Logging Practices : 15 Companies Adhere To New Legality Initiative

Some 15 out of the 50 logging companies operating in the country have joined the Open Timber Portal, OTP, a new initiative to make information on their activities more accessible to the public. At a ceremony in Yaounde on August 29, 2019 to present results of the 12-month-long project, it was also disclosed that almost 270 documents on logging activities are now available on OTP. Such information concerns award of logging licences and the various dues paid, workers’ rights … The project was undertaken by a local charity, Field Legality Advisory Group, FLAG Cameroon.
“With the portal now functional in Cameroon, wood buyers who insist on transparency and legality issues can visit the website instead of addressing their requests to the 15 compliant logging companies,” explained Jean Cyrille Owada, Head of the “Promotion and Appropriation of the Open Timber Portal, OTP Project in Cameroon” at the occasion. Stakeholders listened to the activities carried out, results obtained and made recommendations for improvements. “For the future, there will be need to continue to reach out to the other 35 hesitant logging companies in the country,” Owada added.
Also speaking at the event, Njiké Horline Bilogue Mvogo, Secretary General of FLAG Cameroon, recalled that the project began on September 5, 2019 and was due to last 12 months – though three months were eventually added to round up field activities. The project was financed by the Food and Agricultural Organisation, FAO, United Kingdom Aid and the European Union, to the tune of 99, 859 American dollars (about 59,156 million FCFA). The objective was to make the portal functional in Cameroon and get the government to begin to use the tool after logging companies had uploaded the required information. The project technical partner was the United States of America-based World Resources Institute, WRI.   
Open Timber Portal is an Internet platform that promotes compliance with legal requirements in timber harvest and trade by compiling information from government, the private sector and third party forest monitors in producer countries. Its advantage is that it brings transparency to timber operations. OTP makes public previously inaccessible information about o...