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Timber Risk Score: 0 / 100 in 2021. The Timber Legality Risk Assessment contains an evaluation of the risk of illegality in Cameroon for 6 categories and 26 sub-categories of law. Relevant for the legality of harvesting, and related trade and transport of timber in Cameroon we evaluated 5 categories and 21 indicators. We found:

  • Specified risk for 18 sub-categories
  • No legal requirements for 4 sub-categories

For wood processing, we evaluated 1 category and 5 indicators. We found:

  • Specified risk for 3 sub-categories.
  • Low risk for 1 sub-category.
  • No legal requirements for 1 sub-category.

This page provides an overview of the legality risks related to timber produced in Cameroon.

Cameroon's forests cover a significant portion of the Congo Basin. Their surface area amounts to about 20 million hectares, or 42% of the national territory (FAO, 2020). They consist of dense rainforests in which logging is practiced, and mangroves that are little or not exploited (FRMI, 2018). 

Since 1990, Cameroon’s forest sector has increased its logging activities, which now contributes around 6% of its GDP. Today, Cameroon’s legal timber production has reached approximately 3 million m3. As a result, Cameroon has become the leading exporter of timber products in Africa.
Cameroon has one of the highest rates of forest cover degradation in the Congo Basin, and its forest cover decreased by about 1% per year between 1990 and 2015 (FAO, 2015). 
The very high agricultural pressure contributes largely to deforestation. This is compounded by fuelwood collection, mining, and illegal logging (ETTF, 2016). 

Illegal logging continues to be a major concern in the country and is frequently documented at various stages along the local supply chain. The risks are wide-ranging and appear across all categories of law. If you are sourcing timber from Cameroon you should take care to ensure the extensive risks identified are not present in your supply chains, or have been sufficiently mitigated. 

Corruption Perceptions Index

Score: 27 / 100 in 2021

Rank: 144 out of 180 countries in 2021

 

Bans and restrictions

Log export ban: on more than 20 species of raw logs.

 

Armed conflict

There are currently no armed conflicts in Cameroon according to the Council on Foreign Relations' Global Conflict Tracker.

According to the Uppsala Conflict Data Program there were 3170 deaths from 2010-2017.

Voluntary Partnership Agreement

VPA status: Implementing

 

CITES species

CITES appendix II: Dalbergia spp.,Guibourtia demeusei, G. pellegriniana, G. tessmannii, Pericopsis elata, Prunus africana, Pterocarpus erinaceus

 

Certification

FSC Certified Forest Area: 341,708 hectares (1 December 2021)

Timber sources

  • Find out the different sources of legal timber
  • Determine which source type your timber comes from
Timber source type Description of source type
PERMANENT FOREST DOMAIN  

State (production) Forests
(usually constituted as management units - unité forestière d’aménagement, - UFA)

Forests that fall within the State’s private property by way of a classification procedure.
They are usually constituted as UFAs. Management of these forests may be allocated to the private sector through operating agreements (concession regime) for renewable 15-year periods. Logging activities can only be conducted with an annual operating permit. UFA concessions are the primary source of timber production in Cameroon.

Council forests

Council forests are forests incorporated into the private property of councils (local authorities) through a classification procedure. Timber in these forests can be harvested under various different types of permits
NON-PERMANENT FOREST DOMAIN  

Community Forests

 Management of community forests is allocated by the state to a local community for a duration of 25 years through a management agreement. Timber in these forests can be harvested under various different types of permits.

Private forests

 Private forests are those planted on a plot of land belonging to a person under private law.

National forests (all other forest areas)

 Natural trees in all other areas (other than forests classified in the permanent domain, community forests and private forests) belong to the State, the exploitation of which the state may therefore assign to other parties. They are not managed forest areas.
However, local communities with user rights have a right of pre-emption, by which they may request that the area concerned be allocated as a community forest instead. 
Private landowners also have a right of pre-emption over natural trees located on their land. 
If there are no rights of pre-emption, the state may allocate logging titles over the forest resources, notably sales of standing timber (vente de coupe permits in French) for 3-year periods. 
Other types of permits and licenses may be issued within the national forest domain.
 

 

Risk assessment summary

Legal rights to harvest

Legal rights to harvest, EUTR
  • The procedures for allocating land for logging purposes are not respected (1.1);
  • The procedures for allocating concessions (operating agreements within UFAs) are not respected, and corrupt practices are used when allocating these titles (1.2);
  • There is no valid management agreement for community forests (1.2); 
  • Procedures for the drafting of forest management plans or simplified management programmes are not respected (1.3);
  • No harvesting inventory is conducted in forests within the national domain allocated by way of vente de coupe permits and community forests (1.3);
  • Required management documents are not in place (management plan or simplified management programme, five-year management programme, annual operations plan depending on cases) (1.3);
  • Not all forest management provisions are implemented (1.3);
  • Unauthorised harvesting is conducted, either outside of the areas designated for logging purposes, or within a forest (UFA, vente de coupe permit, community forest) but by an entity other than the beneficiary (1.4);
  • The procedures for issuing titles or authorisations (vente de coupe permits, AEBs, ARBs) within the national forest domain are not respected and particularly that corrupt practices are used when issuing them (1.4);
  • Harvesting activities are conducted without an annual logging authorisation or before its issuance (annual operating permit or annual logging certificate or vente de coupe certificate depending on cases) (1.4);
  • Illegally harvested wood is sold at auction and particularly that corrupt practices are used in relation to the auctioning of confiscated timber (timber that does not comply with the European Union Timber Regulation) (1.4);
Taxes and fees
Taxes and fees, EUTR
  • False guarantees are produced when allocating titles (1.5);
  • The amount of felling taxes due are calculated fraudulently (1.5);
  • The felling tax is not paid within prescribed deadlines (1.5);
  • Transactions do not comply with trade regulations (1.6);
  • Fraudulent declarations are made regarding income and profits to reduce the amount of taxes payable (1.7);

Timber harvesting activities

timber harvesting activities, EUTR
  • The rules on harvesting forest resources are not respected (harvesting of banned species, quantities and volumes exceeded, minimum diameters not respected, perimeter defined for logging activities exceeded) (1.8);
  • The provisions and/or schedule for activities related to the evacuation of the wood are not respected or no schedule is established (opening of timber yards, skid trails, forest roads, construction of bridges and infrastructure, etc.) (1.8);
  • The areas and species to be protected are not identified during the management phase (notably for UFAs) or before harvesting (vente de coupe permits) (1.9);
  • Protected trees are harvested, or harvesting is conducted in protected areas (1.9);
  • Commercial harvesting is conducted in research series under the guise of experimental research protocols (UFA) (1.9);
  • Felling operations are conducted in national parks or wildlife reserves (1.9);
  • The rules for operating in forest areas are not respected, particularly for the protection of water bodies (1.10); 
  • No environmental impact assessments are carried out (EIA) (1.10);
  • The environmental and social management plans arising from the EIAs are not implemented (1.10);
  • Workers are not declared to the National Social Insurance Fund (CNPS), accidents at work are not declared and workers are not provided with the appropriate care in the event of an accident or illness (1.11);
  • The regulatory provisions related to occupational health are not implemented (available medical service, annual medical check-ups, available personal protective equipment, available first aid kits, decent accommodation in forest camps, etc.) (1.11);
  • Employment contracts are not registered with the labour administration (1.12); 
  • The minimum wage or wage provided for by the collective bargaining agreement based on workers’ categories is not respected (1.12);
  • The regulatory work-related provisions (rest days, leave, internal regulations, etc.) are not respected (1.12); 

Third parties' rights

Third party rights, EUTR
  • The local communities are not informed or consulted before forest titles are exploited and/or before the zoning operations are completed during the forest management plan / programme preparation phase (1.13); 
  • The provisions of the specifications of the logging title relating to local communities (social obligations) are not complied with (1.13);
  • Local communities do not receive the percentage of the Annual Forestry Royalty they are owed, or the funds allocated to local communities are embezzled (1.13);
  • Local communities do not participate in the management of the permanent forest domain (UFAs, council forests), and in particular that no functioning Forest-Farmer Committee is in place (1.13);
  • The user rights in force are not respected or local communities are unlawfully banned from accessing the forest by the concessionaire (UFA) (1.13);
  • Community forests are managed and logged without any real implication of local communities (1.13);

Trade and transport
Trade and transport, EUTR
  • False declarations are made on the wood transport documents facilitated by inadequate checks and a high risk of corruption by the officials in charge of the checks (1.16);
  • No waybill exists for wood harvested without a permit (1.17);
  • Wood transport documents obtained illegally are used (non-authentic documents, documents not authenticated by the forest authorities, documents belonging to another logging operator, documents used for multiple truckloads, etc.) (1.17);
  • Unlawful transfer pricing practices are used via subsidiaries based abroad in order to minimise profits made in Cameroon (1.18); 
  • Wood is exported without a wood exporter accreditation/the specific export procedures applicable to wood are not respected (for instance wood is exported as other goods) (1.19);
  • The procedures applicable to wood exports checks are not respected or the checks carried out are not effective (1.19);
  • Fraudulent declarations are made regarding species and quantities on the export documents (1.19);
  • Wood is exported unlawfully in logs (species banned from export in the form of logs or in excess of the established quotas) (1.19);
  • Wood is exported that does not comply with the provisions relating to processing (maximum 15 cm thickness for square-edged timber) (1.19);
  • CITES species are harvested without authorisation or in excess of the applicable harvesting/export quotas (1.20);

 

Processing

Red logo of saw machine

 
  • No environmental and social impact assessments are carried out (ESIA) (1.23);
  • The environmental and social management plans arising from the ESIAs are not implemented (1.23);
  • There is no authorisation or declaration as classified hazardous establishment, depending on cases (1.23);
  • The standards for processing waste and sewage are not respected (1.23);
  • Workers are not declared to the National Social Insurance Fund (CNPS), accidents at work are not declared and workers are not provided with the appropriate care in the event of an accident or illness (1.25);
  • The regulatory provisions related to occupational health are not implemented (available medical service, annual medical check-ups, available personal protective equipment, available first aid kits, etc.) (1.25);
  • Employment contracts are not registered with the labour administration (1.26); 
  • The minimum wage or wage provided for by the collective bargaining agreement based on workers’ categories is not respected is not respected (1.26);
  • The regulatory work-related provisions (rest days, leave, internal regulations, etc.) are not respected (1.26).

 

Mitigate the risks in your supply chain

Learn which actions we recommended to mitigate the risks associated with the timber sourced from Cameroon. 

We have two tools to help you mitigate risks for Cameroon timber supply chains:

The tools above give you the most information. Below is a summary of our five recommended actions to mitigate the risks associated with timber sourced from Cameroon that are not third-party certified.

Source Certified Materials 

NEPCon believes that third-party certification (for example FSC and PEFC certification) can provide strong assurances of the legality of the products they cover. Companies seeking to mitigate the risks of sourcing illegal timber should seek to purchase third party certified materials wherever possible. 

While the European Timber Regulation does not include an automatic “green lane” for certified products, it does recognize the value of certification as a tool for risk assessment and mitigation. The European Commission says that companies “may rate credibly certified products as having the negligible risk of being illegal, i.e. suitable for placing on the market with no further risk mitigation measures, provided that the rest of the information gathered and the replies to the risk assessment questions do not contradict such a conclusion.”

For more information on using certified materials in your due diligence, including how to assess whether a certification system meets EUTR requirements, see the page on Certification and Due Diligence.

Mitigation recommendations

There are five recommended actions to mitigate the risks associated with the timber sources from Cameroon:

Fully map your supply chain

2. Obtain and verify documents     

3. Consult with stakeholders    

4. Carry out on-site verification    

5. Conduct targeted timber testing

Profile Publication Date
2021-12-15