Political-institutional framework conditions Jänicke considers the political framework conditions, analyzed through its participative and
integrative capacities as well as through its capacity for action, as essential for the success of the
environmental policy261. Positive factors are the openness of the input structure, a decentralized
political system with strong local communities, an available consensual capacity, an integrative
policy process and a cooperative policy style. These elements will be analyzed in general
regarding the Cameroonian political system and in particular regarding the environmental policy.
5.2.2.1 The political system of Cameroon
Cameroon became independent on January 1st, 1960262. Originally a federal, multi-party state, it
became a unitary, one-party state under the ruling of President Alhaji Ahmadou Ahidjo. Since
1982, Paul Biya has succeeded to Ahidjo. He was formally elected president for the first time in
1992 and again in 1997 for seven years. Since 1990, Cameroon has become a multi-party state
again. The current constitution has been adopted in 1996263.
This constitution provides for a semi-presidential, centralized state. The president has great
powers like the nomination of a third of the senate, the nomination of the governors of each of
the ten provinces, the appointment of all the Ministers, including the Prime Minister and the
260 UN Division for Sustainable Development (1997), Regional Capacity 21 / DPCSD Workshop: Indicators of Sustainable Development in Africa, Report of the Chairmann, 3-6 June 1997, Accra. Online: http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/regafric.htm. 261 Jänicke, Martin and Helge Jörgens (1997), pp. 13. 262 Originally, Cameroon was a federation consisting of the former United Nations Trust Territory of Cameroon under French administration in the east, which became independent in 1960, and the southern half of the former Trust Territory of Cameroon under British administration in the southwest, which voted to join Cameroon in 1961. Between 1884 and 1916, the Cameroons were a German colony. 263 Republic of Cameroon (1996a), Loi N° 96/06 du 18 Jan. 1996 portant révision de la Constitution du 02 Juin 1972, Primature, 1999, Yaoundé. Online: http://www.camnet.cm/primatur/textes/institut/l96_06f.htm.
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appointment of important lower level members of the 58 provincial administrative structures264.
He can dissolve the National Assembly [section 8 § 12]. He can also proclaim the state of
emergency, “according to the circumstances” and he gets special rights that are to be decided
upon by the legislative power [section 9 § 1]. He can proclaim the state of exception in case of
serious endangering of the republic and take all the measures he deems necessary [section 9 § 2].
There is a bicameral Parliament: the National Assembly and the Senate. The National Assembly
has 180 deputies that are elected directly for five years. The Senate is the representation of the
ten regions that each send ten senators265. This institution is a visible effort of the Cameroonian
Government to decentralize the administration of the country: the regions replace the former
provinces and are to be ruled by elected regional councils with limited power over local affairs.
But by 1999, neither the Senate nor the regional council amendments had been implemented, so
that the governors system in the 10 provinces is still valid.266.
Cameroon is characterized as being a law-centrist state. This tradition has been inherited from
the law system from the colonial times, which has led to a strong specialization of the
administrative structure and a strict separation of their respective competencies267. Such a
structure is conflict-loaded, as the general interest does not always dominate in the decision-
making process upon the interests and strategies of the diverse ministries as well as above the
personnel interests. The economic crisis that led to a decreasing living and social standard of the
civil servant as well as their tribal affiliation also play a role in the decision-making process,
blurring the public interest.
The last general election took place on Mai 1997. The ruling party RDPC268 won 109 out of the
180 parliamentary seats and the SDF 43 seats. The last presidential elections took place on
October 1997 and were boycotted by the four main opposition parties – the SDF269, UNDP270,
UDC271 and the UPA272. The presidential elections were boycotted because of the overall
electoral fraud in the general elections: no less than 150 appeals were brought before the Court
and they were all refused273. Therefore, Paul Biya could achieve 92.6 percent of the votes for an
official turnover of 80 percent.
264 U.S. Department of State (2000). There are 10 provinces, 53 divisions, 268 sub-divisions and 53 districts. 265 Out of these 10, seven are to be elected indirectly (either as delegates of the departments or representatives of the traditional commandment) and three are to be appointed by the President of the Republic. 266 U.S. Department of State (2000). 267 MINEF (1995a), p. 178. 268 RDPC: Rassemblement Démocratique du Peuple Camerounais / Cameroon’s People Democratic Movement. 269 SDF: Social Democratic Front. 270 UNDP: Union Nationale pour la Démocratie et le Progrès / National Union for Democracy and Progress. 271 UDC: Union démocratique du Cameroun / Democratic Union of Cameroon. 272 UPA: Union des Populations Africaines / Union of African Populations. 273 The SDF and several other opposition groups have complained of massive electoral fraud. They claimed that the elections were hindered by massive police harassment of voters, the withholding of voter cards to known opposition sympathizers, and governmental stuffing of ballot boxes. John Frau Ndi demanded that the election results be annulled, a national independent electoral commission be formed and that new elections be held. Abéga, Martin (1997), Cameroun: Lendemains d’élections législatives, In: Marchés Tropicaux, 27 Juin 1997, Paris. Pp. 1439-
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The decentralized territorial collectivities are the regions and the municipalities. They are moral
persons of public right. As we have seen, the regions are not operative yet and they are still ruled
by the nominated prefect. The municipalities are ruled by an elected municipal council that is
headed by a mayor (rural municipalities) or an administrator (urban municipalities). The
FEICOM is a public administrative institution that ensures the financial inter-municipal
solidarity. The decentralized collectivities enjoy the administrative and financial autonomy for
the management of the local interests. Regarding the environment, they are active mainly in the
waste and forestry management274.
The first municipal elections took place in January 1996. Even if at the national level the ruling
party won these elections, there were some victories in some electoral, mainly urban, opposition
strongholds. But these victories were weakened by the fact that some of the elected mayors were
replaced by presidential appointed delegates in big cities like Douala, Bamenda, Garoua,
Bafoussam. Although these local elections were quite progressive an occurrence in West Africa,
their scope was limited by the fact that appointed delegates ruled by 1996 all the provincial
capitals and some division capitals in pro-opposition provinces on the whole territory except for
the south, which is known as being pro RDPC275. Furthermore, their autonomy is limited by the
fact that they must rely on the central government for most of their revenues and their
administrative human resources.
There is a parallel authority in Cameroon in the form of traditional chiefdoms276. There are three
degrees of authority and two different types of chiefdoms277. The one type (“acephale” or
segmentary) is to be found in the forest ethnic groups and is a loose bound of relatively
independent villages, headed by an elderly chosen for his virtue, who regulates the life of the
group with the help of a council. The other type is a strong hiearchized and pyramidal type, to be
found by the Islamic groups in the West and Northwest. It is headed by a Sultan, Lamido, Fon or
Fo who inherits his powers. The sultan has great powers, as do his subordinates at the lower
levels. As the population is very obedient to this traditional authorities, they are very important
for the implementation of the environmental policy, as they manage the land and forests under
their jurisdiction.
The constitution also provides for an independent judiciary system. The President of the
Republic nominates the magistrates on the proposal of the Supreme Council of the Magistracy.
The Constitutional Council is warrant of the constitutionality of the laws. Cases can be brought
1440. Lee, Shin-Wha (1999), Bamileke in Cameroon, Center for International Development and Conflict Management, College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, University of Maryland. Online: http://www.bsoso.umd.edu/cidcm/mar/cambamil.htm. 274 MINEF (1995a), p. 26. 275 U.S. Department of State (2000). 276 There are more than 1,000 traditional chiefdoms and fondoms. Fombad, Charles Manga (1997), p. 497. 277 MINEF (1995a), p. 27.
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before it by the President of the Republic, the Presidents of the Senate and of the National
Assembly, a third of the deputies and of the senators. It is also accessible to the presidents of the
regional council, but not to the simple citizen or any organization. The Constitutional Council is
responsible for the regularity of the presidential and general elections, as well as for the
referendums278. The regional and municipal elections can be contested before the administrative
courts.
Candidates and parties can contest the elections. Of the eleven members of the Constitutional
Council, 3, among them the president, are nominated by the President of the Republic279. This
way of nomination gives a lot of power to the ruling party, therefore the President of the
Republic, all the more, as the last decision in the Constitutional Council rests in the hands of its
president280.
The authority and independence of the judiciary system as a whole can also be doubted, as the
case regarding the last municipal elections shows: although the supreme court nullified the
results of 18 elections and ordered the Government to hold them again, the Government had still
not abide by this decision by the end of 1999281.
5.2.2.2 Participative capacity
This aspect analyses the openness of the political system toward input from the society: what are
the channels through which the citizen, especially the environmentally sensitive groups can
express their demands?
In a representative democracy, the very first channel are the political parties that express their
preferences through the parliament.
The multi-party system was reintroduced in Cameroon in 1990. Officially, at least 137 parties
have been legalized since 1991282. But the only relevant parties are the ruling party, the
Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (RDPC), the Social Democratic Front (SDF) and the
National Union for Democracy and Progress (UNDP)283.
The last presidential elections from October 12, 1997 were boycotted by these three parties, as
they had not obtained the creation of an autonomous national electoral commission. These
elections were marred by a wide range of procedural flaws, and the elections were generally
considered by international and local observers not to be free and fair284. Besides, the
278 Although the referendum is mentioned it is not regulated any place else in the constitution. 279 Three others are nominated by the President of the National Assembly, three by the President of the Senate and two by the Supreme Council of Magistracy.. 280 Republic of Cameroon (1996a), [section 51 § 2]. 281 U.S. Department of State (2000). 282 Gazibo, Mamoudou (1999). 283 Although the opposition parties had sworn not to sit at the National Assembly because of the electoral fraud, they nevertheless occupied their seat at the NA. After the Presidential elections, the UNDP, which previously had been in opposition, joined the RDPC in a coalition government. In: U.S. Department of State (2000). 284 Ibid.
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Government does not show any will to improve the transparency of the electoral process: in 1998
talks between the ruling RDPC and the leading opposition party SDF broke down over the issue
of creating the independent electoral commission. Rather, the RDPC-dominated National
Assembly passed a few minor reforms to the 1991 electoral law, including increased
discretionary power for the Minister of Territorial Administration to rule on the admissibility of
candidacies285.
Nevertheless, the same National Assembly showed a quite surprising boldness in the course of
the adoption of the 1994 forestry law. During the parliamentary debate in December 1994, the
deputies of the ruling party proposed amendments to the draft that had been made by the
Government and the World Bank. Three essential provisions were changed: originally, the
concession were to be allocated by auction for a period of twenty-five years over an area as big
as 500,000 ha286. The parliament could change these provisions to the allocation of concession
no bigger than 200,000 ha, for a period of fifteen years on a administrative basis. These
amendments were not made in the spirit of protecting or manage sustainably the forests, but they
were rather the result of a political struggle. The purpose of the National Assembly was to limit
the power of the foreign logging companies and to make sure that the administration would still
be in control of the forestry industry so that bribes would continue to flow in287.
This could have been understood as a proof of a certain autonomy of the National Assembly, as
it went against a bill proposed by the Government, if this situation had not been analyzed as a
way for the Government to implicitly support certain amendments which it itself could not
politically afford to endorse: Ekoko288 analyzes this as the only way for the Government of
Cameroon to handle against the powerful World Bank.
But on the whole, political parties are a weak channel for popular participation, as they tend to
represent regions and ethnic groups289 instead of ideas and programs.
As we have seen, the Government of Cameroon is attempting to decentralize its power structure
through the creation of a new authority structure, the regional councils at the regional level.
Beside the fact that these structures are not yet functional, doubt about their input and
participative capacity can be raised. It seems that they are more likely to become executive
agencies of the central power, as the legislative power remains at the central level.
285 Ibid. 286 Nguiffo Tene, Samuel Alain (1994), pp. 24. 287 Ibid, p. 26. However allocation issues was subsequently changed by the World Bank, which threatened the Government of Cameroon to stall its aid if the concessions were not attributed by auction. Ekoko, Francois (1995), The political economy of the 1994 Cameroon forestry law. 288 Ekoko, Francois (1995). 289 For example, the SDF used to represent the Bamileke group, which is a loose agglomeration of Bantu-speaking tribal groups which dominates the cultural and economic life of the Western Cameroon and the Anglophone Westerners and demands a federal system with a regional autonomy. John Nfrudi, the President of the SDF, has recently been very contested and the bamileke takes now their distance to this party. See : Abdallah, Kosehe (1999), Remaniement annoncé: Branle-bas dans les formations politiques, publié en ligne par Camnet, 16 Février 1999, Yaoundé. Online : http://www.iccnet.cm/cam_actu/act_pol/p99021601.htm.
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Nevertheless, during the NEMP process, the decentralized institutions were quite active through
the regional meetings in the provinces, which allowed for the conception of an environmental
plan that took the regional aspects into account. This form of regional participation for policy
formulation was being tried for the first time in Cameroon and was quite successful. But it was
dependent on the financing of the donor and international community290 and it is not likely to
repeat itself or to become a permanent feature.
5.2.2.3 Integrative capacity
The integrative capacity refers to the capacity of the institutions to cooperate between themselves
and with different groups to find win-win solutions. This refers to the coherence of the diverse
policies and to the harmonization of the diverse interests. A cooperative system has better
chances to achieve a successful environmental policy291.
If one takes the example of the way environmental policy was introduced in Cameroon, one
finds little institutional integration: the MINEF was created spontaneously in 1992 on the
insistence of the World Bank, with a broad environmental mandate, parts of which were already
being carried out by other institutions. These institutions are still quarreling over their respective
attribution, like the drawing up of sectoral environmental master plans, which is part of the
competencies of the MINEF but also of the concerned sectoral ministries. Coordination
committees like the CNSD have done little to encourage the inter-policy coordination, as they
have little financial means to carry out their whole mandate292
As we have seen in the previous chapter, there was a laudable effort of the Government of
Cameroon to integrate other ministries, the different administrative layers and external groups,
such as Non-Governmental Organizations, in the NEMP process. The fact that this was a one-
time action is confirmed by the way the environmental policy is being implemented293.
Nevertheless, there are signs that point to the facts that things might change: as a matter of fact,
Prime Minister Peter Mafany Musonge convened a consultation meeting on the management of
environmental issues on August 12, 1999294, in which as many as eleven ministers took part,
among others the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce,
the Ministry of Territorial Administration, the MINEF, the Ministry of Public Works, the
Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Public Investment and Regional Development. The
bilateral donors, represented by their ambassadors, representatives of international organizations
290 MINEF (1996), vol. I, pp. 174. 291 Jänicke, Martin and Helmut Weidner (eds.) (1997), p. 13. 292 MINEF (1995a), pp. 34. 293 See chapter on the strategy, skill and will of the environmental proponents, chapter 5.3.1.1. 294 Republic of Cameroon (1999b), Consultation Meeting of 12 August 1999 on the Management of Environmental Issues, Prime Minister’s Office, written by Louis-Marie Abogo Nkono, Secretary-General, Yaoundé, 12 August 1999. Online: http://www.spm.gov.cm/environ/reunio1a.htm.
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(UNDP, World Bank and the European Union) and of NGOs (WWF, SNV, Birdlife and DFID)
had also been invited.
The fragility of integration is also relevant regarding the inter-policy integration: it is true that in
the course of the development of the NEMP, a strategy for the integration of the environmental
issue has been developed for all the sectors: agriculture, livestock, forestry, biodiversity, fishery,
ecosystems, energy, mines, natural risks, water, urban environment, industry, infrastructure,
education, research and also cross-sectoral issues such as the integration of women and the
population issue.
But the framework conditions are very negative for a cooperation between the diverse social and
interest groups to take place. 1998, there was a 30 percent unemployment rate295, and about half
the population lived below the poverty line of FCFA 148,000 (US$ 250) a year296. As the
population has adopted survival strategies, the different groups are not willing to cooperate, as
examples of conflicts between shepherds and peasants or between logging companies and the
autochthonous population show.
Beyond these economic facts, the political tradition of an authoritarian state is still showing, as
journalists and members of opposition political parties are still being imprisoned by the
Government for criticizing it. According to the human right organization Amnesty International
some fifty political prisoners were held without charge or trial throughout the year 1999297.
Another example of the weak integrative capacity of the Government of Cameroon can be found
in the replacement in 1996 of the elected mayors in twenty significant cities, mostly held by
opposition parties. Protest demonstrations resulted in arrests and at least five deaths298.
So that one can say that if there is in fact a certain integrative capacity regarding the
environmental policy, this is mainly thanks to the exigencies set upon the Government by the
international organizations, and that, due to the unfavorable framework conditions, this capacity
is not bound to last.
5.2.2.4 Capacity for strategic action
If one considers that the integrative policy is the precondition for a strategic capacity, which is,
the capacity to impose long-term overall objectives against short-term individual interests299,
then Cameroon has very weak conditions for this last capacity.
295 CIA (1999), The World Factbook 1999 – Cameroon, Central Intelligence Agency, 1999, Washington. Online: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/cm.html. 296 World Bank (1998a), Cameroon Third Structural Adjustment Credit, The World Bank, The Infoshop, April 1998, Washington D.C. Online: http://www.worldbank.org/pics/pid/cm54443.txt. 297 Amnesty International (1999), AI Report 1999: Cameroon, Amnesty International Publication, 1999, London. Online: http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/aireport/ar99/afr17.htm. 298 Amnesty International (1997a), AI Report 1997: Cameroon, Amnesty International Publication, 1997, London. Online: http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/aireport/ar97/AFR17.htm. 299 Jänicke, Martin, Philip Kunig, Michael Stitzel (1999), pp. 90.
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There are several flaws in the administrative structure of Cameroon. The Structural Adjustment
Program that has been implemented since 1989 has led to serious financial shortcuts as well as to
a reduction in the human resource availability and quality.
Corruption flourishes in the administration: as a matter of fact, the international organization
Transparency International has ranked 1999 Cameroon last (place 86) in its 1998 corruption
perception index300. The absence of forestry officers on the field is an incentive for frauds in the
logging concession like the cutting of undersized trees, the under-estimation of volume, the
unreported felling, the felling off limits, the trespassing of the volume of authorized cuts and the
practice of secret chainsaw felling301. As the officers don’t have the necessary vehicles to carry
out their duty, it is a normal practice for them to use the vehicles that logging companies place at
their disposal, so that they become their obligees302.
The Government of Cameroon does not have a great capacity to impose its decision, but it is
working on it as part of the SAP. For example, it has increased its capacity to collect the direct
taxes303 in the forestry sector, which increased from FCFA 1,532 million in 1992/93 to FCFA
7,553 million in 1997/98. This could impact positively on the forestry management, as part of
this tax is meant to be reinvested in this area. To further improve the forestry tax collection
system, a Forest Revenue Security Program has been launched in 1999304.
As with the integrative capacity, Cameroon does not have per se a good capacity for strategic
action, due to the economic crisis and the economic administration, but it is trying to get this
capacity with the help of the international organizations like UNDP and the Bretton Wood
Institutions. The best example, once again, is the drawing process of the NEMP, which was
developed in a most rational manner through the method of planning by objective. But as with
the integrative capacity, this might remain a one time experience, with no or few incidence on
the implementation of the policy itself.
This analysis points to the general fragility of the political-institutional systems in Cameroon.
The democratization process started not even a decade ago and it is still stumbling over diverse
difficulties. The participative and integrative capacities as well as the capacity for strategic
action are very low in general. Nevertheless, the Environmental Management Plan was
300 Transparency International (1999). This problem is being handled by the Government of Cameroon as a reaction to the 1998 report of Transparency International. 1999, the President Biya launched an anti-corruption campaign, and several political and administrative personalities were arrested, the most eminent of them being the Ministry of Post and Telecommunication, Mounchipou Seidou, in September 1999. Pontié, Emmanuelle (1999), Tous aux abris!, in: Jeune Afrique, N° 2027, 16-22 Novembre 1999, Paris. Pp. 28-29. 301 WWF (1995), p. 102. 302 Fombad, Charles Manga (1997), p. 494. 303 The direct forestry taxes include the stumpage fee, the acreage fee and the gradated tax on log export. MINEFI (1998), Contribution du Secteur Forestier à l’Economie Nationale (1992/3 – 1997/98), Commission d’Etude sur le Secteur Forestier, Septembre 1998, Yaoundé. P. 23. 304 IMF (1999a), Cameroon – Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility. Medium-Term Economic and Financial Policy Framework Paper (1999/2000-2001/02), IMF, Government of Cameroon, World Bank, August 1999, Washington D.C. Online: http://www.imf.org/external/np/pfp/1999/cameroon.htm.
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developed in an integrative and participative way. This happened mainly thanks to the pressure
put by the international organizations on the Government of Cameroon.
As the whole system is in mutation one can not say for sure that these capacities will not grow,
but as for now, they rate pretty low.
5.2.3 Economic-Technological framework conditions The general assumption is that good economic-technological framework conditions, measured in
terms of GNP per capita, high level of research and development expenditures, availability of
technical solutions to environmental problems, are a precondition for a successful environmental
policy305. If a country has a good economic performance, an open economic structure and a high
technological standard, then it is more likely to be able to tackle environmental problems.
5.2.3.1 Economic performances in Cameroon
Since 1987, Cameroon is in an economic turmoil. However, the situation has improved in the
last years, at least regarding the macro-economic figures: the Gross Domestic Product grew by
5.0 percent in 1998, as against -0.6% between 1988 and 1998306; the inflation rate amounted to
only 2.8% in 1998 as against 5.2% in 1996/97, but in 1998/99, it raised to about 4.5% as a result
of a sharp decline in nearly all the major export commodity markets. Another good result lays in
the surplus of the balance of payment which amounted 1998 to US$ 158 million for an export
volume of US$ 2,343 million. The year before, it had even amounted to US$ 402 million307.
Nevertheless, Cameroon remains a poor country. It has been classified by the World Bank as a
low-income country308 and it can borrow money only from the International Development
Association (IDA)309 from the Bretton Wood Institutions. The GNP per capita amounted 1998 to
US$ 610 and the total debt burden to 110.3 percent of the GDP. Another sign of the structural
weakness of Cameroon is the place taken by the agricultural sector in the economy, as it makes it
dependant on the international price fluctuation of commodities: it contributed 1998 to 42.4% of
the GDP, as against 21.6% for the second sector and 35.9% for the third sector. The export
structure reflects this situation: it is dominated by resources export, and virtually no
305 Jänicke, Martin and Helmut Weidner (eds.) (1997), p. 14. 306 IMF (1998), Cameroon – Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility. Medium-Term Economic and Financial Policy Framework Paper (1998/99-2000/1), IMF, 1998, Washington D.C. Online: http://www.imf.org/external/np/pfp/1998/cameroon.htm. 307 World Bank (1999d). 308 Cameroon used to be classified as a middle-income country. This status has been changed by the World Bank following the devaluation of the FCFA in January 1994. The parity with the French Franc was then realigned from FCFA 50 to 100 as part of the WB/IMF program that intended to produce a primary budgetary surplus, shift spending to productive activities, hold the yearly inflation to no more than 5% and generate an annual GDP growth of at least 5%. For the private household, this devaluation meant partly a doubling of commodity prices. For example, a bucket of maize which sold at FCFA 700 before January 1994 was sold afterwards for between FCFA 4,500 and 2,000. WWF (1995), p. 68. 309 IDA-only eligible only countries are those countries with an income of less than US$925 per capita and which lack creditworthiness. The terms of IDA credits are 40 years maturity, 10 years grace and a service charge of 0.75%. World Bank (1998d), Additions to IDA Resources : Twelfth Replenishment, The World Bank, International Development Association, December 23, 1998, Washington D.C. Online: http://www.worldbank.org/ida/ida12/ida12report.pdf.
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manufactured goods are exported. The main exported products are, in decreasing order,
petroleum, logs, cocoa, coffee, cotton, bananas, processed wood and aluminum310.
Since 1987, when a sharp drop in oil, coffee and cocoa prices led Cameroon in an economic
crisis and uncovered the weakness of its economic structure and policies, it has been undergoing
several structural adjustment programs. The SAPs were aimed at streamlining the public
finances, restructuring the public enterprises and banks, liberalizing the export crops and
deregulating the internal trade. The first SAP was signed in May 1989. The current one is the
third one and has been signed in 1997. It focuses on consolidating and deepening reforms in four
areas: the transport sector, the privatization program, the financial sector and the forestry
sector311.
The economic crisis and the measures taken to counter it have had a negative impact on the
environment. The price liberalization combined with a lack of administrative control capacity for
imported products led to the import of low-quality, environmentally dangerous products for
agricultural and medical uses. The introduction of a tax on added value was meant to rule out
other trade barriers. But for example, the forestry tax was not high enough to act as an incentive
for the loggers to respect the forestry law. Furthermore, as the prices for the manufactured
products increased, the population tended to substitute them with products of lower quality that
were not subject to the tax, which diminished the revenue of the government. The public debt
burden, which grew steadily and amounted to 10.5% of the 1995/96 budget forced the
government to make choices that were not in favor of the environment, like the poor budget
allowance for the MINEF312.
The poverty increased sharply after the 1994 devaluation and as a consequence of the sharp
decrease in the civil servant salary between 1992 and 1993 by 48%. As a result, the population
adopted a survival strategy that put a heavy burden on the environment: cheaper firewood was
substituted to more expensive energy sources, urban agriculture on already exhausted land
increased, leading to further deforestation in the cities, and the sanitary conditions (sewage
system and waste collection) worsened, as the municipalities were not able to gather enough tax
money to fulfill their obligations313.
The positive side of the SAP program lays in the formulation of a comprehensive forest policy
and of an important document in the form of the land-use plan for the forests in the southern part
of Cameroon. The implementation of the forestry component will benefit from the IDA Forestry
310 IMF (1998). 311 World Bank (1998a). 312 MINEF (1996), vol. I, pp. 140. 313 Ibid.
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and Environment Project now being prepared, and from continued bilateral assistance provided
to the MINEF by the Canadian International Development Agency314.
5.2.3.2 The economic structure
As we have just seen, the Cameroonian economy is dominated by agriculture, and the export
structure is dominated by oil, timber and staple commodities. The oil sector and the timber
industry are dominated by foreign companies. The agricultural sector is more differentiated: the
cultivation of cotton, cocoa and coffee is mostly done by small families, but they must sale their
products to parastatals which are in charge of marketing the products. They help the producers
by providing them with fertilizers and agricultural training. The same pattern is also to be found
in the industrial and in the service sectors.
The SAP measures led to the disbanding of these marketing boards for export crops and their
replacement with member run cooperatives315. This is aimed at reducing the fiscal burden of
unprofitable marketing board, improving the incentives for the production of tradable crops,
stimulating the private investment, enhancing competition and efficiency and lowering the
production costs316.
As the privatized structures remain intact, they form a monopolistic private structure. This means
that the integration of environmental considerations will dependent on the will of these new
powerful economic actors317. As the privatization process is not completed yet, this integration
still lays partly in the hands of the government.
Another important factor that is specific to developing countries, must be taken into account: this
is the place taken by the informal sector. According to the NEMP, there are up to 138,500
companies in the informal sector318, which produced 1993 an turnover of CFAF 734 billion for
an added value of FCFA 423 billion, representing twice as much the added value of the formal
sector. This informal sector, which contributes greatly to the degradation of the environment
through water and land pollution, is not being controlled by any administration and as it is
informal, it does not contribute to the elimination of the environmental degradation through
taxes.
5.2.3.3 Technological standard
Regarding the technological level of Cameroon, there is not much information. The majority of
the output of the three main export crops (cocoa, coffee and cotton) comes from small farmers.
314 World Bank (1998a). 315 In the agro-industrial sector, the privatization of the palm oil company (SOCAPALM), of the sugar company (CAMSUCO) and of the cotton company (SODECOTON) have already been carried out. The privatization of the Cameroon Development Cooperation (CDC), which is made out of the former German plantations after the second World War and which produces rubber, palm oil, banana and tee, was to be launched in 1998/99. The railway company REGIFERCAM has already been privatized, and the electricity company (SONEL), the telecommunication company (CAMTEL) and the national air company (CAMAIR) were also to be privatized. See IMF (1998). 316 Hillebrand, Ernst; Mehler, Andreas (1993), p. 445. 317 The will of the actors will be analyzed in a later chapter.
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Practically all the food crops are grown on family-size farms. The majority of these rely mainly
on family labor, which may be supplemented with wage labor during busy periods. Most farmers
rely on traditional techniques: only a minority uses fertilizers, and hand labor is the norm.
Furthermore, the reduction in the availability of credit has restricted farmers’ use of bought-in
supplies and wage labor. Improvements in present methods, that is for example the more
intensive use of existing land, diversification into new crops, upgrading planting materials, tend
to rely on specific, often regionally-based projects, most of which have suffered directly or
indirectly from the cutbacks in recurrent government expenditures319.
This low degree of modernity in the agriculture leads to the extension of the agricultural land to
the detriment of forests, instead of improving the agricultural techniques on the existing land,
and to the shortening of the fallow period, which leads to the land degradation and erosion320.
Other sectors have benefited from a technological transfer. This is the case for sewage systems,
effluent treatment systems and wells. But they are not really efficient, as they are not adapted to
the Cameroonian context, and there is a lack of national expertise and financial means to develop
adequate systems321. The industries inherit systems given or sold to them by northern countries,
and there is not enough information regarding these systems, as no technical information system
exists in Cameroon .
There are also sectors that do not have technological means at their disposal to fulfill their task:
this is the case of the controls over the production of solid, liquid and atmospheric pollutants by
local industries, that are to be carried out by technicians who lack the technical means to obtain
proof that technical specifications are being complied with and so cannot make any satisfactory
inspections322.
The technological and economic framework conditions are not very favorable. Even if the
economic situation is improving, the damages caused by the structural adjustment programs are
still obvious. The growing poverty is a major obstacle and the reduction f the state expenditure is
not favorable to infrastructure and technology investments.
The improvement of the macro-economic figures goes at the expense of the exploitation of the
natural resources: the export of timber grew from 856,373 cubic meters in 1992/1993 to
1,928,841 cubic meters in 1996/1997323 and from FCFA 57,478 million to over FCFA 166,000
million in value. As the Asian market is growing exponentially (exports to China grew from
318 MINEF (1996), vol. II, 2, pp. 405. 319 WWF (1995), p. 116. 320 Tchawa, Paul (1997), Evolution des techniques traditionnelles de gestion des sols et développement durable: enseignements tirés de l’étude de deux terroirs bamiléké (Ouest-Cameroun), in: Les Cahiers d’Outre-Mer, 50e année, No. 197, Janvier-Mars 1997, Bordeaux. Pp. 69-86. 321 MINEF (1996), vol. II, 2, p. 409. 322 Fombad, Charles Manga (1997), p. 494. 323 MINEFI (1998), p. 16.
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38,728 cubic meters in 1995/1996 to 198,720 cubic meters in 1996/1997324), this trend is bound
to last.
5.3 Utilization of the capacities Until now, we have described the variable capacity as a stable condition of action325. For it to
serve the purpose of environmental policy, it needs to be utilized appropriately, to be part of a
strategy. The strategy is understood as the general approach to the problem. It is “the purposeful
use of instruments, capacities, and situative opportunities to achieve long tem-goals”326. For
these long-term goals to be reached, sub-goals have to be set up, and instruments have to be
applied in a flexible manner, so as to adapt to changing situations. The usually economically and
politically weak situation of the environmental proponents has to be compensated for through the
intelligent use of time and situation, so as to counter the usually economically and politically
strong position of environmental opponents.
Therefore, the strategy, will and skill of environmental actors, split between proponents and
opponents, will first be analyzed, and then it will be necessary to look at the situative
opportunities of the environmental proponents, so as to see what factors might help them getting
their own way.
5.3.1 Strategy, will and skill of environmental actors 5.3.1.1 Strategy, will and skill of environmental proponents
The strategy of the environmental proponents, here the governmental proponents, has been
expressed in and through the NEMP327.
The government of Cameroon has set the long-term goals of protecting the environment and
valorizing the resources. For each of the sixteen areas of intervention, it has also set up medium-
term and long-term goals, and has described the instruments through which these goals should be
achieved328.
For the implementation of this strategy, it has adopted mainly a project-approach, even though
programs in some sectors like agriculture, energy, forestry and industry that integrate the
environmental concern have been devised.
The instruments are mainly of an institutional, legislative, managerial, informational and
planning nature.
324 Ibid. P. 19. 325 Jänicke, Martin and Helmut Weidner (eds.) (1997), p. 8. 326 Ibid. p. 6. 327 It is very difficult to make an appraisal of actors others than the governmental ones, as we have seen that for example the NGOs do not have great capacities in the environmental field. On the other hand, there is a lack of literature, which does not permit to make this kind of appraisal. However, the Chad-Cameroon oil project will be quoted as an example where non-governmental environmental interests could, at least partly and for a certain period, influence the outcome of the project, mainly thanks to a positive situative context and an adequate strategy. 328 See: Chapter 4.5.1 about the NEMP:
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The environmental law and the forestry law are the main expression of the political commitment
of the Cameroonian Government to an active environmental policy. The adoption of the
implementation decree for the forestry law one year and a half after the adoption of the forestry
law shows that the forestry issue is more important than the environmental issue, as the
implementation decree for the environmental law – in the form of an environmental code – has
still not been adopted, four years after the 1996 law was passed.
The way the forestry law and its implementation decree were passed is a good example for the
lack of will of the government and the strong will, with a strong capacity to impose it, of the
World Bank329.
But one should not underestimate the will of the Government to implement a strategy of
sustainable management and conservation of forests in the country. The President Paul Biya
headed on March 17, 1999 the Yaoundé Summit, that is the Conference of Central African
Heads of State on the Conservation and Sustainable Management of Tropical Forests, during
which the creation of a new cross-border forest protected area, the introduction of sustainable
forest management and of independent timber certification were discussed330. As part of
Yaoundé Declaration, the Government of Cameroon has committed itself to the followings: to
establish a new trans-border conservation initiative together with Gabon and Congo-Brazzaville;
to establish a Presidential Decree for a Trust Fund financed by the global community to
contribute to the long-term costs of the effective management of the national protected area
system; to adopt a national elephant management plan331; to launch a campaign to save the
Western Black Rhino, and most important, to work towards the establishment of regional
certification standards under the auspice of such an institution like the Forest Stewardship
Council. This last point is a very important issue for western countries, and is a mark of the will
and skill of the international environmental community to impose its point of view.
Nevertheless, there are other examples that could bring one to doubt about the real will of the
Government of Cameroon not only to implement its own provisions, but also to provide the right
measures to achieve the stated goal.
For example, one can doubt of the will of the Government to impose the log export ban: as a
matter of fact, the taxes collected on log export represented a value of FCFA 27,900 million in
1997/98, that is 95.5% of the taxes collected on total wood export (log and processed timber)332.
The timber export represented 34.7% of the taxes collected on exported products in 1997/98, that
329 See: section 5.2.2.2 about participative capacity. 330 WWF (1999). 331 Up until 1997, Cameroon had been authorized to export 160 tusks each year – a quota agreed upon by the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). But because of the lack of a national elephant management plan, this export quota was withdrawn. See WWF (1999).
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is FCFA 29,200 millions. Furthermore, the capacity to process the wood locally does not exist,
and the financial shortfalls in the taxes occasioned by the ban on log export would be too hard to
overcome. This appraisal of negative conditions for the implementation of a provision of the
1994 forestry law has been confirmed by the actual steps taken by the government in August
1999, not to apply the ban fully333.
Secondly, the budget allocated to the MINEF is very low: 1997/98, about FCFA 1.72 billion was
allocated to the MINEF, corresponding to 0.17% of the total allocated budget and to 0.41% of
budget spend to reimburse the external debt of the country. For comparison, the service of the
external debt amounted to FCFA 423 billion, representing 41.85% of the total spending (about
FCFA 1,011 billion334). This points out to a restricted financial commitment that can be the
consequence of the lack of will from the government but also a consequence of an external factor
like the heavy burden of the debt on the budget.
As a whole, there seems to be a great emphasis on the sustainable management of forests and on
conservation of biodiversity to the detriment of the other areas such as the protection of water or
the prevention of pollution.
The World Bank and the IMF, which are important players in the economy of Cameroon, and
which prone themselves to be environmental proponents, have foreseen following measures in
the environmental area as part of the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF) in
Cameroon335: promotion of the environmentally sustainable use of forest resources through the
definition of areas to be declared as community forests and through ensuring that the adjacent
communities get their revenues; allocation of cutting rights using a market mechanism; ensuring
the compliance with forest management plans and promotion of environmentally sustainable
forestry development and efficient processing industry. As for the protection of the biodiversity,
the plan intends to improve the coordination of the production and conservation activities
through the adoption of a national strategy for biodiversity management. As the SAPs are
binding, the implementation of their components will most certainly take place.
On the other hand, as the environmental tasks are spread out in different ministries, it is not easy
to assess what is done in the environmental field. Actually, there is another World Bank project
in the agricultural sector that supports the transfer of environmentally sustainable improved
332 MINEFI (1998), Contribution du Secteur Forestier à l’Economie Nationale (1992/3 – 1997/98), Commission d’Etude sur le Secteur Forestier, Septembre 1998, Yaoundé. P. 27. 333 [no name] (1999e), Arrêt de l’exportation des grumes: Un véritable poker menteur, in: Ecovox Nr. 20, Octobre / Décembre 1999, Bafoussam. Online: http://wagne.net/ecovox/eco20/actual3.htm. 334 République du Cameroun (1999e), Texte de la loi portant Loi de Finances de la République du Cameroon pour l’exercice 1999/2000, 1999, Yaoundé, publié en ligne par CAMNET. Online: http://www.camnet.cm/ingeni/finance.htm. Own calculations. 335 IMF (1998).
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farming techniques to sensible target groups such as the poor and women, and research
programs336.
But the will of the World Bank itself to respect its commitment regarding the environment is
being put into doubt through one of the most important project it is supporting in the region. This
concerns the Chad-Cameroon Petroleum Development and Pipeline Project. Oil would be
extracted from the Doba oil fields in southwestern Chad and transported through a 1070 km
buried pipeline through Cameroon to the coast near Kribi and an off-shore terminal facility
would be installed337.
This project is currently in the limelight of the national and international environmental
community, and has even been contested by the European Parliament338. Despite the carrying out
of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), there are, according to the environmental
organizations, flaws in the way potential environmental problems are to be handled. The main
claims are that the construction of the pipeline will damage the forests and farms, and that it will
produce a social upheaval. The lives of vulnerable peoples such as the pygmies will be disrupted,
and many farmers will lose their land, almost certainly receiving no proper compensation. And
when the pipeline is completed, highly polluting leaks might occur, which will be hard to
identify and repair, leading to the same catastrophe as in neighboring Nigeria339.
What is important here, is that local and international NGOs have been able to influence greatly
this project. The decision of the World Bank to support the project, which is actually decisive of
its whole implementation340, was originally supposed to be taken by the end of 1997. Up until
now, the decision has been put off. Under the pressure of the diverse NGOs, the initially chosen
route was changed several times. For example the APEMC could prove that the off-shore site
was very propice for the industrial and traditional fishery activities and that the depth (11 km) for
the off-shore terminal facility was not enough and could be a danger for the fauna, as the heavy
336 World Bank (1998b), Cameroon – Agricultural Research and Extension Program. Support Project, The InfoShop, The World Bank, May 29, 1998, Washington D.C. Online: http://www.worldbank.org/pics/pid/cm45348.txt. 337 World Bank (1999b), The Chad-Cameroon Petroleum Development and Pipeline Project, The World Bank, 1999, Washington D.C. Online: http://www.worldbank.org/afr/ccproj/project.htm. The construction period would take four to five years, and oil from some 300 wells were to begin to be exported in the year 2004. Cameroon would benefit from oil revenues over a 25-year production period, in amounts totaling about US$500 million in transit fees, dividends and taxes, assuming the reserves amount to 904 million barrels and the World Bank projected a price for Brent crude of US$ 17/barrel. Two joint-venture pipeline companies, one of which for the portion located in Cameroon, COTCO, will own and operate the export system. The Government of Cameroon will hold a minority interest in COTCO. The World Bank is to provide a US$ 35 million loan to Cameroon to finance its share in COTCO. There is actually a confusion, even in the World Bank documents, regarding the amount the World Bank will contribute for the financing of the share of Cameroon: some sources say US$ 70 million, for a total amount of US$ 115 million that is to finance both shares. 338 [no name] (2000c), Pétrole Tchad-Cameroun : L’Europe est contre, in: Le Messager, Vendredi 28 Janvier 2000, Douala. Publié en ligne par Wagne : http://wagne.net/messager/messager/forum/forum53b.htm. 339 Ateh, Nde Patrice (1998), Pipeline presents a development poser, in: The Courier ACP-EU No. 171, September – October 1998, Bruxelles. Online: http://europa.eu.int/comm/development/publicat/courier/courier171/en/08_en.pdf. 340 In this project, the World Bank participation is regarded as the center pieced of the risk reduction strategy of the oil consortium in a politically volatile part of Africa and as necessary to attract funding from export-credit agencies and commercial banks. According to Korinna Horta from one of the most virulent anti-World Bank NGO, the Environmental Defense Funds, “what we have here is a financial structure where private sector risk is comfortably cushioned by public funds intended to help the poor in a politically unstable area of Sub-Saharan Africa.” Horta, Korinna (1997), Questions concerning the World Bank and Chad/Cameroon Oil and Pipeline Project. Makings of a New Ogoniland? Corporate welfare disguised as aid to the poor?, Environmental Defense Fund, New York, March 1997. Online: http://www.edf.org/pubs/Reports/c_chadcam.html.
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oil with a high concentration in carbon dioxide might spill out. This lead the Australian institute
Dames and Moore, which had carried out the Environmental Impact Assessment for the
COTCO, to propose to move the terminal to 15 km depth and nearby the international zone with
weaker streams341.
The situation even escalated in November 1999, when Elf and Shell announced that they would
retreat from the project, as it had been postponed several times and the international pressure was
great. They withdrew their decision in December 1999342. This move seemed aimed at putting
pressure on the decision-makers, as the World Bank committed itself to support the project in
December 1999, with the approving of the Cameroon Petroleum Environment Capacity
Enhancement Project for Cameroon after a visit from the World Bank managing Director,
Shengman Zhang on a fact finding mission. But the decision is not yet definitive, and the
international community is still exercising pressure, as for example the European Parliament
voted a resolution on January 20, 2000, asking for the suspension of credits regarding the
oleoduc project as long as the social and environmental requirements had not been guaranteed343.
In this case, the non-governmental organizations were strong and skillful enough, to delay the
realization of a project carried by powerful economic actors. The World Bank had to comply
with its own rules and make an environmental assessment, but it was very reluctant to do it right
and only international pressure made it delay the project.
5.3.1.2 The strategy, will and skill of environmental opponents
Potential environmental proponents are to be found only in the economic sector, as there is not
any known organized anti-environmental movement. The industrial sector is highly dominated
by a few companies and has therefore a monopolistic structure and a high-power position: The
agricultural sector has a more diversified structure, with a few cultures dominated by a some
companies, like the rubber industry, which is dominated by HEVECAM.
In this domain, no strategy or will could be found that showed a will to counter the
environmental protection. The main explanation lays in the fact that there is no efficient structure
to impose and control environmental standards, and companies like the cement company
CIMENCAM can go on polluting the see around Limbe without fearing – as for now – any
consequences.
341 [no name] (1999c), Pipeline Tchad-Cameroon: De nouveaux obstacles sur le chemin du pipeline, in: Jeune Afrique Economique, 31 Mai – 13 Juin 1999, Paris, publié en ligne par Wagne. Online : http://www.wagne.net/devdur/ecologie/enviro/pipeline/ppl003.htm. 342 Messouane Medjué, Georges (1999), Pipeline: Elf et Shell reviennent dans le projet, in: Le jeune détective N° 056 du 16 décembre 1999, publié en ligne par Wagne, Yaoundé. Online: http://www.wagne.net/devdur/dossier/dosfrt01.htm. 343 [no name] (2000c), Pétrole Tchad-Cameroun : L’Europe est contre, in : Le Messager, Vendredi 28 Janvier 2000, Douala. Publié en ligne par Wagne : http://wagne.net/messager/messager/forum/forum53b.htm.
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Nevertheless, one can find at least one organized, powerful environmental opponent: the timber
industry. As we have already seen, this sector is one of the most advanced sector regarding the
devising of norms for the sustainable management.
Up to now, no environmental assessment prior to the allocation of new forestry concessions has
been carried out344. The forest concessionaires are very unwilling to pay the fixed tax on their
concession. The revenues of this tax go partly to the municipalities (40 percent) and to the
neighboring communities (10 percent). As this tax is calculated only on the whole area of the
concession and does not take the density of other elements into account, it is felt by the
concessionaires as too heavy a tax for them to pay345.
The forest lobby is very strong, as it succeeded in postponing the export-ban on logs: originally
and according to the 1994 Forestry Law, there was to be a ban on log-export from the 1st of
January 1999 onwards. In September 1998, the Minister of Forests, Sylvestre Naah Ondoua,
reinstated his will to apply the law. But he released the first circular346 in January 1999, granting
a time limit of six months to the concessionaires: they were allowed to export logs until June 30,
1999. The reason given was that the 60 industrial units had not a sufficient processing capacity.
It is true that the law had foreseen incentives for the promotion of wood-processing industries,
but the environmental organizations feel that no much efforts have been made in this direction.
Then on June 18, 1999, the circular n° 178 was issued allowing the continuing log export of
certain species: the species that were to be promoted and two “special” essences. These two
“special” essences happen to be the Ayous and the Sapelli, and the Azobe is among the essences
that are to be promoted. Herewith 60% of the exported log production is covered. The
commission that is to decide how much “special” essence a concessionaire may export in log-
form is constituted of forestry agents and concessionaires, so that the concessionaires more or
less decide themselves of the quotas they may export.
There are furthermore irregularities in the log-export business: concessionaires are accused of
exporting precious wood under false name or declare them as coming from Congo or Central
Africa. Ecovox concludes that the ban on log-export is not likely to happen soon, and that the
sustainable forest management is an illusion347.
344 World Bank (1999g). 345 MINEFI (1998), p. 35. 346 Circulaire n° 60 du 18 Janvier 1999. 347 Njog, Nathanaël (1999), Arrêt de l’exportation des grumes: Le combat n’a pas commencé, in: Ecovox Nr. 19, Juillet/Septembre 1999, Bafoussam. Online: http://wagne.net/ecovox/eco19/actual3.htm.
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Last, a presidential ordinance was issued on August 31, 1999, that authorized the log export for
five years, supposedly to promote the less known wood-species and to increase the profitability
of the forestry sector348.
These decisions are not only the expression of the will of the government to go on with the
profitable log-export activities, but also the result of the pressures exercised by the logging
companies.
These companies are very present in the governmental institutions and, as previously mentioned,
the widespread tradition of bribery helps them getting away with their infractions. In the same
way, the practice of renting a concession to a foreign timber company is still widespread. So that
the main strategy of the concessionaires lays in bribery.
It is an open secret that France dominates, among others, the timber industry in Cameroon. 1994,
it controlled 71 percent of this branch349. And France has a very bad reputation regarding the
exploitation of forests. It is being accused of colluding with the government to get more
favorable conditions in the logging of forests. For example, 1996, France has been accused of
offering the Government of Cameroon to cut its FF 6 billion French debt by 50 percent to get
special rights in the logging of forests: it was accused of conducting a “debt-for-destruction-of-
nature swap”, instead of the usual “debt-for-nature swap” strategy350.
Even if these allegations were false, it is a fact that France has a great leverage and can very
much influence on politics in Cameroon, defending its interests, to the detriment of the
environment if necessary. A last example regarding the Chad-Cameroon pipeline project seems
to confirm this thesis: According to Mr. Le Folch-Prigent, former head of Elf now accused of
corruption, his role in preparation for the Chad/Cameroon oil pipeline was to “convince the
Americans discreetly that the pipeline had to traverse the Francophone part of Cameroon.” 351
The Francophone part of Cameroon is where the country’s President and his allies are in control,
while the Anglophone part of Cameroon is an opposition stronghold. Incidentally, Cameroon’s
own oil is exported from the Anglophone area and it would appear to have been ecologically
preferable to make use of the same area instead of exposing a new pristine Atlantic coast area to
oil pollution.
But more that the political considerations of the Cameroonian Government may be at stake.
According to the French publication “La Lettre du Continent”, the French military sees this
pipeline route and the road that goes along it as providing easy access to southern Chad in case
348 [no name] (1999e), Arrêt de l’exportation des grumes: Un véritable poker menteur, in: Ecovox Nr. 20, Octobre / Décembre 1999, Bafoussam. Online: http://wagne.net/ecovox/eco20/actual3.htm. 349 Pfaff, Renate and Ulrich (1996). 350 Ibid. 351 Horta, Korinna (1997).
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of crisis. Had the route gone through the Anglophone area to the port of Limbe, along the
Nigeria border, French military movements would have been more difficult352.
These two examples show how powerful a few environmental opponents can be and how
intricate the problem is, as we will see in the chapter about the structure of the problem353.
5.3.2 The situative opportunity The situative context refers to “the short-term variable condition of action”354. The impetus for
environmental action can for example come from a public campaign, a favorable international
context, pressure from bilateral agencies, a natural catastrophe or the possibility of combining
environmental and economic interests (“win-win solution”).
As we have already seen, it was mainly the favorable international context that put the
environmental issue on the Cameroonian agenda355. As the environmental issue has been
integrated in the international program, and as the international actors play an important role
within Cameroon, this is bound to act as a favorable context for the integration of environmental
issues.
The whole concept of environmental protection and valorizing of resources is based on a win-
win constellation: if one integrate environmental-friendly practices into improved agricultural
methods, for example, then not only the nature will be better protected, but the production will
also be enhanced. This is also the logic behind the concept of sustainable management of the
forest: if the forest are managed sustainably, then they will produce for a longer period and at a
better quality.
The international campaign for tropical forest protection, that led some countries of the north to
prohibit or restrict the import of tropical wood acted as an impetus, together with the
conditionalities of the Bretton Wood Institutions, to devise the forestry policy and keeps on
putting pressure on the Government of Cameroon for it to implement it. This is also relevant for
the protected species like the black rhino and the African elephant, for which several campaigns
from international NGOs are running.
This positive situative context could be used for example by the local NGOs to delay the Chad-
Cameroon pipeline project356.
Since, according to Jänicke357, in time of recession, environmental policy and management act
under restrictive conditions, one can consider that this is the case for Cameroon. Even if the
352 Ibid. 353 See chapter 5.4. 354 Jänicke, Martin (1995), The Political System’s Capacity for Environmental Policy, Forschungsstelle für Umweltpolitik, Freie Universität Berlin, FFU-report 95-6, 1995, Berlin. P. 8. 355 See chapter 4.1.2 on agenda setting. 356 See chapter 5.3.1.1 on strategy, skill and will of environmental proponents. 357 Jänicke, Martin (1995), p. 8.
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macro-economic indicators are positive, the state budget is limited by the heavy debt servicing
and the widespread poverty, which is the core of the environmentally damaging survival
strategies, and this hinders the proper implementation of the environmental policy.
After this analysis, one can say that the main environmental proponents, the government and the
international organizations, might have to a certain extent the will to implement an
environmental strategy. At least, they had the will and used the right strategy to devise the
environmental policy and plan. The international context played an important role.
But the implementation might get hindered by the bad economic situation and the pressure of
powerful economic, political and external interests. Such a situative context turns environmental
proponents into environmental opponents. It seems therefore that the will to implement the
environmental strategy is only there as long as other interests are not hindered.
On the positive side, it is worth mentioning that environmental associations are developing their
capacities and are using the international context adequately, through public campaigns and
lobbying, to promote the implementation of governmental commitments. Even if their success is
limited, their growing number and capacity may prove useful in the future environmental policy
implementation.
5.4 Structure of the problem According to Jänicke358, The capacities and successes in the environmental field can be only
analyzed against the background of the structure of the problem, that is the socio-scientific
dimension of the environmental problem.
The light possibility to politicize an environmental problem, depending on its urgency, is a
positive factor. But this relates to the power structure of the society, depending on whether or not
the polluters are powerful in terms of number, economic and social importance and closeness to
the state apparatus. On the other hand, the great power of the polluters can be offset by the
availability of technical solutions that are also economically viable: the existence of win-win
solutions can bring powerful polluters to adopt an environment-friendly attitude. The balance
will be positively or negatively influenced, depending on the number of winners or losers caused
by the adoption of environmental measures359.
5.4.1 Politicization Some of the environmental problems in Cameroon are easy to be aware of: the deforestation, the
soil degradation, the waste problem in the urban area or the loss of diversity. As the land is very
358 Jänicke, Martin, Philip Kunig, Michael Stitzel (1999), pp. 81. 359 Ibid.
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dependant on its resources, such problems have direct impacts on the economy and the social
life. As we have already seen, the environmental degradation were one of the reason why the
Government initiated the environmental policy360.
What is less evident in the perception, is the knowledge about who is responsible for the
environmental damages. Timber companies are pointed out to, as being responsible for the
deforestation and the loss of biodiversity in the primary forests, whereas, as we have seen,
expanding agriculture is the main responsible for the deforestation and degradation, and growing
poaching contributes to the loss of biodiversity. Regarding the waste problematic, the ineffective
municipal administration is designed, which itself points to the central state.
Only concrete pollution problems around industrial sites can be attributed to the right polluter.
But these are not yet very important (although this is a growing problem), so that we are mostly
dealing with hard-to-solve environmental problems: The environmental problem awareness
exists, but its politicization is hindered by the diffuse and broad constellation of the groups
responsible for these problems.
The growing poverty, as it is at the core of the environmental problem, is one more factor that
hinders the politicization of the environmental problems: how can one explain to a jobless urban
inhabitant that he should not hunt game species in the forest because it threatens the biodiversity,
or that he should not gather firewood because it causes deforestation? Or how can you explain a
family mother that she should use the expensive and hard-to-get electricity instead of cheap and
easy-to-get firewood? You can not keep a urban family from growing subsistence crop in the
plot behind her house on the pretense that this erodes the soil, without proposing her an
alternative solution to get food.
As a result, the tight link between poverty and environmental degradation makes it difficult for
the environmental problems to be adequately politicized.
5.4.2 Power structure As we have just seen, the polluters or groups responsible for the environmental degradation are
quite numerous and diffuse.
The sectors concerned with environmental degradation are agriculture, forestry, and industry.
The agricultural sector is dominated by a family structure with a few exception for export crops
like cocoa. Crops are sold to state-owned, now partly privatized marketing boards, which fix the
prices and provide the farmers with technical advice and input like fertilizers. The agriculture
made up 1998 42.4 percent of the GDP361. 1987, 71.1 percent of the active population was
360 See chapter 4.1.2 about agenda setting. 361 See chapter 5.2.3.1 about the economic performances.
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engaged in agro-sylvo-pastoral activities362. The state is heavily involved in the agriculture
through law, regulations and program.
Therefore, the high importance of the agricultural sector for the economy and the employment
makes it a powerful sector to handle with.
The timber industry is dominated by powerful foreign companies with political leverage.
1994/95, the export of timber constituted 20% in value of the total export, placing the timber
export at the second position of the exports. The state is heavily involved, as it is quasi the solely
owner of the forests and attributes the concessions. It is very interested financially in this sector
through the taxes it collects. As we have already seen, the forestry sector can easily impose its
view, and the government does not oppose a great resistance.
Concerning the industry sector, it is a highly monopolistic sector, which is currently being
privatized, but which still has close links with the state apparatus. There is little information
about the exact form these newly privatized industrial firms have taken and the composition of
their capital, therefore it is not possible to make a judgement on their power structure and their
influence on the government363.
On a whole, one can say that the sectors mainly responsible for the pollution in Cameroon are
quite powerful economically, socially and politically. The state is an active actor in these fields,
and at the same time, it is the one which should impose environment friendly practices. The
imposition of these practices will depend on their availability and their potential positive effect.
5.4.3 Options In the case of Cameroon, it is true that the industries contribute to the environmental pollution.
There is not much indication about the availability of technical solutions, except that western
technologies are imported that are not really adapted to the Cameroonian environment364. On the
other hand, the industrial sector is not yet the main polluter.
Regarding the agricultural and forestry sectors, the solution to the environmental problems is not
only technical. Regarding the agriculture, a model of sustainable management has been
developed that englobes diverse areas such as education, training, research, planning,
diversification of culture, participation of the population, and so on. For the forestry sector, the
sustainable management of the concession consists of a detailed, long-term process.
Both are supposed to be win-win solutions: if the target groups follow these plans, then they will
be able to have greater crops for a longer period. And if the concessionaires follow the
362 MINEF (1996), vol. II,1, p. 5. No recent data could be found regarding this parameter. 363 One can doubt the will of the industrial companies to comply with the existing environmental legislation, as Fombad said that before they were privatized, „para-public corporations, like the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC), the National Refinery Corporation (SONARA) and the Cameroon Aluminium Company (ALUCAM) [...] have exploited the weaknesses of the legal and regulatory framework and used their semi-official status to get away with extensive environmental damage.“ Fombad, Charles Manga (1997), p. 496.
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management plan, then they will also be able to harvest more timber for a longer period of time.
But the fact that they have to be applied on a long-term basis and their complexity diminish their
attraction as possible options.
Regarding other problems, like the hunting, transportation or collection and treatment of waste,
there is no indication for available technical solutions.
So that one can conclude that the environmental problem structure in Cameroon is quite
complex: its politicization is possible, but quite complex and can derive in subjective
accusations. The environmental problems are closely integrated in the economic structure of
Cameroon, with a lot of actors and some powerful opponents having great stake in it. And the
available solutions are very complex and their positive effect can not be seen at once. The whole
structure is rendered even more complex by the growing poverty, the international interlocking
of the Cameroonian economy and the servicing of the debt.
6 Findings, conclusion and recommendations The purpose of this work was to analyze the environmental policy in Cameroon with the help of
the policy analysis instruments and to find out why the first results of the implementation were
not satisfying.
A short analysis of the environmental policy in Cameroon before 1992 has been made, in order
to show the differences with the policy after 1992.
Then the policy was presented through the description of the strategy, legislation, institutions and
planning. In the presence of a comprehensive policy, the Jänicke’s analysis modell of the
conditions for a successful environmental policy was then used to analyze whether or not
Cameroon had the capacities for the implementation of its environmental policy.
This capacity analysis rated on the whole pretty low, although some promising capacities are
available, like the one of the environmental organizations.
One can say that three factors interact regarding the implementation of the environmental policy
in Cameroon: the international community plays a great role in general and particularly
regarding the environmental policy. This is set against a weak capacity of the political structures
in Cameroon and an economic and social turmoil at the societal level.
The role of the international community in the environmental policy process has been underlined
several times: the vertical diffusion pattern, even the forced one, prevailed at the stage of agenda
setting of the environmental policy. Then the environmental institutions, policy and plans were
introduced on pressure from the international donor’s community.
364 See chapter 5.2.3.3 about the technological standards.
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The same donors are expected to contribute to more than 70% of the financing of the
implementation of the NEMP. This is the “positive” side of the international influence.
But the international community, or more exactely the financial institutions and some economic
private interests with powerful political backup, have other interests, that are all the same
imposed on the Government of Cameroon.
The IMF and the World Bank have imposed an austerity program of reduction of public
expenditure, privatization, liberalization, reduction of the imports and increase in the exports.
The Government must abide by these conditionalities, and most of all, it must keep on
reimbursing the debt if it wants to benefit from the IDA credits. All these measures had negative
impacts in the society and on the environment.
France, the former colonial power and the main bilateral donor, has great political and economic
interests in Cameroon. Specifically in the timber industry, the French companies are dominating
and they utilize their leverage to impose their will. The case with the pipeline even shows that
beyond the economic interests, geopolitical interests (of France) are at stake.
This dominance of the international community in the internal affairs of Cameroon is set against
a weak political system. This political system is not only weak towards the international
community, on which it depends, but also internally. The political-institutional framework of
actions is weak and the strategy, will and skill of the governmental proponents are also weak.
The government has a weak law enforcement capacity and the capacity to formulate adequate
policies is low, because of the lack of studies and information that might enlighten decisions on
different constraints and the balance of power in the field, as well as on stakeholders’ opinion.
The political elite is turned towards the international donors to receive credits and help. Francois
Ekoko speaks of a politics of allegiance, that is “the reliance on powerful internal and external
allies rather than redistribution of wealth to achieve large domestic support and political
stability”365. The political elite has therefore to please the diverse interests of the international
actors, and then to get as much as it can for itself.
Such a behavior is due to a lack of democratization and to the superposition of an external, non-
adapted to the Cameroonian context, imported political model. The best illustration for this
theory is the fact that a parallell power in the form of chiefdoms still exists and is quite powerful
in the daily life of the people.
Nevertheless, the government is strong enough to carry out the demands set upon it by the
international community. It carried out the SAP measures, it abided by the conditionalities
365 Ekoko, Francois (1995), The political economy of the 1994 Cameroon forestry law.
89
regarding the introduction of environmental institutions and the devising of environmental and
forestry strategies and plans.
This leads us to the third factor, that is the economic and social turmoil. The economic crisis
started 1986/1987 as the commodity prices, especially the crude oil prices, fell down. As the
economy mainly relied on these resources, this undercored the structural weakness of the
economy. Then the Structural Adjustment Program was introduced. The reduction of public
expenditure, especially in education and health, the devaluation of the FCFA, the reduction of
the staffing of the public services led to a surge in the poverty rate.
And the poverty has been assessed as being at the same time the cause and the consequence of
environmental degradation in Cameroon. The continuing reduction of public expenditures and
the burden imposed by the servicing of the debt are not propice for the reduction of the poverty.
To go back to the environmental policy, one can only say that its implementation will mainly
depend on the good will of the international community. Its success, on the other hand, will
depend on the improvement of all the framework condtions and on the capacities of the
environmental proponents. The complexity of the problem structure makes it even more
complicated.
Regarding Jänicke’s explanation modell for successful environmental policy, one can say that
the all the variable are relevant and can also be used in the Cameroonian context.
But it was necessary to add certain elements. Jänicke’s modell has been devised for OECD
countries with developed, sovereign political and economic systems. Therefore it mainly
analyses internal factors, and the external factors are not considered important, except for
example in case of an international agenda at the agenda-setting stage. We have seen that
regarding Cameroon, without the international actors, not only the environmental issue would
not have been put on the political agenda, but its development and implementation would not
have occurred.
Second, the issue of poverty is greatly relevant for a developing country like Cameroon, and this
has not been taken into account in Jänicke’s modell.
Therefore, if one is to use this modell on a developing countries, the issues of poverty and
international interlocking have to be added366. The more a country is dependent on external
actors, the more its policies – whatever they are – will depend on the good will of these
international actors. And the higher the poverty is, the more complex the structure of the problem
is.
366 Claudia Karpp has come to the same conclusion in her analysis of the environmental policy of Ghana. In: Karpp, Claudia (1999), Environmental Policy Analysis of Ghana, unpublished M.A.-Thesis, Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Lüneburg, October 1999, Lüneburg.
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Now what can be done, so that the environmental policy can be implemented in Cameroon?
As long the international community – that is the bilateral, international and multilateral
institutions, but also the private foreign companies who benefit from the help of their
government – plays a great role in the Cameroonian economy, it has to keep on proning the
implementation of the environmental policy. It has to respect the environmental norms in its
programms and it has to sponsor environmental programms within Cameroon. This is the first
recommendation.
The second recommendation is that the diverse capacities need to be strengthened. If the
governmental institutions are to play mainly a legislative, controlling and monitoring role, then
they have to be given the capacities to do it. This goes from the training of the staff, over the
employment of enough task force, to the material equiping of the executing agencies. This is a
short-term step.
On the long run however, there will be a need to improve the overall framework conditions.This
concerns the enhancement of the governance capacity, so that the implementation of the
environmental policy in particular, and of any policy in general, will not depend on the good will
of external actors anymore. This good governance program at the central level should be
accompanied by the empowerment and sensitization of key players (chiefs, mayors,
organizations and other groupings) at the lower levels: a delegation of power regarding the
formulation and implementation of the environmental policy should be seen as a positive factor
by the central government.
This should not be viewed as a disempowerment of the central government but rather as a sound
strategy to achieve successes in a policy field. This would shift the prestige focus of the political
elite from the search for more prerogatives to the search for successes.
The improvement of the governance record must be accompanied by the improvement of the
socio-economic framework conditions. Koutassila367 recommends in this area first that the debt
be annuled, and second that the staple commodity prices be stabilized. Both measures are hot
topics on the international scene. What speaks for the debt annulment, is that the developing
countries are faced with a lasting indebtness crisis and not just a short-term, cash-flow problem.
As long as they service the debt, any internal investment and therefore improvement of the
internal situation will be compromised. What speaks against the debt annulment is, beside the
reluctance of the creditors, the fact that one does not know if the available money will not be
misused. The solution could be a partial annulment, so as to see if the available money is rightly
367 Koutassila, Jean-Philippe (2000), Le développement humain durable en Afrique: réalité ou espérance illusoire?, in: Marchés Tropicaux N° 2830, 4 Février 2000, Paris. Pp. 174-177.
91
used. The debt-for-nature swap shall, in my opinion, be avoided, as it disempowers the national
government by imposing more conditionalities on it from the exterior.
The stabilization of the staple commodity prices is a direct intervention in the sacro-sanct
international economic order proned by the World Trade Organization. On the other hand, this
would greaty contribute to the stop in the deforestation for agriculture use, as it would allow the
farmers to plan their crops on the long run and to invest in environment-friendly techniques.
As a conclusion, one can say that the existence of an environmental strategy in Cameroon is a
very positive point, and that the integrative approach in the formulation of the NEMP allowed
for the integration of the environmental issue in other policy fields, at least at the formulation
stage.
Given the negative framework-conditions and the weakness of the internal proponents, the
success of the environmental policy in Cameroon will depend on the sustained interest and
commitment of the international community for this topic and the capacity building of the
different internal actors, especially the governmental actors and the non-governmental
organizations.
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