
Local brandish placards with protest messages.
By Elias Ngalame
The population of Campo in the South region of Cameroon have taken to the streets to express their dissatisfaction with the companies CAMVERT, SOPHONY and BOISCAM.
According to a Press release from Greenpeace January 21, 2025, the local population staged demonstrations in protest over the weekend, leading to the arrest and subsequently release of one of them, while others were arrested, questioned and ordered to give a statement of facts.
“The communities are demanding, among other things, that Camvert revise the specifications and that the logging companies (SOPHONY and BOISCAM), which own the logging sales in FMU 0925, pay royalties,” the release stated.
His Majesty, Abel Mvondo, chief of the village of Ndoumessamebenga, in the Campo district, said: ‘Enough is enough, we have been patient enough and so far nothing has changed. In December, we sent a petition to the Divisional Officer, but nothing has been done. It’s time for us to make ourselves heard and demand that all these companies respect our rights. We’re not going to let Camvert continue to sacrifice our forests and exploit our lands’.
The release states that for three years now, the communities have been calling for a participatory review of the specifications with Camvert, a request that has so far gone unheeded. Likewise, the company continues to violate the law and the rights of these communities by failing to pay land royalties.
Article 17 of Decree no. 76-166 of 27 April 1976 setting out the terms and conditions for the management of the National Estate stipulates that ‘’revenue from the allocation of plots of land in the National Estate, either as a concession or a lease, shall be distributed as follows: 40% to the State, 40% to the Commune where the land is located, and 20% to the village community concerned for a project of interest’’.
Stella Tchoukep, Forest Campaigner at Greenpeace Africa, said: ‘’A framework for dialogue is needed so that the various stakeholders have a safe and structured space to discuss and find solutions to their differences. However, this framework for dialogue can only be effective if the resolutions adopted are implemented. So far, Camvert has failed to honour its commitments and has violated the law in force in Cameroon, all of which has fuelled the anger of local residents and the indignation of environmental organisations’’.
It should be noted that Camvert SA, which has been based in Campo in the South of Cameroon region since 2019, obtained a provisional concession of more than 40,000 hectares in March 2022, under unclear circumstances.
“This project has contributed significantly to the violation of the rights of local and indigenous communities whose survival depends essentially on the forest. It is also a weapon of massive destruction of the biodiversity to which Cameroon is committed. In recent years, local people have also had to contend with incursions by roaming animals, a direct consequence of the destruction of their natural habitat,” Greenpeace release notes.