Cameroon: Sustainable Forest Management Govt Clinches

The government of Cameroon has reached a deal with an Edea-based company, "Edea Technopole Services Corporation (EDEATECH) for the latter to exploit 100,000 hectares of the country's forest. The accord, signed yesterday between the Minister of Forestry and Wildlife (MINFOF), Elvis Ngolle Ngolle and the Board Chair of EDEATECH, Dieudonné Nzoke, stipulates that the exploitation of the forest concession will consists among others in the processing of wood. Speaking during the accord-signing ceremony, Elvis Ngolle Ngolle, said the convention is in line with the Ministry's programme of ensuring a sustainable management of the country's 22 million hectares of dense forests. He said for the first three years, EDEATECH will be expected to come up with a management plan of 15,000 hectares of the concerned concession, a plan, which he stressed, will have to be approved by the forestry administration. The company, according to the accord, has the right to fell down trees in the 15,000 hectares with the obligation to plant an equivalent of 800 hectares yearly. The Minister said the exploitation will add value to the country's forest resources, a dream that the government has been yearning to realise as well as create employment opportunities for many citizens. EDEATECH, its Board Chairperson said, is fruit of a convention signed on March 10, 2008 between the government of Cameroon and an Italian firm, COMEFIN, for the conception, creation and promotion of a pool that will among others favour the creation of innovative companies of all sorts in the country. This, he added, with the objective of reinforcing the industrial competitiveness of the country. The Secretary of State in the Ministry of Industries, Mines and Technological Development, Dr. Fuh Calistus Gentry, attended the ceremony, among others.