story of the impact of logging on a community in payo, cameroon

This road, which cuts through a forest near Payo village, was cleared by a logging company without the local community’s consent. Homes and moabi trees - which women gather and sell fruits from - were destroyed in the process: a stark illustration of how communities suffer the consequences of forest exploitation, without enjoying the benefits.

A woman in Lomié shows the fruits of the moabi tree which have been cut down by a local logging company.

Daniel, chief of Payo village.

Daniel in a classroom at the local school in Payo. There are only four teachers for around 200 children. If the community does not receive their logging revenues, two teachers will be laid off.

The school building in Payo is half built and crumbling. The irony is that while plenty of wood is harvested locally, it is transported out by logging companies, and the villagers lack the basic equipment to make furniture.

Worries about their children’s future weigh heavily on the minds of Payo women.

This child’s schooling hangs in the balance. If the community gets its logging royalties then his future could be transformed by education.

Economic insecurity blights life in Payo.

Villagers in Payo see little benefit from the logging of the forests around them.

Timber being transported from east Cameroon. According to the International Timber Trade Organisation, in 2014 the Cameroonian forest industry produced about 2.7 million cubic metres of logs. The majority were exported as primary timber products – with an export value of more than US$ 700 million in 2014 alone.

Illegally cut timber lies abandoned by the side of the road.

Local people are left in poverty despite the abundant natural resources surrounding them.

According to the World Food Programme, eight million people - out of a population of 21 million - live below the poverty line in Cameroon, with the majority of them residing in rural areas.

According to UNESCO, people living in rural Cameroon are 50 per cent less likely to attend school than their city-living counterparts.

Women attending a meeting to discuss how the community can open a dialogue with the logging company to improve their situation.

This bridge near the village of Messamena was paid for by logging company royalties. Yet villagers question how much it cost and whether the money was spent correctly. The need for greater transparency over logging revenues is clear.

The wood has been turned into charcoal. If people don’t get their fair share of logging revenues, they have to find alternative ways to make a living. This man has opted for the charcoal business. He is using left over timber donated by the logging company to burn into charcoal to sell.

Cameroon’s 2017 Finance Law has pledged that 6.75 per cent of the taxes paid by logging companies to the government will go to forest communities. But that is far from enough to guarantee these children in Messamena a decent future.

But despite poverty and adversity the people in Messamena have hope...

… that one day soon the peoples’ right to benefit from their forests will be respected.

The EU and the Cameroonian government must support forest communities’ call for an equitable share of logging revenues.

This means: • Changing the law to provide them with a

minimum of 10 per cent of logging royalties• Granting communities access to

information to monitor where and how the money is spent

• Supporting communities’ to manage their funds in an accountable way and ensure their own sustainable development