{"id":9232,"date":"2020-04-02T06:32:01","date_gmt":"2020-04-02T06:32:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/?p=9232"},"modified":"2021-12-01T12:44:28","modified_gmt":"2021-12-01T12:44:28","slug":"cameroon-government-pushes-new-logging-plans-amidst-a-global-coronavirus-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/press\/9232\/cameroon-government-pushes-new-logging-plans-amidst-a-global-coronavirus-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Cameroon government pushes new logging plans amidst a global coronavirus crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Yaound\u00e9, 2 April 2020 – Greenpeace Africa joins <\/strong>a call<\/strong><\/a> by local people in Cameroon\u2019s Littoral Region to immediately cancel government plans to turn an area of nearly 150,000 hectares of pristine forest designated for a national park into two logging concessions.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\u201cConservation cannot be done with chainsaws and the Ebo forest will only be protected if logging is strictly banned,\u201d said Sylvie Djacbou, forest campaigner for Greenpeace Africa. \u201cThis is a time when governments must tackle a global health crisis. Plans to set aside new areas for logging would only exacerbate the global climate and biodiversity crises,\u201d added Djacbou.<\/p>\n\n

More than 40 communities surround the Ebo forest and rely on the forest for food, medicine and cultural activities. In 2006, the Cameroonian government designated Ebo forest a proposed National Park, although no decree was ever signed. Ebo is a biodiversity hotspot, home to nut-cracking chimpanzees and some of the most important populations of Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees, drills, forest elephants, grey parrots and other IUCN Red List Endangered and Critically Endangered species, and 12 tree species new to science.[2] The forest contains an estimated 35 million tonnes of carbon.[3] <\/p>\n\n

If plans by Cameroon\u2019s Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife go ahead, the two logging concessions gazetted on 4 February 2020 would deal a fatal blow to the proposed National Park and to the Ebo forest as a whole, already under pressure from the neighbouring Greenfil Plantation Ltd oil palm plantation, which, with French and Malaysian technical assistance, has cleared over 1,700 hectares as of 2017.[4]  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Notes: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

[1] UFA 07005<\/a>; UFA 07006<\/a>. See map<\/a> courtesy of BJ Morgan & RC Whytock.<\/p>\n\n

[2] Bethan Morgan et al., IUCN\/SSC Primate Specialist Group and Zoological Society of San Diego, \u201cRegional Action Plan for the Conservation of the Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes ellioti),\u201d 2011; See also: CNN, 9 March 2020, \u201cThe UN wants to protect these chimps’ unique culture,\u201d <\/p>\n\n

https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2020\/03\/09\/africa\/chimpanzees-west-africa-un-conservation-scli-scn-intl<\/a><\/p>\n\n

[3] Global Forest Watch (2020) http:\/\/bit.ly\/2Q1oTfF<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

[4] Greenpeace Africa investigations in 2014 and 2018. See also: Ekwoge Abwe and Bethan Morgan, \u201cThe Ebo forest: Four years of preliminary research and conservation of the Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee,\u201d 2008, http:\/\/mahale.main.jp\/PAN\/15_2\/15(2)_05.html<\/a>; Rainforest Foundation UK, \u201cPalmed Off: an investigation into three industrial palm oil and rubber projects in Cameroon and the Republic of Congo,\u201d, 2019. www.rainforestfoundationuk.org\/media.ashx\/palmedoffengfinal.pdf <\/a>(pp. 33-38)<\/p>\n\n

www.businessincameroon.com\/agribusiness\/1501-6814-cameroon-with-the-expertise-of-malaysian-felda-ipco-billionaire-nana-bouba-sets-out-to-conquer-the-palm-oil-market<\/a><\/p>\n\n

Contact for interviews and more information:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n