International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy

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Forest Certification for Sustainable Forest Management in Cameroon: Myth or Reality

Received: 29 September 2020    Accepted: 16 October 2020    Published: 04 November 2020
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Abstract

Forest certification is one of the best known voluntary environmental programs for sustainable forest management in the world today. The main objective of this study is to assess the role of forest certification in forest management in Cameroon. Primary and secondary research approaches were used to sought data and information from relevant governmental legislation and reports, certification systems website as well as interviews with staffs of the ministry, forest concessions and certification schemes. Analysis revealed that the number of Forest Management Units in Cameroon increased from 105 in 2004 to 120 in 2019 while surface area increased from 6,961,700 hectares to 7,073,056 hectares. The results also indicated that the number of concessions certified by FSC increased from 1 in 2005 to 9 certificates in 2010 and to 18 in 2014. The number later dropped to 16 in 2015, 13 in 2017 and 7 in 2019. The FSC certified surface area increased from 820,630 hectares in 2012 to 1,013,374 hectares in 2013/2014 and a drastic drop to 940,945ha in 2015. The peak period was from June-November 2017 with 1,130,301 hectares while in 2018/2019 the surface area reduced to 341,708 ha. Many factors impeded the growth of forest certification in the Cameroon.

DOI 10.11648/j.ijepp.20200806.11
Published in International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy (Volume 8, Issue 6, November 2020)
Page(s) 105-116
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Forest Certification, Sustainable Forest Management, Forest Management Unit, Cameroon

References
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Author Information
  • Department of Geography, University of Yaoundé I, Yaounde, Cameroon; Regional Research Centre for Sustainable Development (RReCSuD), Yaounde, Cameroon

  • Department of Geography, University of Yaoundé I, Yaounde, Cameroon; Cameroon Environmental Watch (CEW), Yaounde, Cameroon

  • Department of Geography, University of Yaoundé I, Yaounde, Cameroon

  • Department of Geography, University of Yaoundé I, Yaounde, Cameroon

  • Department of Geography, University of Yaoundé I, Yaounde, Cameroon

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  • APA Style

    Nghobuoche Frankline, Ngoufo Roger, Tatuebu Tagne Claude, Louis Defo, Kiming Ignatius Ngala. (2020). Forest Certification for Sustainable Forest Management in Cameroon: Myth or Reality. International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy, 8(6), 105-116. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepp.20200806.11

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    ACS Style

    Nghobuoche Frankline; Ngoufo Roger; Tatuebu Tagne Claude; Louis Defo; Kiming Ignatius Ngala. Forest Certification for Sustainable Forest Management in Cameroon: Myth or Reality. Int. J. Environ. Prot. Policy 2020, 8(6), 105-116. doi: 10.11648/j.ijepp.20200806.11

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    AMA Style

    Nghobuoche Frankline, Ngoufo Roger, Tatuebu Tagne Claude, Louis Defo, Kiming Ignatius Ngala. Forest Certification for Sustainable Forest Management in Cameroon: Myth or Reality. Int J Environ Prot Policy. 2020;8(6):105-116. doi: 10.11648/j.ijepp.20200806.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijepp.20200806.11,
      author = {Nghobuoche Frankline and Ngoufo Roger and Tatuebu Tagne Claude and Louis Defo and Kiming Ignatius Ngala},
      title = {Forest Certification for Sustainable Forest Management in Cameroon: Myth or Reality},
      journal = {International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy},
      volume = {8},
      number = {6},
      pages = {105-116},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijepp.20200806.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepp.20200806.11},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijepp.20200806.11},
      abstract = {Forest certification is one of the best known voluntary environmental programs for sustainable forest management in the world today. The main objective of this study is to assess the role of forest certification in forest management in Cameroon. Primary and secondary research approaches were used to sought data and information from relevant governmental legislation and reports, certification systems website as well as interviews with staffs of the ministry, forest concessions and certification schemes. Analysis revealed that the number of Forest Management Units in Cameroon increased from 105 in 2004 to 120 in 2019 while surface area increased from 6,961,700 hectares to 7,073,056 hectares. The results also indicated that the number of concessions certified by FSC increased from 1 in 2005 to 9 certificates in 2010 and to 18 in 2014. The number later dropped to 16 in 2015, 13 in 2017 and 7 in 2019. The FSC certified surface area increased from 820,630 hectares in 2012 to 1,013,374 hectares in 2013/2014 and a drastic drop to 940,945ha in 2015. The peak period was from June-November 2017 with 1,130,301 hectares while in 2018/2019 the surface area reduced to 341,708 ha. Many factors impeded the growth of forest certification in the Cameroon.},
     year = {2020}
    }
    

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    T1  - Forest Certification for Sustainable Forest Management in Cameroon: Myth or Reality
    AU  - Nghobuoche Frankline
    AU  - Ngoufo Roger
    AU  - Tatuebu Tagne Claude
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    JF  - International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy
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    AB  - Forest certification is one of the best known voluntary environmental programs for sustainable forest management in the world today. The main objective of this study is to assess the role of forest certification in forest management in Cameroon. Primary and secondary research approaches were used to sought data and information from relevant governmental legislation and reports, certification systems website as well as interviews with staffs of the ministry, forest concessions and certification schemes. Analysis revealed that the number of Forest Management Units in Cameroon increased from 105 in 2004 to 120 in 2019 while surface area increased from 6,961,700 hectares to 7,073,056 hectares. The results also indicated that the number of concessions certified by FSC increased from 1 in 2005 to 9 certificates in 2010 and to 18 in 2014. The number later dropped to 16 in 2015, 13 in 2017 and 7 in 2019. The FSC certified surface area increased from 820,630 hectares in 2012 to 1,013,374 hectares in 2013/2014 and a drastic drop to 940,945ha in 2015. The peak period was from June-November 2017 with 1,130,301 hectares while in 2018/2019 the surface area reduced to 341,708 ha. Many factors impeded the growth of forest certification in the Cameroon.
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