Government calls for more secure forestry revenues

This was the objective of an awareness workshop open to officials of taxes yesterday in Douala. This workshop was aimed at informing agents and even officials of the security program of forest revenues (WNSP) on the content of the Flegt VPA (voluntary partnership agreement between the EU and Cameroon on forest law enforcement, governance and trade business of wood and derived products to the EU).

This was also the general objective pursued by the workshop organized yesterday December 15 in Douala, the Centre for environment and development (Ced), supported by the European Union and UKaid.

This two days meeting will build agents and officials of the WNSP on their role in the aforementioned device, particularly in relation to the monitoring and control of compliance with tax obligations in the production of wood.

"We noticed that many of our officers on the ground, and sometimes even officials, are not sufficiently equipped on the process, ratified by Cameroon since 2011," explains Pierre Tabi, the WNSP.

Patrick Kamkuimo, of CDs, noted that: "in general, at the level of the authorities charged with the implementing the Flegt VPA process, there is no great dynamic of information. As a society, we are initiating these workshops because we want awareness and reflection, so that those involved will be more effective".

According to a study by the World Bank, the Governments of some countries among the poorest of the world lose more than 15 billion dollars a year because of the illegal exploitation of forests.

The Flegt process was set up to combat this scourge. After the Minfi, ERC has spread awareness to executives of the Ministry of Justice, then officials of the decentralized services of the Ministry of forests and wildlife.