Cameroon: Greenpeace denounces a project to exploit 68,000 hectares of virgin forest

Greenpeace and local Cameroonian communities denounced Thursday a recent decision taken by Yaoundé authorizing the exploitation of more than 68,000 hectares of virgin forest hosting in particular primates threatened with extinction. In mid-July, the Cameroonian government decided to allocate " to the production of timber " more than 68,000 hectares of the forest of Ebo, located north of Douala (south), the economic capital, according to a decree of Prime Minister, Joseph Dion Ngute.

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The Congo Basin rainforest covers 200 million hectares, and is the second largest rainforest in the world after the Amazon. " Greenpeace Africa and local communities denounce a decision by the Cameroonian government to open 68,385 hectares of virgin forest to logging ", explain the NGO and representatives of local populations.

Deforestation is accelerating in Africa

The signatories of the text regret that the Cameroonian government has ignored its own commitment to make this forest a national park. " The Ebo forest is home to critically endangered primates whose death sentence was signed by the Prime Minister, Joseph Dion Ngute, with the approval of the Presidency of the Republic of Cameroon, " lamented Sylvie Djacbou , forestry officer at Greenpeace Africa.

In the statement, a traditional chief of the area, Victor Yetina, for his part, criticized a " serious injustice ", assuring that the local communities will use " all legal means for the annulment of this decision by the government ". While Brazil has been singled out for having reached a record level of Amazon deforestation in the first half of the year, deforestation is also accelerating in Africa, the United Nations food and agriculture organization warned. (FAO) in May.