Suchergebnisse

Sustainable forest management (SFM) has become one of major environmental debates for the international community. This is because of the multifunctional importance of forest resources for the entire planet, namely ecological, socio-economic, cultural and climatic balance. General awareness of the multifunctional importance of forests unfortunately coincides with the observed increase of threats to these 'international public goods'. To tackle continuous deforestation and degradation, the international community through the UNFF and its predecessors has attempted to adopt an international legally-binding agreement on sustainable management based on the Forest Principles. The narrow success of such international negotiations led to explore another option to this issue through the review of some regional agreements based on the inductive approach. This method is used by International Court of Justice for seeking the customary international law through the States behaviours or conducts. The paper is focussed on two regional regimes on SFM: the Central America Regional Convention and the European Union Resolution related sustainable forests management. The examination of States practice shows that such regional instruments fulfil all the requirements for having the status of the emerging customary law at these regions.

Cameroon's forests have a high biodiversity value. The government of Cameroon put in place new forestry and wildlife management legislation in 1994, with an emphasis on the management of logging concessions. Paradoxically, the reform of the forest law occurred at a time when many social groups were contesting the state's authority. An analysis of compliance with and enforcement of the forest law by some stakeholders reveals the weaknesses of the forest administration, which has caused serious problems, among them the weakness of public services appointed to monitor and control forest activities, the loss of financial incomes to the public budgets, and negative impacts on local communities.

Sustainable forest management (SFM) has become a major focus for the international community. This is because of the multifunctional importance of forest resources for the entire planet, namely ecological, socio-economic, cultural and climatic balance. General awareness of forest importance unfortunately coincides with the observed increase in threats, especially anthropogenic, to this world heritage. To tackle the continuing deforestation and degradation, the international community, through the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) and its predecessors, has attempted to adopt an international convention on SFM based on the 15 Rio Declaration principles. The limited success of international negotiations aimed at the adoption of such an instrument leads us to seek an alternative within international law theories, through analysis of the relationship between states practice in SFM and customary international law. To this end, this paper focuses on the practice of Central African States in sustainable forest management, especially statement of principles, sub-regional treaty and domestic legislation. The analysis shows that their practice fulfils all the requirements in order to be regarded as regional custom. Therefore, principles and state practices of SFM can thus be considered legally binding for this sub-region, despite some major implementation shortcomings

Environmental justice was certainly one of the expected objectives of the decentralization of forest resource management, which is currently being implemented in Cameroon, for marginalized local peoples such as the pygmies. In fact, opportunities offered by the legal process to promote participatory management of forest resources including the allocation of community forests, council forests and forest taxes, are supposed to mitigate environmental injustice to local communities caused by centralized public forestry and social policies. Nevertheless, data from South Cameroon suggest that the decentralization of forest resources to marginalized local people such as the Baka Pygmies tends to reduce rather than improve socio-environmental justice. This development might be the result of local governance and practices. It is therefore important to correct this unfair practice.

The Cameroonian regulatory framework on forest, wildlife and fisheries requires logging companies to pay an Area Fee (AF), half of which must be redistributed to rural councils (40%) and villages (10%) neighbouring the logging concessions. The AF had the main objectives to provide a consistent contribution to the State budget and to improve rural livelihoods through an equitable and effective redistribution of forest-related benefits. After a decade of implementation, and about 85 million redistributed to about 50 councils, the literature unanimously evaluates the livelihood impacts of the distribution of the AF to communities as weak. Less comprehensive assessments have been carried out on the impacts of distribution of the AF to local governments. This paper discusses the potential of the AF as a tool for local development through local councils, with particular attention to the economic, equity and governance issues. One of the most significant findings is that mayors, although elected and unanimously blamed for embezzlements and mismanagement of the AF, are often only scapegoats in a complex political system that does not allow the rural population to directly sanction the misuse of the AF via the current electoral system.

Le cadre de réglementation camerounais sur les forêts, la faune et la pêche oblige les exploitants forestiers à payer une redevance forestière (RF), dont la moitié doit être reversée aux communes rurales (40 %) et aux villages riverains (10 %) des concessions forestières. La RF a pour objectifs principaux d'apporter des contributions régulières au budget de l'État et d'améliorer les moyens d'existence en milieu rural, par le biais d'une redistribution équitable et efficace des bénéfices tirés de la forêt. Après une décennie de mise en oeuvre et la redistribution d'environ 85 millions € à une cinquantaine de communes, les avis dont font état les publications sont unanimes pour dire que les impacts sur les moyens d'existence de la distribution de la RF aux communautés sont faibles. Les évaluations exhaustives des impacts de la redistribution de la RF sur les administrations locales sont moins nombreuses. Cet article examine si la RF peut être un outil de développement local par le biais des autorités locales (les communes), en accordant une attention particulière aux aspects économiques, ainsi qu'aux aspects liés à l'équité et à la gouvernance. Une des conclusions les plus importantes est que les maires, bien qu'ils soient élus et unanimement accusés de détournements de fonds et de mauvaise gestion de la RF, ne sont bien souvent que des boucs émissaires dans un système politique complexe qui ne permet pas à la population rurale de sanctionner directement les utilisations abusives de la RF par l'intermédiaire du système électoral actuel.

Policy instruments for implementing the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation and the enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD+) mechanism operate within an orchestra of national contexts and policy mixes that affect the forest and other land sectors. How will policymakers choose between the myriad of options for distributing REDD+ benefits, and be able to evaluate its potential effectiveness, efficiency and equity (3Es) within the various institutional and governance structures a where such a REDD+ benefit sharing mechanism is situated? This is a pressing issue given the results- based aspect of REDD+. We present here a three-element assessment framework for evaluating outcomes and performance of REDD+ benefit sharing mechanisms, using the criteria of effectiveness, efficiency and equity: (1) the structures (objective and policies) of a REDD+ benefit sharing mechanism; (2) the broader institutional and policy contexts underlying forest governance; and (3) outcomes of REDD+ including emissions reductions, ecosystem service provision and poverty alleviation. A strength of the assessment framework is its flexible design to incorporate indicators relevant to different contexts; this helps to generate a shared working understanding of what is to be evaluated in the different REDD+ benefit sharing mechanisms (BSMs) across complex socio- political contexts. In applying the framework to case studies, the assessment highlights trade-offs among the 3Es, and the need to better manage access to information, monitoring and evaluation, consideration of local perceptions of equity and inclusive decision-making processes. The framework aims not to simplify complexity but rather, serves to identify actionable ways forward towards a more efficient, effective and equitable implementation and re- evaluation of REDD+ BSMs as part of reflexive policymaking.

Since 2000 and the implementation of China's 'going abroad' policy, mainland Chinese state-owned and private companies have significantly increased their interests in the resources and investment opportunities of the Congo Basin, bringing new opportunities as well as potential social and environmental costs. This report is a synthesis of some main findings of preliminary scoping studies conducted by CIFOR and partners in Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo and Gabon. It focuses on how Chinese trade and investment in the forestry, mining and agricultural sectors might relate to effects on forests and forest-dependent communities in the region. All studies were conducted under the CIFOR project 'Chinese trade and investment in Africa: Assessing and governing trade-offs to national economies, local livelihoods and forest ecosystems', initiated in 2010. The scoping studies yielded useful results, including an increased understanding of the main trends in natural resources trade between the target countries and China, and the major land-based productive sectors targeted by Chinese investors. The studies also considered the role of national agencies tasked with promoting investment and overseeing corporate adherence to environmental and social requirements, and provided a better understanding of the informal processes surrounding investment and acquisition of land and other resources.