Yaoundé, 13 August 2020: The Cameroon Prime Minister’s office announced the suspension of logging plans in Ebo forest* on Tuesday, 11 August. The suspension of logging plans, which Greenpeace Africa called “a massacre”, leaves the fate of Ebo forest and the rights of local Banen communities entirely unclear.
Ebo forest is essential for more than 40 local Banen communities. Amidst a global coronavirus crisis, Cameroon’s government decided to open it for logging, threatening to ruin its unique biodiversity and exacerbate the climate crisis. Greenpeace Africa warned against this, adding that protecting natural wildlife habitats may also be the world’s best bet for preventing future pandemics such as COVID-19.
Greenpeace Africa and Rainforest Rescue will continue campaigning until the forest is saved and community rights are secured. The two organizations support the following statement by Chief Victor Yetina of Ndikbassogog, representative of the Association Munen Retour aux Sources, and Dr. Ekwoge Abwe, manager of the San Diego Zoo’s Ebo Forest Research Project:
“We welcome the suspension for now of logging plans in Ebo forest, but are concerned that its fate remains unclear. This decision must be the first step towards recognition of Banen’s rights and forest protection.
“We call on the Government of Cameroon to adhere to its international commitments**, and to promote participatory mapping and land-use planning with local communities. Land tenure reform must have at its core the full recognition of communities’ rights. International donors and NGOs need to support these processes with technical expertise and resources – in Ebo forest and across the Congo Basin rainforest.”
END
Photos: available here (credit: San Diego Zoo Global)
Notes:
* The announcement withdraws decree 2020/3216/PM, incorporating 68,385 hectares of Ebo forest (FMU 07 006) into the private property of the State, as well as it suspends the process gazetting another 65,007 ha of it (FMU 07 005)
** See the recent Law to ratify the 2007 Agreement on the Conservation of Gorillas and their Habitats; the 2015 Paris climate agreement; the 1992 Convention on Biodiversity.
Contact:
- Tal Harris, International Communications Coordinator Greenpeace Africa, [email protected], +221-774643195
Mathias Rittgerott, campaigner and Africa coordinator at Rettet den Regenwald / Rainforest Rescue, [email protected], +1-5148039070
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Discussion
Disgusting money grabbers.
Environment and people should come before profit.
It would be heartbreaking if we were to loose the gorillas as well as the forest + all the birds and other animals...
I commend you in your efforts to save the Forests of Cameroon and you have so far seen some progress. I would like to suggest that it is not enough to only give the green facts. Saving pristine environments. It is becoming more important to query other facts around these problems. 1.Who is the logging company and who do they get funding from. Are they large companies or small, who are the saw mills and who owns them. 2.Who is the buyer of this timber. 3.What products are being made from this timber. We can only change exploitation of the natural world and communities if we can change our consumption patterns, but we need transparency on where this timber will end up.
Unfortunately transparency is the main issue since we do not have date of who are the buyers.
We must preserve what ever nature is left to us
Please do not destroy Ebo forest, you will never get it back. People and animals and the forest are much more important than money
We welcome the suspension for now of logging plans in Ebo forest, but are concerned that its fate remains unclear. This decision must be the first step towards recognition of Banen’s rights and forest protection. We call on the Government of Cameroon to adhere to its international commitments**, and to promote participatory mapping and land-use planning with local communities. Land tenure reform must have at its core the full recognition of communities’ rights. International donors and NGOs need to support these processes with technical expertise and resources – in Ebo forest and across the Congo Basin rainforest.