ESG Global Vision

Environmental decree

In force

All relevant persons

This law serves as the legal and normative framework and roadmap through which the Cameroonian Government controls, manages and decides on its national environmental policies.

Under this law, the national environmental policy of Cameroon is defined as covering all biogeochemical matters as well as the economic, social and cultural factors which affect the development of the environment, living organisms and human activities.

It includes the right of access to environmental information and a “Polluter Pays Principle” (Section 9(c)). The Polluter Pays Principle provides that one who pollutes must pay for the mitigating costs associated with their conduct, including measures aimed at preventing, reducing and combating pollution, and costs associated with rehabilitating polluted areas. Section 9(d) of the Forest Code (see below) also imposes liability for causing environmental harm, stating that “any person who through his actions creates conditions likely to endanger human health and the environment shall eliminate or cause the said condition to be eliminated in such a way as to avoid the said effects.”

Environmental decree

In force

All relevant persons

The Forest Code is the pre-eminent law regulating forests, fauna and fisheries in Cameroon. It permits the zoning of all of Cameroon’s forest lands as planned by the 1993 zoning system. It also introduces the concept of community by allowing certain forests outside the public domain that are less than 5,000 hectares to be divided and managed by “communities” or villages. Order No 2001/ 0518/MINEF/CAB of December 21, 2001 specifies additional community rights in acquiring community forests under the Forest Code.

Forest management units or FMUs (Unité forestière d’aménagement or UFA in French) can be allocated within the permanent domain for a 15-year period renewable twice. Forest management plans are prepared for FMUs during the interim period that the allocated party signs with the State for a (non-renewable) period of three years. The allocated party bears the cost of forming the plans and a governmental committee validates the plans.

Logging sales permit harvesting over a maximum of 2,500 hectares for up to three years outside the public domain in forests to be converted to non-forest use.

There are also provisions for small titles such as personal authorisations with a maximum of 30m3, cutting permits (permis de coupe) of up to 300m3, and authorisations to recover timber following land conversion or special authorisation (autorisation de récupération de bois or ARB).

Environmental decree

In force

Landlords/Employers/Polluting entities

Law No 98/015 of 14 July 1998 addresses establishments classified as dangerous, unhealthy or inconvenient. Sections 5, 7, 9 and 12 state that the person in charge of such establishments must carry out a risk assessment before commencing such establishments. The law also stipulates that a safety zone must be set up around such establishments prohibiting dwellings and any activity incompatible with this operation. Polluting establishments are subjected to an annual pollution tax, and those who take actions to protect the environment profit from a deduction on their taxable profit according to the methods stated by the finance law (see below).

Environmental decree

In force

Persons involved in forestry

Law No 94/01 of 20 January 1994 aims to increase local transformation of timber to increase added value. It does so by stipulating a set of tax incentives favouring processed timber, but also by imposing a partial logging ban through the establishment of quotas on certain species and a tax surcharge.

For communities to extract timber, they must obtain an Annual Exploitation Certificate (AEC) from the Ministry of Forests (MINFOF). Communities must follow these steps to legally harvest timber from their concessions:

• verify the boundary of the annual logging unit;
• verify the logging inventory carried out in the annual logging unit;
• write an Annual Activity Report for the previous exploitation year;
• write an Annual Plan of Operations for the current exploitation year;
• photocopy all waybills from the previous year;
• photocopy the Simple Management Plan approved by MINFOF, and
• write a request to obtain an AEC.

All these steps must be approved and verified by a departmental and regional forestry delegate.

Environmental decree

In force

Persons involved in forestry

Finance Law No 2002/003 of April 19, 2002 determines on an annual basis the rates for different taxes applicable to forestry activities (felling tax, annual royalties for forest concession areas, etc.). In collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Forestry negotiates the terms of benefit sharing. The law also fixes the percentage paid to the local communities living around the  forest for development purposes. The Finance Law, however, also imposes fines on parties who are in breach of various forestry laws and regulations.