The Cameroon government is intensifying efforts against illegal forest exploitation in the country with multiplication of heavy sanctions against defaulters.
The National Control Brigade for Control Operations of the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife has published its register of litigations for the first quarter of 2016.
The report reveals that four logging companies (SITAF, SCDC, South & FILS, SOFIE), had their licenses temporarily suspended, 35 others warned, with over 54.2 million FCFA generated as fines from illegal forestry activities.
The companies are accused of fraudulent forest exploitation and the non-respect of provisions. Some 10 companies also had their exploitation licenses suspended. They were Horizon Bois, Martial & Cie, Atlas Commercial, FC PATRUD, FC NKADA KPABO de DONGOGO, FC WOUSS, FC HE KEN MBOUMBOU, FC forêt communautaire and FC GIC Ne KIDONG.
The figures were presented to the press in Yaounde on August 4, 2016. The register is published at the end of each quarter and signed by Wildlife and Forestry Minister. It presents illegal forest exploitation offences with sanctions meted on erring companies. Two registers have been published this year. It emerged that after consulting with national controllers who records of offence statements and data collected from external services, as well as the opinion of the legal unit of the Ministry.
The sanctions were part of the Voluntary Partnership Agreement that binds Cameroon and the European Union, with focus on addressing illegal logging to improve forest governance and promoting trade in legal timber products to EU markets.
The Head of the National Control Brigade for Control Operations, Ella Ondoua Ambroise Rodrigue, said the suspensions would be lifted if the logging companies paid fines levied on them.
It is not the first time that the sledge hammer of the ministry of forestry and wildlife is falling on defaulters in the forestry sector
The opening of the Olympic Games in Rio this year witnessed a dramatic twist that brought fresh impetus to its drive to chase impossible dreams and stretching the limits of human ambition.
Beneath the glitz and glamour that characterize the Rio Carnival-like atmosphere, this year ceremony showcased the most impossible sounding dream of all – Africa’s Great Green Wall.
A Press Release of August 5th,2016, from United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification , UNCCD says in a Film on Africa’s Great Green Wall featured prominently as one of the highlights of the opening with Fernando Meirelles’ documentary on global reforestation efforts.
The film in the Great Green Wall struck a chord as a generation-defining initiative aiming to grow an 8000km natural wonder of the world across the entire width of Africa, against all odds.
“The film show efforts to restore vast swathes of degraded land in a region called the Sahel and in the process provide food, jobs and a reason to stay for the millions of people living on the frontline of climate change that may be forced to migrate,” the report stated.
Once complete, the Wall will be three times the length of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. More importantly, it is expected to promote peace and strengthen resilience in a region long devastated by drought, war and famine.
The Sahel region of Africa is one of the world’s most impoverished – a key reason being the degradation of enormous tracts of fertile land, which form the basis of people’s livelihoods here. Persistent drought, food insecurity, and conflicts over dwindling natural resources are some of the many consequences. Continued inaction means an estimated 60 million people could migrate to Europe from Africa’s degraded areas by 2030.
According to statistics from UNCCD, about 40 % of Africa is threatened by desertification with increasing loss of aerable land. The Sahel, a semi-arid transitional zone between the Sahara desert and the savannah, is the focus of efforts to build a "Great Green Wall" to hold back the desert and provide jobs and sustainable development for struggling African nations.
Meirelles’ film, which features footage from the UN Convention to Combat Desertification’s Virtual Reality experience unveiled at last year’s Paris Climate Summit, provides a stark warning of the need to restore natural resources, like land.
The progress made since the initiative started a decade ago shows that land restoration efforts on a mass scale are both possible and offer hope. Senegal has already planted 12 million trees, Ethiopia has restored 15 million hectares of degraded land and Nigeria has created 20,000 jobs in rural areas.
“The Great Green Wall is about far more than just growing trees. It is a mosaic of interventions weaving across the Sahel region that is helping to build community resilience and provide economic opportunity. Already, it is feeding hungry families and malnourished children, putting people back to work and growing peace and security to help communities thrive once more. Most crucially, it provides young people with a genuine alternative to migrating from their communities,” says Monique Barbut, head of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification.
During last year’s Paris Climate Change Conference, world leaders pledged a further USD 4 billion to the initiative over the next 5 years. For a poor region with hardly any resources to spare, this raises hopes of moving the initiative closer to its ambition of restoring 50 million hectares of currently degraded land, and sequestering 250 million tonnes of carbon by 2030.
The Great Green Wall is an extraordinary collaborative effort that transcends geographical, political and cultural divides, and is uniting people across borders on an unprecedented scale. “This is a bold ambition that chimes with the spirit of solidarity enshrined in the Olympic dream. It is a global symbol to celebrate our common humanity in divisive and troubling times,” Barbut adds.
About the Great Green Wall
The Great Green Wall is an African-led Initiative with an epic ambition: to restore the productivity of degraded lands across the Sahara and the Sahel and transform millions of lives. Under the leadership of the African Union Commission, it brings together African countries and international partners that include the European Union (EU), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and World Bank Group.
The opening of the Olympic Games in Rio this year witnessed a dramatic twist that brought fresh impetus to its drive to chase impossible dreams and stretching the limits of human ambition.
Beneath the glitz and glamour that characterize the Rio Carnival-like atmosphere, this year ceremony showcased the most impossible sounding dream of all – Africa’s Great Green Wall.
A Press Release of August 5th,2016, from United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification , UNCCD says in a Film on Africa’s Great Green Wall featured prominently as one of the highlights of the opening with Fernando Meirelles’ documentary on global reforestation efforts.
The film in the Great Green Wall struck a chord as a generation-defining initiative aiming to grow an 8000km natural wonder of the world across the entire width of Africa, against all odds.
“The film show efforts to restore vast swathes of degraded land in a region called the Sahel and in the process provide food, jobs and a reason to stay for the millions of people living on the frontline of climate change that may be forced to migrate,” the report stated.
Once complete, the Wall will be three times the length of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. More importantly, it is expected to promote peace and strengthen resilience in a region long devastated by drought, war and famine.
The Sahel region of Africa is one of the world’s most impoverished – a key reason being the degradation of enormous tracts of fertile land, which form the basis of people’s livelihoods here. Persistent drought, food insecurity, and conflicts over dwindling natural resources are some of the many consequences. Continued inaction means an estimated 60 million people could migrate to Europe from Africa’s degraded areas by 2030.
According to statistics from UNCCD, about 40 % of Africa is threatened by desertification with increasing loss of aerable land. The Sahel, a semi-arid transitional zone between the Sahara desert and the savannah, is the focus of efforts to build a "Great Green Wall" to hold back the desert and provide jobs and sustainable development for struggling African nations.
Meirelles’ film, which features footage from the UN Convention to Combat Desertification’s Virtual Reality experience unveiled at last year’s Paris Climate Summit, provides a stark warning of the need to restore natural resources, like land.
The progress made since the initiative started a decade ago shows that land restoration efforts on a mass scale are both possible and offer hope. Senegal has already planted 12 million trees, Ethiopia has restored 15 million hectares of degraded land and Nigeria has created 20,000 jobs in rural areas.
“The Great Green Wall is about far more than just growing trees. It is a mosaic of interventions weaving across the Sahel region that is helping to build community resilience and provide economic opportunity. Already, it is feeding hungry families and malnourished children, putting people back to work and growing peace and security to help communities thrive once more. Most crucially, it provides young people with a genuine alternative to migrating from their communities,” says Monique Barbut, head of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification.
During last year’s Paris Climate Change Conference, world leaders pledged a further USD 4 billion to the initiative over the next 5 years. For a poor region with hardly any resources to spare, this raises hopes of moving the initiative closer to its ambition of restoring 50 million hectares of currently degraded land, and sequestering 250 million tonnes of carbon by 2030.
The Great Green Wall is an extraordinary collaborative effort that transcends geographical, political and cultural divides, and is uniting people across borders on an unprecedented scale. “This is a bold ambition that chimes with the spirit of solidarity enshrined in the Olympic dream. It is a global symbol to celebrate our common humanity in divisive and troubling times,” Barbut adds.
About the Great Green Wall
The Great Green Wall is an African-led Initiative with an epic ambition: to restore the productivity of degraded lands across the Sahara and the Sahel and transform millions of lives. Under the leadership of the African Union Commission, it brings together African countries and international partners that include the European Union (EU), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and World Bank Group.
By ISAIAH ESIPISU,
It is five months since it last rained in Makueni County, and all the seasonal rivers have already run dry. But in Songeni village in the heart of Mbooni East Constituency, members of Mukaso Self Help Group are among thousands of people in the area who harvested the rain water, stored it in the sand and are now using it for irrigation and other domestic needs.
