Publication: The Rainforests of Cameroon :
Experience and Evidence from a Decade of Reform
Abstract
In 1994, the Government of Cameroon introduced an array of forest policy reforms, both regulatory and market-based, to support a more organized, transparent, and sustainable system for accessing and using forest resources. This report describes how these reforms played out in the rainforests of Cameroon. The intention is to provide a brief account of a complex process and identify what worked, what did not, and what can be improved. The barriers to placing Cameroon's forests at the service of its people, its economy, and the environment originated with the extractive policies of successive colonial administrations. The barriers were further consolidated after independence through a system of political patronage and influence in which forest resources became a coveted currency for political support. These deeply entangled commercial and political interests have only recently, and reluctantly, started to diverge. In 1994, the government introduced an array of forest policy reforms, both regulatory and market based. The reforms changed the rules determining who could gain access to forest resources, how access could be obtained, how those resources could be used, and who will benefit from their use. This report assesses the outcomes of reforms in forest-rich areas of Cameroon, where the influence of industrial and political elites has dominated since colonial times.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Topa, Giuseppe; Karsenty, Alain; Megevand, Carole; Debroux, Laurent. 2009. The Rainforests of Cameroon :
Experience and Evidence from a Decade of Reform. Directions in Development ; environment and
sustainable development. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/2683 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Forest, Trees, and Woodlands in Africa : An Action Plan for World Bank Engagement(Washington, DC, 2012-06)The purpose of this paper is to outline an approach for Bank engagement in forests, trees, and woodlands on farms in Sub-Saharan Africa for the coming five years. The paper takes the framework of the Africa development strategy, which has two main pillars: supporting employment and competitiveness, and building resilience and reducing vulnerability; and one underlying foundation: strengthening capacity and governance. It is consistent with the pillars of the bank forest strategy from 2002, which highlight the contribution of forests to economic development, poverty reduction, and protection of global public goods. Several other World Bank corporate strategies are also relevant for the implementation of this action plan. The primary messages of this paper are linked: enhanced forest, tree and woodland management can play a key role in achieving the goals of the Africa Strategy. Employment generation, improving competitiveness as well as building resilience and reducing vulnerability are the overall objectives of the World Bank's forest engagement in Sub-Saharan Africa; and in many countries the most effective approaches will be outside the traditional forestry institutions and will involve working through operations and reforms supported through other sectors.Publication Andean Countries : A Strategy for Forestry, Volume 3. Ecuador(FAO, Rome, 2006-08-31)The World Bank's revised forest policy came into being in 2002 and covers all types of forests. It has the following key objectives: (i) harnessing the potential of forests to reduce poverty in a sustainable manner; (ii) integrating forests effectively into sustainable development; and (iii) protecting vital local and global environmental services and values. The policy enables the bank to fully engage in forestry throughout the developing world, while ensuring that it complies with such safe guard policies such as OP 4.01 (Environmental Assessment), OP 4.04 (Natural Habitats) and OD 4.20 (Indigenous Peoples). On the other hand, the policy provides only a general framework for its lending operations in forestry and cannot take account of the individual socio-economic and environmental needs of regions and sub regions. To carry out the work, experienced local consultants were recruited to prepare country level reports following guidelines provided by the FAO Investment Centre, the aim being to gain a strong local perspective on the main issues and potential for sustainable and equitable growth in the sector. These reports were complimented by reference to an extensive literature base to produce individual country reports and the summary which follows. Given the complexity of forestry in the region, the need to involve large numbers of stakeholders, and the need to accommodate change, the findings of this report should not be regarded as definitive, but rather as a first step to shaping the Bank's interventions in the sector in individual countries over the medium term. It should also be noted that data have been obtained from a variety of sources, and that inconsistencies and gaps were common; they should consequently be regarded as orders of magnitude.Publication Deforestation Trends in the Congo Basin : Transport(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-04)The Congo Basin is among the most poorly served areas in terms of transport infrastructure in the world, and it faces a challenging environment with dense tropical forests crisscrossed by numerous rivers that require construction of numerous bridges. Given such complexities, constructing transport infrastructure as well as properly maintaining it is certainly a key challenge for the Congo Basin countries. Recent studies indicate that investment required per kilometer of new roads is substantially higher than in other regions of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and the same applies for maintenance. The physical capital of transport infrastructure is deteriorated in the Congo Basin. The ratio of classify roads in good and fair conditions range from 25 percent in Republic of Congo to 68 percent in the Central African Republic, which is globally lower than the average for low-income countries (LICs) and resource-rich countries. Other transportation assets (railways and river system) are also limited: the railway network is essentially a legacy of the colonial era and mainly used for mineral transportation, while the river system is basically only marginal.Publication Deforestation Trends in the Congo Basin : Logging(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-04)The Congo Basin has the largest forest cover on the African continent. Of the 400 million hectares that the Basin comprises, about 200 million of them are covered by forest, with 90 percent being tropical dense forests. The Congo Basin's logging sector has a dualistic configuration. It boasts a highly visible formal sector that is export oriented and dominated by large industrial groups with foreign capital and an informal sector that has long been underestimated and overlooked. This report is one of a series of reports prepared during a two-year attempt to analyze and better understand deforestation dynamics in the Basin. It presents findings related to the logging sector and its potential impact on forest cover, and it is based on an in-depth analysis of the sector. The paper's structure is as follows: first chapter gives an overview of the logging sector both formal and informal in the six countries and its importance in terms of employment and revenues; second chapter is the analyzes and impacts of logging activities on forest cover; and final chapter presents recommendations to foster sustainable logging activities with a particular focus on the informal sector and reduce potential adverse impact on natural forests.Publication Benefit Sharing in Practice : Insights for REDD+ Initiatives(Program on Forests (PROFOR), Washington, DC, 2012-02)Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and enhancing carbon stocks (REDD+) has raised the profile of benefit sharing in the forest sector. Sharing benefits, however, is not a new concept. Previous work on benefit sharing (associated with intellectual property, forest and agriculture concessions, mining, and so forth) has focused on clarifying the concept and examining how benefit sharing could feed into broader development outcomes. Getting benefit sharing right in the context of REDD+ has a similar objective. The objective of this study is twofold. The first is to examine existing arrangements for sharing benefits and extract insights from existing community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) arrangements that involve sharing benefits, specifically insights regarding how benefits are determined, how beneficiaries are identified, and how the set-up is influencing the effectiveness of the arrangements. The second objective is to provide community perspective on benefit sharing and partnerships in the forest sector. This study examines nine partnership arrangements in three countries Nicaragua, Tanzania, and Uganda. The partnerships include five performance-based PES arrangements (of which two are focused on carbon). The remaining four partnerships involve sustainable management of forests for specific objectives (timber, ecotourism, wildlife conservation, and so forth). All the partnerships took several years to set up, and some have been under implementation for several years. For purposes of this study, benefit sharing or sharing of benefits refers to an intentional transfer of financial payments and payments in the form of goods and services to intended beneficiaries.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Global Economic Prospects, June 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-06-10)The global economy is facing another substantial headwind, emanating largely from an increase in trade tensions and heightened global policy uncertainty. For emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs), the ability to boost job creation and reduce extreme poverty has declined. Key downside risks include a further escalation of trade barriers and continued policy uncertainty. These challenges are exacerbated by subdued foreign direct investment into EMDEs. Global cooperation is needed to restore a more stable international trade environment and scale up support for vulnerable countries grappling with conflict, debt burdens, and climate change. Domestic policy action is also critical to contain inflation risks and strengthen fiscal resilience. To accelerate job creation and long-term growth, structural reforms must focus on raising institutional quality, attracting private investment, and strengthening human capital and labor markets. Countries in fragile and conflict situations face daunting development challenges that will require tailored domestic policy reforms and well-coordinated multilateral support.Publication The Container Port Performance Index 2023(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-07-18)The Container Port Performance Index (CPPI) measures the time container ships spend in port, making it an important point of reference for stakeholders in the global economy. These stakeholders include port authorities and operators, national governments, supranational organizations, development agencies, and other public and private players in trade and logistics. The index highlights where vessel time in container ports could be improved. Streamlining these processes would benefit all parties involved, including shipping lines, national governments, and consumers. This fourth edition of the CPPI relies on data from 405 container ports with at least 24 container ship port calls in the calendar year 2023. As in earlier editions of the CPPI, the ranking employs two different methodological approaches: an administrative (technical) approach and a statistical approach (using matrix factorization). Combining these two approaches ensures that the overall ranking of container ports reflects actual port performance as closely as possible while also being statistically robust. The CPPI methodology assesses the sequential steps of a container ship port call. ‘Total port hours’ refers to the total time elapsed from the moment a ship arrives at the port until the vessel leaves the berth after completing its cargo operations. The CPPI uses time as an indicator because time is very important to shipping lines, ports, and the entire logistics chain. However, time, as captured by the CPPI, is not the only way to measure port efficiency, so it does not tell the entire story of a port’s performance. Factors that can influence the time vessels spend in ports can be location-specific and under the port’s control (endogenous) or external and beyond the control of the port (exogenous). The CPPI measures time spent in container ports, strictly based on quantitative data only, which do not reveal the underlying factors or root causes of extended port times. A detailed port-specific diagnostic would be required to assess the contribution of underlying factors to the time a vessel spends in port. A very low ranking or a significant change in ranking may warrant special attention, for which the World Bank generally recommends a detailed diagnostic.Publication Business Ready 2024(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-03)Business Ready (B-READY) is a new World Bank Group corporate flagship report that evaluates the business and investment climate worldwide. It replaces and improves upon the Doing Business project. B-READY provides a comprehensive data set and description of the factors that strengthen the private sector, not only by advancing the interests of individual firms but also by elevating the interests of workers, consumers, potential new enterprises, and the natural environment. This 2024 report introduces a new analytical framework that benchmarks economies based on three pillars: Regulatory Framework, Public Services, and Operational Efficiency. The analysis centers on 10 topics essential for private sector development that correspond to various stages of the life cycle of a firm. The report also offers insights into three cross-cutting themes that are relevant for modern economies: digital adoption, environmental sustainability, and gender. B-READY draws on a robust data collection process that includes specially tailored expert questionnaires and firm-level surveys. The 2024 report, which covers 50 economies, serves as the first in a series that will expand in geographical coverage and refine its methodology over time, supporting reform advocacy, policy guidance, and further analysis and research.Publication Global Economic Prospects, January 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-01-16)Global growth is expected to hold steady at 2.7 percent in 2025-26. However, the global economy appears to be settling at a low growth rate that will be insufficient to foster sustained economic development—with the possibility of further headwinds from heightened policy uncertainty and adverse trade policy shifts, geopolitical tensions, persistent inflation, and climate-related natural disasters. Against this backdrop, emerging market and developing economies are set to enter the second quarter of the twenty-first century with per capita incomes on a trajectory that implies substantially slower catch-up toward advanced-economy living standards than they previously experienced. Without course corrections, most low-income countries are unlikely to graduate to middle-income status by the middle of the century. Policy action at both global and national levels is needed to foster a more favorable external environment, enhance macroeconomic stability, reduce structural constraints, address the effects of climate change, and thus accelerate long-term growth and development.Publication Digital Progress and Trends Report 2023(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-03-05)Digitalization is the transformational opportunity of our time. The digital sector has become a powerhouse of innovation, economic growth, and job creation. Value added in the IT services sector grew at 8 percent annually during 2000–22, nearly twice as fast as the global economy. Employment growth in IT services reached 7 percent annually, six times higher than total employment growth. The diffusion and adoption of digital technologies are just as critical as their invention. Digital uptake has accelerated since the COVID-19 pandemic, with 1.5 billion new internet users added from 2018 to 2022. The share of firms investing in digital solutions around the world has more than doubled from 2020 to 2022. Low-income countries, vulnerable populations, and small firms, however, have been falling behind, while transformative digital innovations such as artificial intelligence (AI) have been accelerating in higher-income countries. Although more than 90 percent of the population in high-income countries was online in 2022, only one in four people in low-income countries used the internet, and the speed of their connection was typically only a small fraction of that in wealthier countries. As businesses in technologically advanced countries integrate generative AI into their products and services, less than half of the businesses in many low- and middle-income countries have an internet connection. The growing digital divide is exacerbating the poverty and productivity gaps between richer and poorer economies. The Digital Progress and Trends Report series will track global digitalization progress and highlight policy trends, debates, and implications for low- and middle-income countries. The series adds to the global efforts to study the progress and trends of digitalization in two main ways: · By compiling, curating, and analyzing data from diverse sources to present a comprehensive picture of digitalization in low- and middle-income countries, including in-depth analyses on understudied topics. · By developing insights on policy opportunities, challenges, and debates and reflecting the perspectives of various stakeholders and the World Bank’s operational experiences. This report, the first in the series, aims to inform evidence-based policy making and motivate action among internal and external audiences and stakeholders. The report will bring global attention to high-performing countries that have valuable experience to share as well as to areas where efforts will need to be redoubled.