Cameroon fights to save rainforest

Rainforests are under attack from illegal loggers

By Francis Ngwa Niba

Cameroon has a very rich equatorial forest with lots of scarce tree species and animals.

However, logging companies, most of them French and Malaysian, have been cutting down trees indiscriminately.

And despite stringent measures that the government has adopted to fight illegal logging and poaching, the practice has been going on unabated.

Now the battle against the poachers is taking to the air as, according to a statement by Forestry Minister Sylveste Na'ah Ondoa, the government will soon be buying a fleet of aeroplanes and helicopters.

Most of the logging companies carry out their illegal activities deep in the dense forsest, so it is hoped that the aircraft will be able to spot them and flush them out.

Strict measures

The minister said that this will reinforce earlier control measures that have included stiff financial sanctions, the witholding of exploitation licences to defaulting companies and the arming of forest guards.

Illegal logging and poaching, the forestry minister said, "endangers forest under exploitation and threatens the equilabrium of our forest eco system".

Though admitting that hunting wild animals cannot be banned outright, the minister said this must be done within the strict limits of the law.

Witholding aid

Financial donors especially the EU and the World Bank have on a number of occasions threatened to halt financial aid if the Cameroon Government does not step up its fight against illegal logging and poaching.

These same donors are expected to help the government in buying the large number of aeroplanes and helicopters that are needed for the operation to be successful.

The equatorial forest of Cameroon is second only to that of the Democratic Republic of Congo in its richness and variety.

Endangered species

However the illegal logging has badly affected the eco-system as thousands of protected tree species are cut down.

The flourishing bushmeat trade also encourages hunting and the killing of endangered animal species, an action that environmental organizations have persistently condemned.

This new tactic is expected to significantly slow down the damage being done to the forest.