Yaounde, Cameroon Africa, October 2010 (news.cameroon-today.com)  -  Minister of Forestry and Wildlife, Professor Elvis Ngolle Ngolle on behalf of Cameroon entered into a voluntary partnership agreement with the European Union to prevent export of timber that has been cut illegally.

Timber transporting truckers share the same narrow roads with taxis and cars

Minister of Forestry and Wildlife, Professor Elvis Ngolle Ngolle signed the voluntary partnership agreement with European Union on behalf of Cameroon on Wednesday October 6 in Brussels with the aim of setting up a totally revamped licensing system for timber logging.

Cameroon is the largest exporter of tropical hardwood from Africa to Europe and more than three fourths of its felled timber is exported to Spain and Italy. The country fells over 2,300,000 cubic meters of wood which is taken from its 22.5 million hectares of forest area and the wood industry which primarily consists of the exports comprise more than FCFA 41 billion or 6 per cent to the country’s GDP.

The numbers would be much more significant if there was lesser pilferage and illegal export to Europe and Asia. The agenda behind Cameroon and other timber exporting African countries signing the treaty to comply with the European Union’s Forest, Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade, FLEGT, is to put at end to the illegal export of timber meant for Europe.

Inking the Voluntary Partnership Agreement, to implement FLEGT, the Minister of Forestry and Wildlife, Professor Elvis Ngolle Ngolle said the deal, which has been on the table since November 2007, would help Cameroon to finish off the trade in illegally felled timber and evoked the same response from the European Union.

He also stated that the country was progressing at a fast pace towards deploying a fully traceable and sustainable system to track ill-use of wood which has already been in force since April 2010. As part of this the various concerned parties are being educated on their responsibilities and stated that the organizations involved were highly excited and was confident about developing a Joint Implementation Committee as proof of Cameroon’s conformance to the treaty.

The FLEGT voluntary partnership agreement signed by The European Commissioner in charge of Development, Andreis Piebalgs on behalf of the European Union will be an important landmark to putting a stop to illegal tree felling across the globe.