China’s hunger for timber mounts pressure on Cameroon forests

The injection of China’s capital into important infrastructural development is creating oversight in Chinese-linked activities and fuelling illegal exploitation of forest and natural resources in Cameroon to satisfy a huge Chinese market.

This because China is becoming Cameroon’s main investment partner, with over USD 400million annually

“The growing impact of Chinese footprint on natural resources in Cameroon are both direct and indirect. Some of the destruction is due to funding from China into our public and private projects and others are directly from Chinese led activities,” says Samule Nguifo of the Center for Environment and Development (CED).

Chinese investment in Cameroon is two and half times more than all other sources of foreign investment. About 80% these investments are in infrastructure such roads, water, electricity, seaports, and increasingly agribusiness and forestry. With Chinese investment ranging from very large to very small investments, funding sources are also diverse, coming from Chinese private banks, and public Banks like Exim Bank.

Actors in the forestry sector which accounts for more than half of the 12,000 jobs created by Chinese-linked investments say these investments have paved accesses to natural resources. Both Chinese and Cameroonian firms are induced into legal and illegal exploitation of natural resources to quickly satisfy a high Chinese demand.

In the East Region, where Chinese firms are involved in gold and diamond mining, timber exploitation and where the HydroChina international firm is also building a $650 million hydroelectric dam with funding from the Export and-import Bank of China, the rush for forest resources has increased in the recent years. On the pathways of these projects, timber of doubtful origin and quality are exploited.

For several years, China has been the leading export market for Cameroonian logs that remain unregulated by the partial log-export ban. Wood from Africa is in high demand by the Asian market and any quality of wood from these forest easily penetrates these markets. About 85% of wood exported to China from Cameroon are unprocessed and their sizes are less important to the Chinese market, unlike the European Market that stricktly import sawn wood of a particular age and size.

This has raised worries on the future of efforts to sustainably manage forests in Cameroon and in the Congo Basin. Cameroon has signed the Voluntary Partnership Accord with the EU, committing to fight illegal logging and illicit commerce of timber, but China’s continued import of illegal wood from Cameroon might jeopardize these goals.

China is a key destination for Ebony, a local wood specie and other wood types such as Bubinga, which are near disappearance due to over-exploitation. The export of Ebony increased from 30,000kg to 350,000 kg from 2009 to 2014. This situation has an implication on the sustainability of these species in the Congo Basin forest.

Cameroon’s log exports to China increased from about 29% to 65% of its total log exports between 2003 and 2009. From 2009 to 2014 more Chinese firms have entered into the timber sector and the quantity of export has more than doubled from less than 1million to 2,586,282 cubic meter of forest products. About 20 to 30 Chinese timber trading firms are present in Cameroon yearly and more than 19 exploitation permits are granted to some of these firms now occupying about 650000hectare or 10% of the forestry permit areas in Cameroon.

There is weak implementation of national and international regulations and lack of dialogue amongst Chinese and Cameroonian actors, according to a study titled China-Africa governance conducted by two Cameroon-based NGOs (the Center for Environmental Development Cameroon (CED) and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)) with funding from the UK AID. The study further shows that China is a key destination for some special forest products from Cameroon.

According to Patrice Kamkuimo-Piam of CED, “Chinese-led trade and investments have major implications for the forest and community livelihoods coupled with questions of unsustainability of investment, illegal logging, violation of laws and poverty amongst rural population.”

Chinese-linked investments are said to have created about 12000 jobs, more than half of these in the forest sector, but questions remain as to the implementation and respect of environmental norms which in most cases there appear to be few opportunities for locals and value from processing timber locally, as the bulk of exports are unprocessed logs.

The powerful stakes of local and foreign economic operators in timber and extractive industry sector are deeply rooted and their objectives are to maximize their financial benefits, which so far has been easily achieved in a context of corruption in the country.

Most of the Chinese projects such as road, dams, plantations and mining are found along the paths of virgin forests in Cameroon, these forests are given out for exploitation by the government before work start. However, most cases have resulted to illegality with firms exploiting beyond the limit of the project. The interdependent Observer revealed in 2007 that, more than 80 percent of wood exploited from these sites resulted from illegal procedures.

In other circumstances, allocations of concessions have been in violation of the public auction system as recommended by the 1994 law on forest management in Cameroon that, rights to exploitation is given to highest qualified bidder capable of making more returns for the government in the form of taxes. But in most cases, concessions are awarded to bidders with low technical ranking and low bids. The Global forest Watch in 2000 estimated that Cameroon loses about 4 million euros per year as a result of these corrupt practices.

Locals and stakeholders suggest that these practices are worsening in Cameroon resulting from increasing investments and capital pouring in from China. “Private companies and individuals have a ready market to sell their product. Chinese businessmen are readily available to buy what you can get from the forest.”

Likewise, Brendan Schwartz of Greenpeace International says, “China is a quick and easy destination for illegal timber from Cameroon. There is a high amount of timber from these illegal sources at Douala seaport destined for China.” While some operators prefer to remain as mare buyers of these products, some have decided to buy over forest companies from Cameroonian or European investors and other are entering into MOUs with local firms.

A recent study by Greenpeace Cameroon highlighted how SGSOC a multinational in Cameroon used a front company called Uniprovince in order to export illegally collected timber to China. The company has been clearing off part of a 70000 hectare of forest land in the South Western part of Cameroon obtained through what many call a controversial presidential decree in 2009.

Part of the land is found in the Korup national park which is considered as Africa oldest rain forest a UNESCO world heritage site, rich in rare African great Ape and plants.

Moreover, China does not require the same standards of timber quality as more demanding markets such as the EU. This has a direct environmental and commercial impact on Cameroonian forests. Of the 2,586,282 cubic meter of forest products exported to china from 2009 to 2014, 85% are log wood of various sizes.

Money meant to be in government account ends up in private pockets of officials because people want to make more money for themselves.

Mega infrastructure, mean jobs to locals

China has funded most of the major infrastructure projects in the country, such as the deep sea port of Kribi ($567 million), Memve’ele dam in the south region ($483 million), the Yaounde-Douala highway ($416 million), the installation of optical fiber ($124 million), and the e-post project to connect post offices in the country ($56 million) including many other projects in the agriculture and health sector.

The Kribi Seaport on the coast of southern Cameroon financed by the Chinese Xim Bank to the tune of US$567 million is expected to make Cameroon become a major economic hub for all of Central African states especially the land locked Chad and Central African Republic. But locals, particularly engineers and scientists and technicians will benefit much from this development.

Chinese led projects in Cameroon are notorious for importing most of the human and other resources needed in their projects from China. Most of these projects have not been completely executed.

Already, the first phase of the port which comprises of 25-metres deep harbor with the capacity to will receive big vessels of close to 100,000 tones currently employs 1,125 people, about half of them Cameroonians mostly employed as menial laborers.

The World Bank estimates that the country has an unemployment rate of 30 percent, most of whom are unemployed youth with either degrees or diplomas from higher education institutions.

It is a project that would displace rural villagers, flood protected forests, and increase the vulnerability of Cameroon’s economy to climate change. Increased hydropower generation downstream of Lom Pangar would mostly go to a large, foreign-owned aluminum smelter

Cameroon has already experienced massive deforestation due to logging for export (primarily to Europe and Asia). Almost half of Cameroon’s historic forest area has been cleared for agriculture and settlements.xxi The government of Cameroon is reportedly very interested in logging the highpriced tropical hardwoods found in the Deng Deng.

Anonymous sources report that concession agreements to log the forest have already been signed, and logging roads into the area are rumored to already be built. Additional access roads that would be built for dam construction could lead to increases in illegal logging and corruption in the region, already a widespread problem in Cameroon.

China Tightening grip in Cameroon

There have been discussions about the Export-Import Bank of China helping finance the construction of sports facilities in Cameroon, which is scheduled to host the African Cup of Nations soccer championship in 2019. Also there are discussions about financing a second container terminal at the deep sea port of Kribi, which would span 700 meters, compared with 350 meters for the first one.

While many Cameroonian leaving around the Chinese-linked project complain of not being absorbed into these projects, those who managed to have jobs are working under very poor working conditions and taking unskilled responsibilities. In the large mining sides of the eastern region Eastern region,