Logging tax generates FCFA 42.5 bln between 2010 ,2014

The annual logging tax (redevance forestière annuelle, RFA in French), a kind of compensation given by the logging companies to the municipalities and communities living close to the forests, generated a global amount of FCfa 42.5 billion over the 2010-2014 period. According to the distribution of this license fee over the period under consideration, 50% of the amount went to the State, against 20% for Feicom (the bank of municipalities), 20% to the logging municipality and 10% to the populations living close to the logged forests.

According to the 2014 statistical yearbook of the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, who revealed these figures, a total of FCfa 4.2 billion was given to the communities living close to the logging areas. But since 2015, these direct funds which in principle should be used to establish local development projects have been suspended.

Originally, the objection of the neighbouring populations to this new RFA distribution grid proposed since 2015 by the Ministry of Finance. This distribution cuts by half the share of the communities who now end up with 5% of the total amount collected, while the other half is now allocated to the bonuses of the Inland Revenue Authority collection agents.

To support their claims in favour of the restoration of the entirety of the RFA share paid to the neighbouring communities until 2014, the populations of the logging areas insist that these funds are their main source of income, in that they allow them to undertake local development projects and motivate them to see to the protection of the forests.

But, after careful analysis, the management of this manna appears questionable in many logging areas in Cameroon. The most striking example is that of Yokadouma, in Eastern Cameroon. For years, this logging community, the most important in the country, received between FCfa 700 million and 1.3 billion from the RFA. But, it still remains a big village without water or electricity. To top it all, the communal agents can sometimes go for months without pay.