Other indicators for legal timber trade of Cameroon

Corruption Perception Index

/100

A country's score indicates the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).
Source: Transparency International

Bans & quota

There is an export ban in place for exports of logs of the following species:

Acajou (Khayaanthotheca)
Afrormosia (Pericopsis elata)
Aningré (Aningeria altissima)
Bété (Mansonia altissima)
Bossé (Guarea cedrata)
Bubinga (Guibourtia tessmannii; Guibourtia demeusei)
Dibétou (Lovoa trichiliodes)
Douka (Tieghemella heckelii; Tieghemella africana)
Fromager (Ceiba pentandra)
Ilomba (Pycnanthus angolensis)
Iroko (Milicia excelsa)
Longhi (Gambeya spp.)
Moabi (Baillonella toxiperma)
Movingui (Distemonanthus benthamianus)
Ovangkol (Guibourtia ehie)
Padouk (Pterocarpus soyauxii)
Pao rosa (Bobgunnia fistuloides)
Red Doussié (Afzelia bipidensis)
Sapelli (Entandrophragma cylindricum)
Sipo (Entandrophragma utile)
Wengué (Millettia laurentii)
White Doussié (Afzelia pachyloba)
Zingana (Microberlinia bisulcata)

The export of Ayous, Azobé and Framiré logs is subject to the obtaining of quotas, which are auctioned off by the Minister in charge of forests.

CITES and protected species

There are two tree species listed on CITES Appendix II from Cameroon:

Afrormosia (Pericopsiselata), with a quota of 7 500 m3 of sawn wood in 2019.
Red stinkwood (Prunus africana); with a quota of 455 000 kg of dry bark for 2019.

The exploitation of Bubinga (Guibourtiatessmannii; Guibourtiademeusei) and Wengue (Millettialaurentii) has been suspended on the whole extent of the national domain since 2012, until these species are listed on the CITES appendices. 3 species of Guibourtia (tessmanii, pellegriniana and demeusei) are now listed in Appendix 2 of the CITES, but Cameroon still hasn't lifted its harvesting ban.

National action on timber legality

Cameroon signed a FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreement (FLEGT VPA) with the European Union in May 2010. The aims of the VPA are to strengthen forest governance, promote Cameroon's timber products and improve Cameroon's competitiveness in the international marketplace. The VPA also encourages investment in sustainable forest management and strengthens the capacity of forest stakeholders. Cameroon is currently developing the systems needed to control, verify and license legal timber, which include the development of a SIGIF II database (Système Informatique de Gestion des Informations Forestières, or Digitalised Forest Management Information System) which will be used to ensure timber traceability.

Third party certification

Forest certification progressed rapidly in Cameroon until 2016, with nearly 940,945 hectares of forest still covered by FSC forest management certificates. Due to the shutdown of the country's two main forestry companies (Wijma and Rougier), the certification process experienced a reversal during the last two years, with only 341,708 ha of FSC-certified forests remaining in the country by the end of 2019 (one certificate awarded to Pallisco and its partners). As of 2019, Cameroon had approximately 2.6 million hectares of forests certified according to Bureau Veritas' OLB system. OLB stands for Origine et Légalité des Bois (Timber Origin and Legality). Cameroon also has FSC CW/FM certificates (FSC Controlled Wood) and Legal Source certificates (Preferred by Naure) accounting for around 400,000 hectares (ATIBT, 2019).

In Cameroon, PAFC Cameroon (the national forest management certification scheme which was recognised by PEFC at the end of 2019) will have to be replaced by the PAFC Congo Basin scheme as soon as it is implemented (following its recognition by PEFC). Moreover, an initial regional workshop for the development of the PAFC certification standards for the Congo Basin was held in Libreville in November 2019, and allowed stakeholders to agree on the first versions of the sustainable forest management and chain of custody standards. As the PAFC Cameroon standard hasn't been completed and the sub-regional standard is still in the development process, there are no forests certified according to the PAFC system.

On October 26 and 27, 2020, the PAFC BC forest certification standard was validated, see article ATIBT

All country profiles