Timber exploiters, villagers, councillors, chiefs, civil society organisations and government officials in Nguti Sub-Division reached a consensus recently to boost collaboration amongst themselves in order to mutually and sustainably benefit from forest exploitation. The consensus was brokered at workshop that held at the Nguti Council Hall, June 22, 2015, organised by Nature Cameroon and supported by fern (making the EU World for Peoples & Forests). The workshop organised under the theme: “Improving Capacities of Local Communities and Institutions to Take Up Increased Responsibilities in Natural Resources Management through Improved Governance in the Forest Sector” was also an opportunity for the EU to evaluate the performance of VPA/FLEGT in Cameroon. In addition, it provided a platform to improve the capacities of local communities and institutions to engage them more profoundly in natural resources management through improved governance in the forest sector.
By Azore Opio
“It is important to start dialogue and communication concerning Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in partnership with the Nguti Council,” said Nbevtev Herve from the Department of Monitoring and Certification of WIJMA/CAFECO.
WIJMA/CAFECO is a logging company which exploits timber in Manyu Division and only transforms same in Nguti.
Speaking on behalf of UNI PROVENCE, another logging company exploiting timber in Nguti, whose operations apparently irk the villagers of Babensi II, Administrative Officer, Carine Ajua, said any communities with complaints should approach their office.
“We are open to dialogue,” Ajua said.
Meanwhile, the Nguti Council Secretary General affirmed that royalties from forest exploitation would be channelled to drive development initiatives in the villages.
In their Power Point presentations, the facilitators of the workshop dwelt variously on issues of VPA (Voluntary Participatory Agreement) benefits to communities, role of local communities in FLEGT, good governance in the forest sector, and relations between forest exploiters and village communities.
“Implementing VPA/FLEGT principles will assure that only legal timber and its derivatives emanating from your communities would be supplied in the EU market,” said Dominic Ngwesse, Nature Cameroon CEO.
He said the promotion of wood with FLEGT authorization into European markets is a guarantee that local communities and the State of Cameroon would benefit greatly from forest revenues.
In addition, illegal logging would be curbed considerably, thereby encouraging the sustainable exploitation of forests.
The events that logging, legal or not, set in motion are almost always destructive. UNI-PROVINCE and Nambois exploiting timber in Nguti, have left the communities somewhat worried and uncertain.
Nambois is said to have defaulted on its promises to the community like repairing roads. “Although the company paid its royalties, it has abandoned timber in the forest,” Chief….told The Green Vision.
As for UNI-PROVINCE which is exploiting timber in the Talangaye village, the company was blamed for exploiting timber without the consent of the villagers.
“Timbers not used by the company are not accounted for and we not benefiting from them,” said Ayuk Jacob, a noble and representative of the Chief of Talangaye.
In Babensi II, a neighbouring village to Talangaye, UNI-PROVINCE was accused of destroying farms in the course of extracting logs.
“Our crops have been damaged but we have never received any compensation since the damages were never assessed by the authorities. So we lost the crops and our forest for nothing,” Ebong Adolf, a villager from Babensi II, said in an interview with The Green Vision.
From Mundemba in Ndian Division, Namulongo Peter, retired civil servant, complained that logging companies usually ignore communities in discussions.
“Timber companies do not discuss with villagers. Once they have conferred with the higher authorities, they descend to the communities to impose their decisions, and when we complain, government sends in troops to intimidate and arrest us,” said Namulongo.
It is in view of these worries along with lack of awareness, lapses in communication and the fact that some government officials flout the laws, that Stella Asaha lectured on the role of local communities in FLEGT, reassuring participants that all stakeholders in forest exploitation are beneficiaries.
“You villagers should take initiatives to protect the environment to ensure continuity of values and services derived from the environment,” said Asaha, “all stakeholders should be involved in the management of resources; everyone – chiefs, women, youths, vigilante groups, CIGs, logging companies, conservation NGOs, government… all should be at the table of decision making on resources management.”
For his part, Harrison Nnoko reeled out the advantages of transparency in the timber sector to include: fortifying land tenure and access rights, especially for marginalized rural communities and indigenous peoples.
“Transparency gives the communities and other stakeholders more opportunities to effectively participate in policy
making and implementation. It also increases transparency at all stages of timber extraction, processing and trading including independent monitoring, while reducing corruption in the sector,” Nnoko said.
As a way forward, the participants suggested that some compensation, insurance, and uniforms should be availed to forest management committees (VFMCs) to facilitate their work. They said they would need a lot of help and guidance in denouncing illicit acts in the timber sector.
“Civil society organizations should give us information so that we can easily monitor problematic companies that
cheat us and the state,” the villagers concurred.
They also recommended that companies should respect management agreements between and the communities to give priority of employment to indigenous community members. Last, but not the least, they agreed that the opinions of women in resources management should be respected at all times.
