In 2018, the ministry banned raw log exports of 31 species. A June directive from MINFOF lists 45 additional species, including commercially-prized ones like moabi (Bailonella toxisperma) and okoume (Aucoumea klaineana), that will now have to be processed inside Cameroon before export to markets in the EU or Asia. The list will expand again in 2025, the ministry says, closing the door to raw log exports on all but seven timber types.
A complete ban on raw log exports, intended to stimulate the development of domestic timber processing and retain a greater share of the value of timber exports, was originally scheduled for January 2022. Cameroon and its neighbours have postponed adoption of the ban several times, saying their domestic timber sectors are not yet ready to process wood on the scale needed.
Andre Bekolo Nka, who heads MINFOF’s work in the Boumba and Ngoko division of Cameroon’s East region, told Mongabay that the main species currently exploited in the forest there include padouk (Pterocarpus soyauxii), used extensively for construction, and sapelli (Entandrophragma cylindricum), valued for its quality timber, as well as an edible caterpillar that feeds on it.
Nka told Mongabay that since the early 2000s, every company with a permit to harvest timber in his division also has a processing plant, and 70 percent of trees legally felled in Boumba and Ngoko are processed locally. He said 30 percent of the division’s timber is destined for export, including substantial amounts of trees only recently targeted here, such as the durable hardwood tali (Erythrophleum suaveolens) and ayous (Triplochiton scleroxylon). “With the imminent end to raw log exports, awareness is being raised, and sawn timber, in this case, ayous, is being piled up on site,” he said.
Nka said banning raw log exports needs to be accompanied by revised policy to encourage loggers to maximize processing of trees they cut down, recovering wood for local consumption that’s currently thrown away.
“The total ban on exporting logs should call for a paradigm shift in the management of our forests. We should no longer limit ourselves to harvesting logs alone but also recover the large branches that can be processed,” he told Mongabay.