The Center for the
Environment and Development (CED) works for the sustainable management
of forest resources. Its program for sustainable development of
forest communities is supported by a program for environmental and
economic justice. Bubinga is CED's monthly periodical.
Ecologically spoken the Cameroonian forest is one of the richest in
Africa in terms of its biodiversity. They are exploited, however, by
lumbar companies that seek to satisfy European and Asian markets. This
exploitation has repercussions for the environment, stirs up traditions
and disrupts the forest communities. The cost of living increases and
alcoholism, prostitution and illnesses abound in the villages in the
vicinity of the exploitation sites. The exploitation itself causes
numerous conflicts between the population alongside the tract and the
lumbar companies. Cameroon's forestry law gives the local populations
the possibility to create community forests and requires lumber
companies to return part of the profits coming from the exploitation to
the communities to finance community activities in the villages. The
Cameroonian government has decided to develop short-term forest revenue
to assure the interest payments of its foreign debts. The Structural
Adjustment Program imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has
had an exponential effect on poaching and illegal logging.
OBJECTIVES
In light of the above, CED's sustainable development program
incorporates the following objectives:
- to translate in concrete terms the idea of
sustainable development, in the first place with the rural populations
in forest zone
- to contribute to a development of local
populations, which should respect their environment and their culture
- to work for a better integration of the local
populations in the management of the forest's resources
- to contribute to change in policies and
practice concerning the management of forests and their biodiversity
- to bring down the present rate of deforestation
and degradation of the grounds caused by itinerant farming practices on
stubble-burnt fields;
- to promote the use of natural pesticides and
fertilizers, biological means to protect the crops and to limit
pollution and the risks involved in the usage of artificial fertilizers
and pesticides.
- to re-introduce agro-pastoral practices that
are presently obsolete but may provide an answer to the socio-economic
and biophysical setbacks from the modern agriculture and the itinerant
farming practices on stubble-burnt fields;
- to experiment with these obsolete methods, to
perfect them and to promote their usage.
- to improve agricultural productivity and to
promote enclosed husbandry
PROGRAMS
CED works towards these goals through a series of programs:
The Community
Forests Program
- Informing the local populations about the law
and the forestry policies of Cameroon.
- Reinforcing the involvement of the local
populations in the management of the forest's resources.
- Strengthening the populations in the
acquisition and the management of community forests, private forests,
community hunting areas
- Enhancing the value and use of non-wooden
forest products.
- Development of Economic Alternatives
The Baka Self-Help Program
- Destroying the bonds of the Baka pygmies'
dependency from the Bantu by establishing food self-sufficiency, income
generating activities and the sensitization of the Baka about the legal
political ways to resist the threats of the Bantu.
- Reasserting and enhancing the Baka's
traditional knowledge and use of the forest's resources (medicinal and
seasoning plants, wild fruits etc.)
- Developing sustainable self-help dynamics in
the Baka communities.
Program for the conservation of biodiversity
- Reasserting and enhancing traditional solutions
to daily problems by organizing a systematic collection (agriculture,
traditional medicines, hunting, preservation of agricultural products,
fabrication of common objects, settling of disagreements, etc.)
- Impressing on the populations the value of
biodiversity
- Supporting activities for the preservation of
endangered species
- Reforestation Program Kids for Forests
Advocacy on national and international forestry policies and
practices
The tribulations in the development and environment that affect the
populations at the local level, originate from the actions by players
on international and national level. Therefore CED undertakes the
following actions:
- Following up on certification procedures of
tropical wood in the Central African region
- Studying conflicts related to the management of
forest resources
- Researching management of forest resources and
the protection of the environment
- Monitoring of illegal logging activities
- Monitoring the Chad cameroon Oil and Pipeline
Project
- Publication of the Bubinga, a monthly
periodical for information, training and sensitization on environmental
issues.
The Chad-Cameroon Oil and
Pipeline Project
The Chad-Cameroon Oil and Pipeline Project is the largest foreign
investment project in sub-Saharan Africa. It involves the drilling of
300 oil wells in the Doba region in the South of Chad and the
construction of a 1070 km pipeline to transport the oil from Chad
through Cameroon to an offshore loading facility at the Atlantic coast.
The off-shore terminal facility is connected to the port of Kribi by an
11 km underwater pipeline. The expected oilproduction is 225,000
barrels perday. The project started operating in October 2003 and was
inaugurated on 12 June 2004.
The controversy about the Worldbank's role in the Pipeline Project has
been compounded by numerous reports of lost livelihoods, inadequate
compensation measures, destruction of water sources and improper labor
conditions for the Project's workers. On 25 September 2002, the Center
of Environment (CED) filed a claim with the World Bank in name of
Cameroonian peasants and workers victimized by the Chad-Cameroon
Pipeline Project.
The Bank's Inspection Panel evaluated the claims admissibility and sent
a team to carry out a preliminary inquiry in November 2002. A thorough
investigation started off in January 2003 with an interview of the
World Bank staff charged with the supervision of the project. Then
another visit was made to Cameroon in the beginning of February 2003.
The Inspection Panel has submitted a report to the World Bank Board of
Directors. As of May 2005 CED sits at the negotiation table with the
World Bank, the Consortium, the Cameroonian Government and a few NGO's
still involved in the monitoring of the project to advocate for the
population outstanding claims.
CED general secretary, M. Samuel Alain Nguiffo, is advisor on the board
of RELUFA. |
CED's PROGRAMS
Community Forests Plan
Conservation
of Biodiversity
Autochthonous Peoples
Kids for
Forests (French)
Monitoring Forest
Exploitation
Monitoring Chad-Cameroon Pipeline
Economic
Alternatives (French)
CED's
PUBLICATIONS
Monthly
periodical:
Bubinga online
Forestry:
Cibec
Reef
Wijma
CC
Oil and Pipeline Project:
Broken Promises
A call for
Accountability
Traversing
People's Lives
CED's claim
with WB
Piggery
Fishpond
Sustainable agriculture
Monitoring logging
Reforestation program
Bagyeli ("pygmy") children
Pipeline: Mr. Bissabidang at Makoure did not receive proper compensations
Pipeline: Unearthing a grave of Bagyeli community at Bidjouka
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