Cameroon's Forests Going Fast - 2nd Only To Congo In Deforestation Rate

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YAOUNDE (AFP) - Africa's second largest forestland faces being wiped out if illegal logging and quota-busting are not brought under control, Cameroonian authorities and environmentalists warned ahead off a key summit on forest conservation.

Last year, a record number of companies -- 49 of 90 that officially hold logging permits -- were sanctioned for exceeding their quotas. The top offender was the Lebanese group Hazim, which was fined 2.5 billion CFA francs (3.8 million euros, 4.9 million dollars).

Timber from Cameroon's 22 million hectares (55 million acres) of forests -- second in Africa only to that of the Democratic Republic of Congo (news - web sites) -- accounts for nearly six percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP (news - web sites)).

Non-governmental organizations blame the denuding of Cameroon's forests on endemic corruption and the state's inability to control the sector for lack of funds. As the magazine Cameroon Ecology put it: "Circumstances favor the illegal exploitation of the forests."

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