Population
people
Country size
hectares
Forest cover
hectares
overview
Approximately 40 percent of Cameroon is forested. Yet more than three million hectares of Cameroon’s forests have been cleared since 1990 – an area approximately the size of Belgium.
The forest here is under intense pressure from logging, mining, agribusiness and associated infrastructure development. In addition to their environmental destruction, these investments have failed to foster any meaningful local development.
Forest peoples have very limited ways to secure lands they depend on, and the community forest model in the country is not well-adapted to their needs. Indigenous peoples also suffer additional rights violations because of widespread discrimination against them.