A logging company cleared a road through a forest near Payo village without the community's consent, destroying homes and moabi trees that provided fruit for women to gather and sell. This left the community suffering from the exploitation of the forest without receiving any benefits. The village chief explained that if the community does not receive revenues from logging, the local school will have to lay off two of its four teachers, further threatening the children's futures. The document argues that Cameroonian forest communities are not receiving an equitable share of revenues from the logging of forests in their areas and calls for legal reforms to ensure they receive at least 10% of royalties.

1. 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.

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

3. Daniel, chief of Payo village.

4. 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.

5. 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.

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

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

8. Economic insecurity blights life in Payo.

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

10. 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.

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

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

13. 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.

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

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

16. 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.

17. 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.

18. 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.

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

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

21. 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