Since 2003, Cerutti has been gathering a wide range of data related to the timber industry.

‘After a while, I realised that it would make sense for me to combine my data with the data that the government was gathering and analyse them together,’ he recalls.

Cerutti sifted through data on timber production, trade, forestry taxes, the redistribution of forestry taxes to local communities and much more. It wasn’t long before he discovered there was a serious flaw in Decree 0222/A/MINEF, which was designed to encourage sustainable forest management, and he was able to quantify its impact on timber production.

Decree 0222 governs the preparation of management plans. Logging companies must select timber species to which precautionary harvesting techniques will be applied, and these must account for 75 per cent or more of the total volume in the inventory for each concession. However, there is a loophole in the law: the companies are not obliged to select the actual species they intend to harvest. CIFOR’s research revealed that in 2006 almost a quarter of the total production in the concessions studied was made up of valuable species that were not listed for sustainable harvesting in the management plans. In the worst cases, for Assamela and Moabi, all the timber was harvested as if no management rules applied. See www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol13/iss2/art36.

CIFOR’s analysis was shared with the Ministry of Forests and Wildlife (MINFOF), as well as with a broad range of development agencies and local non-governmental organisations. The director of forests of MINFOF invited CIFOR to present its findings to Ministry staff, and he highlighted the importance of CIFOR’s research at meetings of the Cercle de Concertations des Partenaires du MINFOF. The Ministry put the drafting of a revised decree high on its 2008 and 2009 annual work plans, and established a working group to do this, in consultation with the logging companies, CIFOR and other interested parties.

Had he not established good working relations with people within MINFOF, Cerutti would never have had the chance to collect data and discuss his findings with Ministry staff as often as he did.

‘In Cameroon,’ he says. ‘CIFOR has shown that we’re here to conduct long-term research, and I think we are trusted to provide an objective, non-partisan analysis of what’s happening in the forestry industry.’

Besides providing a detailed critique of Decree 0222, CIFOR has also examined the way in which forestry taxes are distributed to local communities living in or adjacent to logging concessions. Companies holding logging concessions pay an average of 2500 CFA (US $5) per hectare per year in taxes. Half of this goes to central government, and the other half is allocated to rural councils and local communities. The idea is that councils and villages who receive an annual forestry fee (Redevance Forestière Annuelle, RFA) will use it to promote economic development and alleviate poverty.

In 2006, the World Resources Institute (WRI) invited CIFOR to analyse the distribution of the RFA in four selected councils. The results were released in 2008. The study found that despite the large sums involved, the revenues have done little to improve local livelihoods and public services. CIFOR and WRI put forward a series of recommendations designed to make the system more transparent, accountable and democratic, so that taxes benefit the people who are supposed to benefit, rather than the rural elite, as they frequently do at present.

According to Cerutti, it is too early to judge the impact of this study, or a similar study commissioned by the World Bank also involving CIFOR scientists. However, the distribution of the RFA is now firmly on the political agenda. Using CIFOR’s analysis, the Cameroon branch of the Network for Environment and Sustainable Development (NESDA) has begun campaigning for reforms of the decree regulating the distribution of forestry taxes. NESDA has sensitised government officials and members of parliament to the problem, initiated a dialogue with local councils, development agencies and NGOs, and it is currently collaborating with other civil society organisations to develop a road map for the design of a forest revenue monitoring and tracking scheme.

‘This is a good example of the landslide effect some pieces of research can have,’ says Cerutti.

Besides influencing government policy, Cerutti believes it is also important to work with others involved in the logging industry. For instance, CIFOR maintains regular exchanges about its research with logging companies, as well as certifying bodies.

‘CIFOR’s publication provides all concerned parties, and notably logging companies, with a reference tool that clarifies the challenges of some requirements of forest certification’, says Caroline Duhesme, the Africa Forestry-Wood Department Manager at Bureau Veritas Certification, a certifying body. In the meantime, CIFOR will continue to work closely with the government to help reform its forestry laws so that they encourage better management and a fairer distribution of tax revenues.

1, 2, 3 Logging and sawmill activities in Cameroon.
Photos by Marieke Sandker